“You look great too.” Her hair was longer, and a little darker than his now. “How’s Jeff doing?”
“He’s good. Cussing you when Dad gets on his nerves.”
He could only imagine. “I guess I owe him a beer…or two.”
“You might just want to buy a keg.” Dawn snickered. “Count on him collecting on that.”
The decision to not go into business with his father had opened the spot for Jeff. It was something Dawn had pushed for, when Jeff hadn’t gotten a job out of college as fast as she’d have liked. Jeff had thought it was a lucky break, but it had come with a price. Working for your father-in-law was probably even worse than working for your dad.
They sat around the coffee table catching up for over an hour, until Andrew could barely hold his head up.
“I’m sorry. It’s great to see you two, but I’m beat. I’m still on Paris time. I need to go check in at the hotel and turn in.”
“Andrew Lee York, you are not staying at a hotel.” His mother looked horrified.
“Look, I don’t want to be a bother. This will be easier.”
“Call and cancel that reservation right now. You can stay in your old room. It’s the guest room now. It’s all ready to go. Not a bother at all.”
He knew better than to argue when Mom had that look in her eye. “Fine. I’ll go get my stuff.”
“Glad you remembered that look,” Dawn whispered to him as he walked by. “Can’t argue with her when she’s like that.”
“Oh, I recognized it.”
“I’ll come with you.” Dawn followed him outside. “I’m so happy you’re here, but I have to ask. Are you going to come back after you do this thing in New York? Maybe for a little while, at least?”
He let out a sigh. “Can we talk about this tomorrow?”
She smiled. “At least that wasn’t a no.”
“Don’t read more into it. I’m just tired, and I have a sweet job to go back home to.”
“Home?” She pulled her hands to her hips and raised a finger. “Home is here. Where your family is.”
He regretted the slip.
He hitched his bag on his shoulder and went back inside. “Goodnight, Mom. Love you. You too, sis. I’ll see you both in the morning.”
His room was now a girly blue with lots of flowers and ruffles. He was too tired to even care. He stretched out across the bed to the familiar sound of Dawn and Mom talking in the living room. It does feel like home.
Chapter Four
“Good morning, Mom,” Andrew said as he walked into the kitchen.
“You’re up early this morning.”
Andrew poured himself a cup of coffee. “I need to get back on an east coast schedule.”
“That’s got to be exhausting changing time zones like that, but you’re still young. You should be able to bounce right back.”
He shook his head. “Have to admit, there are a lot of days I’m not feeling so young anymore.”
“You’re probably working too hard. Every time I talk to you, all you talk about is work. Don’t you do anything for fun anymore?”
“I don’t have much time for anything else. Ever since Francois gave me the signature restaurant, it seems like I do everything. Hire, fire, prepare the menus, and cook. It’s exhausting. Last week I got stuck finding a new company to do the table linens.”
“Why on earth would you have to do that? Seems like they’d have someone to handle that.”
“Francois fires people faster than they can learn the jobs. I had to fill the gap to keep things going.”
“He’s lucky to have you. I guess that’s a small price to pay to be the chef at one of the most famous restaurants in France.”
There was a time when he’d thought that too. “I do love being a chef.” Only it wasn’t as fun as it used to be. Having to follow Francois’ recipes to the very letter was getting old. He yearned for the days when he could create something new in the kitchen for fun. Things like ordering linens and playing mediator between Francois and the employees, or soothing egos when Francois popped in on one of his surprise visits only to wield fury on Andrew’s team, was exhausting. He needed a psychology degree, not a culinary one. Not one to complain himself, he let Mom’s comment go.
“Dawn texted me earlier. She wants me to come over and see all the renovations they’ve done at the house.”
“It’s beautiful.” Her smile broadened in approval. “I’m so glad you’re making time to spend with her. She’s really missed you. We all have.”
“I’ve missed you too.” He grabbed his keys from the counter where he’d left them last night.
“Do you remember how to get there?”
“Things couldn’t have changed that much.”
“You might be surprised. If you have one of those fancy GPS in that car, you might want to use it.”
“I’ll call if I get lost,” he said, joking.
“I’ll see you later.”
He drove down the long lane that led to his folks’ house, then through the center of town.
The Main Street Cafe was bustling with customers. His first and only job in this town had been there.
It was where he’d fallen in love with cooking, and Kelly.
As he got closer, he noticed the cafe had tables out front now, not so much unlike a bistro back in France. A nice addition.
The old factory building next to it had been empty for as many years as he could remember, but now the brick facade had been spruced up with a new glossy white exterior extending both sides of the corner, boasting glossy white painted pillars. It brought a cheery brightness this end of the street had always needed.
He read the bright pink scripted letters over the door. The Cake Factory.
Andrew swallowed hard. Mixed feelings surged through him—pride, envy, and denial.
Dawn had told him Kelly had opened her own bakery. Pink had always been her favorite color, and this was right next
