Free Love in the Morning by Meg Benjamin Page B

don’t know. I guess we’d need to upgrade our offerings a little. Right?”
    She nodded. “Most likely. What did you have in mind?”
    He was back to tapping his fingers again. “I’ve got nothing in mind, to tell you the truth. I mean, I know what we’re doing now isn’t enough to win the contest, but I don’t have a clue about how to upgrade it. You’re the chef. What do you think?”
    Lizzy’s heart took a little hop. “Offering more baked goods and fruits would be the quickest fix. And maybe another breakfast entrée.”
    Clark’s fingers stilled. “What kind of baked goods?”
    â€œScones would be easiest. Maybe biscuits. If we wanted croissants and danishes, we’d need to find a bakery to supply them. They’re too labor intensive for us to make in the kitchen.”
    He nodded slowly. “Scones sound good. Along with those muffins of yours, that ought to build our rep.”
    Her heart took another gleeful hop. So she hadn’t been kidding herself. He really had noticed the muffin upgrade.
    â€œWhat kind of extra entrée were you thinking of?”
    Now it was her turn to frown. She had some ideas, but she hadn’t worked it all out yet. “Maybe pancakes or French toast. We could maybe do crepes along with the omelets, although that’s asking a lot from a single chef. But we could try to make the crepes the day before and just have the omelet chef put in the fillings.”
    Clark was back to frowning again, but it looked more like concentration than disapproval. “I’m guessing our crowd would be more interested in pancakes than crepes anyway. What about waffles?”
    Lizzy shook her head. “Too much trouble. You’d need new equipment with waffle irons and they have to be kept at the right temperature or you end up with a total mess. Pancakes are relatively easy if you’ve got somebody back in the kitchen making them.”
    â€œNew equipment.” He stared off at the restaurant’s front window. “Would we need any new equipment with what we do now?”
    She took a breath. “We don’t need equipment, but we could use another assistant. Particularly if we’re doing stuff in the kitchen besides scrambled eggs and bacon. We’d have one person on the omelet station, and two in the kitchen.”
    His frown intensified. Crap. “You think the omelet station is a good idea?”
    She shrugged. “It gives us a leg up on the breakfast buffet ladder. We need something as a special feature, and omelets are easy as long as you’ve got enough people so that you can devote one cook to doing that and nothing else. You could widen it to eggs cooked to order if you want to—it’s not that much harder to fry eggs.” Although it would be another kind of learning curve for Desi.
    Clark nodded slowly. “We’re getting a lot of mileage out of it, that’s for sure. The line for omelets almost goes out of the dining room most mornings.” His lips moved into a dry grin. “Of course a lot of them look more interested in the cook than the omelets.”
    Lizzy’s cheeks grew warm. “Watching somebody cook omelets is a kick. People always line up to see it.”
    His dry grin stayed in place, but he didn’t say anything more about the omelet line. “Okay, let’s leave it at this. You come up with a new menu. I’ll try to scare up another cook for you. And we’ll send in the entry next week. Agreed?”
    She nodded quickly. “Agreed. We can do it.”
    â€œWe can.”
    The waitress appeared at their table with dinner just then, and the conversation lapsed. But the warmth that came from that we can do it seemed to linger for a while. When was the last time she’d had anyone tell her she was good at her job? Or even felt like she had a right to an opinion? Maybe things are finally turning around. Maybe I’m