Free Hungry for You by Lynsay Sands Page B

thanks for everything,” seemed the best way to go. At least that was the best she’d come up with by the time they’d reached her restaurant again.
    Rather than risk a ticket for parking on the street, Alex directed him to park around back and was out of the car almost the moment he stopped. She was walking toward the back door of the restaurant, the bag of food in one hand and searching her pocket for her keys with her other when Cale called her name. Pausing impatiently, she glanced back to see him coming around the car with one of the drinks in hand.
    He smiled almost painfully as he approached, and then said, “I doubled the order intending to eat as well.”
    “Yes, I figured that out,” Alex assured him, and when he hesitated, she recognized the significance of his only carrying one drink and realized he hadn’t intended on joining her as she’d feared. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, flushing, “I thought you expected to eat here with me.”
    She started to shift the bag in her hands, intending to retrieve her half of the food, but he said, “Well I hadn’t intended to because you’d said you were busy, but since you are inviting me, I will be pleased to join you.”
    “Oh, I—” Alex started to tell him that it hadn’t really been an invitation, but he was already hurrying around his car to shut off the still-running engine and fetch the other drink.
    Sighing, she shook her head at her own inept tendency to get herself into these ridiculous situations,and then turned and continued on to the back door of the restaurant. By the time she had unlocked it, he was behind her, and Alex pulled the door open and then held it for him to enter with the drinks. She followed him inside, but Cale paused after only a couple of steps to peer around.
    A low whistle slid from his lips as he took in the setup. “It’s huge.”
    “Three times as big as the original La Bonne Vie,” Alex acknowledged proudly as she paused beside him to peer over the kitchen herself. She was rather pleased with what she’d done here. She’d designed the layout herself and thought it was perfect. There was plenty of room so people wouldn’t be tripping over each other, and yet no one was so far away that they would have to raise their voices to be heard.
    “You are planning for more kitchen staff, obviously,” he said, glancing over the various stations.
    “More than double the staff at the original restaurant,” she acknowledged, “They’re already hired and trained and ready to go.”
    He glanced at her curiously. “I am surprised you simply did not have one of them step in and take Peter’s place tonight then.”
    Alex shook her head. “I’ve had them training with my staff at the other restaurant for the last month, but released them yesterday for the next two weeks so they could get themselves and everything else in order before this restaurant opens. Most of them went on vacation or headed home to move their families here this week.”
    When Cale raised an eyebrow, she explained, “Several were from out of town and we had an agreement to wait for the training to end before making the hiring permanent. It was in case we couldn’t work together,” she explained with a shrug.
    While Alex had been careful about whom she hired, people presented a different side during an interview than they did in the workplace. Peter was a case in point. He’d been charming and obsequious when she’d hired him but had become an egomaniac in the kitchen. She’d wanted to avoid making that mistake again so had put the temporary clause into the agreement to try to ensure she did. Fortunately, they’d all seemed to work out very well … so far.
    “The head chef I hired is from British Columbia, and flew home this morning to help his wife move house here. Otherwise, I’d have asked him to take over at the original restaurant until I could find a replacement.”
    “Aren’t you going to be head chef here?” Cale asked with