She sat there stunned for a moment.“France?”
“That’s usually where Paris is.”Brett gave her that boyish grin of his.
“Doesn’t that sound wonderful? I’ve always wanted to go there.”Emily’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Well…we’ll have to talk about it.”
“Why?”Emily frowned.“I want to go. I’ll be with Dad. It will be great.”
She looked over at Brett. How could he just decide he was going to do this without even discussing it with her?“We’ll talk about it later. I really need to get back to work.”
“I’m going,”Emily stated the fact as if the decision was hers to make.
“We’ll see you back at the house, then,”Brett said as if it washishouse.
So far he’d been over atherhouse every night this week. But then, it was Emily’s house, too. And Brett was her father. But he couldn’t just make a big decision like taking Emily out of the country without even checking with her. She stood up.“Okay, I’ll see you at home. And Brett, we need to talk.”
She turned and hurried over to a table of new customers, took their order and another table’s, and went into the kitchen.
“You okay? You looked ticked off,”Heather said as she handed her an order to deliver.
“No, I’m not okay. Not in the least bit. Brett has told Emily he’s taking her to Paris.”
“Without even talking to you first?”
“Right. I’m just so…”She paused and counted to three. Then five.“I’ve got to get back to work. But you know what? I am going to hire someone else to work here. I have to be able to spend more time with Emily.”
“Good plan. I think you do need more help here.”
Melody walked over to them.“Did you say you need more help? I can work more hours. I’d love to work full time instead of part time.”
“That will help. Are you sure?”Maybe Melody could even take over some of the cooking so that Evelyn could have some time off. If Evelyn taught her how to make the recipes.
“I’m sure.”
“Perfect. But I’m still going to consider hiring even more help if things don’t slow down by next week. And Heather, you need to get back to your art. You can’t fill in here forever.”
“I don’t mind.”
“I know, but you have your career. I just need to find someone responsible.”
With that decision made, she headed back out to the dining room. She glanced over at Austin’s table and it was empty. Brittany walked past her.“He left. I checked him out for you.”
“Oh…okay, thanks.”But she had to admit her feelings were a bit hurt that he’d left without saying anything to her. Though she had been crazy busy. And gotten tied up in the kitchen for a bit helping plate some orders. She fought off the disappointment that swept through her. She’d asked him out the last time…and now she felt like it was his move. He should ask her out if he was interested in dating her.
But then, maybe he wasn’t…
Chapter 24
Austin walked out of the cafe. He probably should have waited and said something to Livy. But she was busy. And then she’d sat down and chatted with Emily and her ex after saying she was too busy to sit down with him. The writing was on the wall.
And the three of them had looked like they were having a serious discussion. They’d looked all the world like a family having dinner together.
His timing was lousy. Supremely lousy.
He scowled as he walked along the sidewalk and back toward the hotel. He’d been briefly toying with finding an apartment here in Moonbeam. Working from here for a bit. He’d really come to like the small town. There was really nothing tying him down to Colorado.
But now it looked like he’d just be in the way.
