After she’d talked to Brad on Saturday, Lindsay was leaning toward the safe route. That restaurant still tempted her, but there’d be other restaurants. She could get back together with Brad now, keep her safe job, and then they could save money and build their own place in the future.
And then she got a phone call from Erica at theForum.
“The meetings have wrapped and the board has made some decisions,” said Erica. “The short version is that the newForummanagement wants to go national and doesn’t see much use in having a New York editor or a food section anymore. Well, the decision isn’t final, but I understand that’s the way the executive board is currently leaning. I just wanted to warn you, my job might be in jeopardy. Which means yours is.”
And there it was. Lindsay couldn’t stick with the safe option—the safe job wasn’t safe. That was enough to convince Lindsay that waiting around to get laid off was stupid when she had this offer from Joey Maguire. She was still not sure she could run a whole restaurant, but it was like the universe was telling her she had to try. So as soon as she got off the phone with Erica, she called Joey.
“I’ll take it,” she told him. “On one condition.”
“Oh, man. You’re making my whole day, Lindsay. What’s your condition?”
“I want you to hire Brad Marks as the executive pastry chef.”
“Brad Marks? Why is that name familiar?”
After Lindsay explained—omitting the part where she and Brad were almost kind of a couple, maybe—Joey admitted he’d been reading all of her articles at theForum, so he had of course read the profile of Brad. “But the cat treats guy? Really?” he’d said.
So Lindsay had laid out Brad’s résumé.
Once Lindsay had her answer, she left her apartment. When she walked into the cat café, it wasn’t even noon yet.
Paige was working at the counter with Monique, so Lindsay supposed the regular counter staff was still out sick. Paige said, “Hi!” brightly when Lindsay walked in.
“I need to talk to Brad about something. He’s working today, right?”
“Yeah, he’s in the kitchen. You want me to fetch him?”
“Could you?”
Paige finished plating two scones for a couple who was waiting near the register, and then she jogged to the door to the kitchen. Lindsay smiled at Monique and decided to wait. It occurred to her that she hadn’t thought this through all the way. Brad was working. He was probably busy with something pastry-related in back. He might not appreciate the interruption or be able to step away from whatever he was doing without jeopardizing it. Lindsay didn’t bake much, but she knew sometimes that one extra minute in an oven could ruin a whole batch of cookies.
Paige emerged a moment later. “He said to tell you he’s busy now but as soon as he finishes what he’s working on, he’ll meet you in the cat room. He said it should take another ten or fifteen minutes.”
“Right. Of course. Then I’ll just be…” Lindsay pointed to the cat room, then she walked through the door.
Brad had mentioned in passing during one of their recent conversations that the lunch crowd didn’t tend to linger. The café sold a bunch of sandwiches to people who came in for takeout, but not always to people who sat down to eat. But there was a table of people in office clothes who were chatting over sandwiches and petting the cats. One woman had a miniature lint roller in her hand, probably to de-cat-hair herself once lunch was over.
Lauren and Evan were both sitting on one of the sofas, their laptops in their laps.
“Hey,” said Lauren. “You working here today?”
“I came by to talk to Brad, but he’s busy.”
“Sure.” Lauren glanced around the café. “He’s probably finishing today’s sandwiches.”
Lindsay pulled over a chair. As soon as she sat, a little gray-striped cat hopped into her lap.
Lauren pointed to the cat. “That’s one of Paige’s kittens.”
“Oh, wow. He grew fast.”
“He’ll get bigger still. Look how big his ears are. He’s gotta grow into those.”
The kitten did have big ears. Lindsay pet him, and he purred like he had a motor in his throat as he leaned into her hand.
“I hope it’s okay for me to stop by,” said Lindsay. “I wanted to tell Brad about what’s going on at Pepper, and didn’t think through the timing.”
“Uh, didn’t he go home with you the other night?” said Evan.
