Page 53 of The Chef's Kiss
And they had to fit the town. I’d mapped out a few options in the notebook I’d left in my car, but I didn’t think about them now. Instead, I looked at Jake. “You’re the pastry chef—”
“Not sure I’d go that far.”
“Well, I don’t do desserts. So, what would you suggest?”
It was the right thing to ask. I could tell the moment the words left my lips. We got to work talking about the dessert menu, and by the time I walked out to find Jorgina, I felt confident it would both fit the elegance I wanted and be popular with the small-town crowd.
Jorgina wasn’t waiting outside the shop. I peered through the rain, searching the park across the street, my eyes landing on the white gazebo. She sat inside it, shielded from the weather.
A flash of lightning lit the sky as I hurried across the street, wet hair dripping into my eyes. She didn’t look up when I reached her.
“You feeling okay?”
“Fine.” She let out a wistful sigh.
Lowering myself to the wooden bench at her side, I waited for her to say whatever was on her mind, knowing she would eventually. She always did.
Her shoulders rose and fell with a deep breath. “I always loved it here.”
I got the feeling she didn’t mean this town, but this gazebo specifically. “It seems like a you place.” That earned me a smile.
“Growing up, I wasn’t sure I had a me place. But here, I could watch the entire town go about their lives.” She sighed again, sounding like the young girl who only wished to be part of the town she loved. “I left Superiore Bay soon after graduating high school, and I didn’t come back. Not for summer vacations or holidays. I spent them traveling with friends mostly.”
“Sounds like a good time.”
“It was. I told myself I’d never move back here, but lately, I’ve been wondering if I missed too much. Each of my brothers fell in love, and I wasn’t here. My cousins grew up and some of them mended rifts with my brothers, but I’m still the Ashford Princess they hate.” She kicked a toe against the ground. “Except for Jake, of course. But I think, in my mind, Superiore Bay stopped while I was gone, frozen in time. Yet, it didn’t. It kept moving, evolving.”
“Time does that.”
She nodded. “It’s just … our next stop.” She closed her eyes for a brief moment. “When I was younger, I envied my cousins. They didn’t have the Ashford money, but they had what we didn’t. Family. Two parents. We need to go to the meadery, I know we do. My aunt … I watched her in town, from afar, and wished sometimes that she could be my mom too. But she never looked my way.”
I knew every emotion flitting across her face. What it was like growing up lonely, thinking you only had yourself to rely on. Sliding an arm around her shoulders, I pulled her against my side. It was an intimate gesture, one I shouldn’t have made, but I couldn’t do nothing while she was sad.
“I get it,” I said.
She melted into me with a trust I refused to take for granted.
“I was raised by nannies mostly.” I stared into the rain, thinking. “But your aunt, she doesn’t know you. If she did, there’s no way she could have ignored you.”
“Says the guy who can hardly stand me.”
I was about to ask her if it still seemed like I could hardly stand her when two older ladies approached, their wide black umbrellas protecting them from the rain.
“Jorgina Ashford?” one of them asked. “That you, dear? We saw you on our way to the Hugga Mugga and wanted to make sure the city boy wasn’t bothering you.”
Jorgina straightened, shrugging off my arm. “Thanks, Mrs. Peterson.” She gave me a quick look out of the corner of her eye. “But he’s not so bad for a city boy.”
Mrs. Peterson appeared unconvinced. “DoesThe Ashfordknow you’re out here in the rain? You’ll catch a cold, and that’s not good for the baby.”
Her brothers really couldn’t keep a secret, could they? It seemed she was right. The whole town would know soon.
Jorgina clutched my leg, her nails digging into my slacks in agitation, none of which showed on her overly calm face. “Thank you for the concern, but I’m okay. I’m working for Chef Silverman now.” She gestured to me. “We’re finishing locking down some contracts before the soft opening.”
Their eyes perked up at that.
“My granddaughter told me about that,” the other woman, who’d been silent until now, said. “Harper says it’s the invite to get.”
Jorgina nodded. “It sure is.” She gave them a sweet smile, not extending any sort of promise, a fact they didn’t miss.
