Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 116708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
While I wanted to be with Gwen twenty-four-seven, we thought it was best to ease Nate into me being around all the time. On the weekends she had him, I’d only come over on Saturday and leave after breakfast on Sunday morning. And on the nights he was with his dad, we were either working at the restaurant or in her bed, making up for lost time.
She hated when I went home and had gone so far as to convince Cooter to offer me her guest room. That was the easiest no I’d ever spoken. Besides, I’d spent the majority of my life in that house. I couldn’t just walk away and never look back the way she so desperately wanted me to. But I had agreed to trash the couch, so I’d at least placated her for a while.
It was finally time for the soft launch of The Rosewood Café, and for the last five days, Gwen had banished me from the premises.
She had wanted to put the finishing touches on the place herself, promising that the surprises she had in store would be worth the long hours. The nights I spent at her place, she’d come home an exhausted, sweaty, overwhelmed mess. Yet she would walk in the door, a smile stretched wide across her gorgeous face, and spend the next half hour recapping her day.
I’d never seen her more radiant.
From the moment she’d shown me her plans, I hadn’t doubted for a second that The Rosewood would be every bit as amazing as she was. Gwen had decided that a soft launch for friends and family would be a good test of their preparation. As the time loomed near, I wasn’t sure who was more nervous: Gwen or Cooter. They’d both thrown themselves into The Rosewood, and despite Cooter’s unconventional approach to life in general, she’d turned out to be not only an incredible resource, but a great friend to Gwen as well.
As I stood on the sidewalk, waiting for our head chef to open the doors, the air was static, everyone abuzz with excitement to see what she had created inside a once outdated grease pit. Gwen was not messing around with the big reveal. The sign over the door had been covered with a tarp to keep it hidden. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw she’d used two of the old newspapers to cover the logos on the doors.
Finally, Gwen slipped through the front door, wearing a crisp white chef’s jacket, her hair pulled back in a bun. Everyone cheered as she waved, her face beaming with pride. She froze when she saw the long red ribbon with silver and gold jewels that hung between the potted trees on either side of the door.
As a surprise, Nate had spent his free time bedazzling the ribbon for his mother. As much as he complained about those arts and crafts she made him do with her, I think he secretly liked it just as much as she did.
She found Nate in the crowd. “Did you do this?”
He nodded, suddenly extremely uncomfortable to be called out in front of the crowd.
“Buddy, it’s amazing! I love it!” she exclaimed, opening her arms for Nate.
He glanced around before giving her what could possibly be the world’s shortest hug and then escaping back to his place beside Pike and Daphne.
“Truett,” she called, searching for me in the crowd. Her face lit when our eyes finally collided. Circling her hand in the air, she said, “Come up here.”
With a smile that had become a permanent fixture on my face as of lately, I weaved my way to the front, but I wasn’t going to stay. I dropped a quick kiss on her lips before leaning in toward her ear to whisper, “This is your moment, baby. Not mine. Embrace it.”
Her face got soft. “True, I couldn’t have done this without you.”
“You could have, and you would have, and it would still be incredible. You’d just have significant credit card debt.”
She laughed, snaking her hand out to pinch my nipple. “You mean significantly more credit card debt?”
“That too.” I winked. “Now, come on. Give the people what they came for.”
She pressed up onto her toes and brushed her lips with mine.
“Get a room!” Cooter yelled.
Everyone laughed, and I stepped away, staying close without stealing her spotlight.
“Wow,” she breathed. “Thank you so much for being here tonight.” She paused as a round of applause erupted. “Proud doesn’t begin to cover the way I feel about this place. Literal blood, sweat, and tears have gone into this transformation. And I’m not just talking about the restaurant. The day I signed the contract to purchase The Grille, I never could have imagined how much my life would change.”
Her eyes locked on mine. “It’s funny. I bought this place as a fresh start, but somehow, I found a piece of my past that had been missing for far too long.”