“Go, I’ve got this for a little while,” I said, shooing her up the stairs.
She hesitated, looked at Cass one more time, and then disappeared.
Cassidy joined me at the register.
“Have you figured that out yet?” she said, waving her head in the direction Tristan had disappeared.
“Figured out that she tastes like cream soda and that Hannah has already claimed a portion of my heart? Yeah. Figured out how to insert myself into the life of a widow with a child who lost her dad? Not at all.”
Cass frowned. “It can’t be one of your casual flirtations, or everyone will get hurt.”
“Why does everyone assume that’s all I want or that it’s all I can ever have?” It stabbed at me a little. Pinpricks into my heart and soul. I wantedmore.
My sister took in the seriousness of my face as she rocked with Chevelle, the swaying movement mimicking the one I saw Tristan do when she was nervous. I suddenly realized it was some leftover of when Hannah had been a baby and Tristan had soothed her.
“You have a huge heart, brother o’ mine. No one questions it. You just haven’t chosen to settle down, so I guess everyone assumed that wasn’t the lifestyle you wanted.”
“Anyone stop to consider that I just hadn’t found the person I wanted to keep enough to ask them to put up with all the bullshit that comes with me being a celebrity?”
“Whoa. A celebrity. Be careful that ego doesn’t jump out and bite you in the butt,” she teased, reaching for my ear to flick. I protected it with my shoulder.
“What did you want to say about Kincaid’s?” I asked, stepping away from her.
She looked down, gulped, and then back up. “Well, I know you were talking about using it as studio space, but I was thinking it really is a great restaurant location.”
I frowned. “I have no desire to own a restaurant.”
She met my eyes, and they were nervous. “I was…I was thinking I might love it.”
The surprise hit me so hard I didn’t have time to hide it, and Cass grimaced at my expression.
“You don’t have to say it. I already know I don’t know anything about managing a restaurant. But I know I love to cook, and I’d love to show everyone that healthy options don’t have to be tasteless or dry. I think a great farm-to-market, vegetarian place could do well not only with the town, but the college crowd.”
She was probably right. College kids ate that kind of crap up like it was free beer at a frat party. Before I could respond, Cass continued.
“I have some money saved up that I was planning on using to buy a house. But if I stay at home a while longer, I could invest it in the business. It just wouldn’t be enough. I’d need help… I hate to even ask…but maybe you’d be interested in backing it? A silent-partner kind of thing.”
My heart was already jumping with joy, the words I’d said minutes before with Tristan ringing through my ears again. I wanted my money to help the people I loved. The thought of helping Cass build something she wanted, helping her with a livelihood that would support her and Chevelle…I was all in.
“Let’s call Elsa and put an offer in on the place,” I told her with a grin.
“Really?” she breathed out.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I know shit about any of it either, but I’m sure Lee could help us find some connections who’d be willing to advise us.”
“Should we wait to put in the offer until we have a business plan in place? Make sure it is viable? I mean, we should at least do a marketing study, right?”
“Look. I want the place regardless of what goes into it. It could sit empty for another ten years, and I wouldn’t care. I want it so that William Chan puts aside his idea of selling it to someone who will merge the space with this store.”
“He’syourfriend,” Cass said with a laugh.
“Hewasmy friend. Now he’s just some jerk who thinks he knows best for everyone,” I said and cringed because my mom also thought she knew best for everyone. “Let’s not tell Mom until they’re gone, though.”
Cass was nodding. “Yeah, I agree. She doesn’t need to know right now.”
I hit Elsa Chan’s phone number and left a message with a full price, cash offer for Kincaid’s, asking her to call me back.
Cass came up, placed a kiss on my cheek, and then flicked my earlobe that I’d left undefended. “Thank you. I promise I’ll pay you back. I promise you won’t regret it.”
