In Over Her Head: An Anchor Island Novel by Terri Osburn (reading eggs books .TXT) 📗

“That’s my restant,” cut in the little one with the same name.

“I heard,” Opal replied. “Nice to meet you, Lauren, and welcome to Anchor Island. We’re happy to have you.”

“Thanks. I’m happy to be here.” She hadn’t been able to say those words and sincerely mean them in a long time. If ever.

“Does everyone know what they want?”

Lauren glanced around for a menu. “Do I need to go inside to see the options?” she asked.

“Oh, you need a menu.” Opal whipped a small laminated sheet from the pocket of her apron. “The rest of these ladies are regulars so I guess they forgot you haven’t been here before.”

“Prepare yourself,” Sid said. “Opal makes the best desserts you’ll ever have in your life.”

She’d sampled dishes from some of the best pastry chefs on the East Coast so Lauren doubted that could be true. Still, a sweet was a sweet and she had a deep abiding love for anything chocolate. Which is what drew her to an obvious choice.

“Is the chocolate heaven cup as good as it sounds?” she asked.

“Better,” Sid assured her.

“Then that’s what I’ll have.”

The rest of the group placed their orders, and then Sid and Will took the kids to see a dog at the other end of the patio in order to keep them entertained until the treats arrived. Lauren caught Henri whisper something to Mia, who looked as if she wanted to be anywhere else. The next thing Lauren knew, Mia had moved to Sid’s empty seat beside her.

“You must be excited for the opening,” she said.

Excited, panicked, and totally freaked the hell out were more like it. “I am. We’re just about ready, but I almost wish I’d done a soft launch.”

Mia cut a quick glance to Henri and then looked away. What exactly was up with these two?

“A soft launch?” she said, only half listening.

“It’s when a restaurant opens without a lot of fanfare in order to test things first. Then a large scale opening happens once they work out the kinks.”

“We could still do that,” Will said, interrupting their conversation.

Lauren hadn’t seen her return to the table. “We could do what?”

“Have a trial run.” Will waved a hand to indicate the group around the table. “If everyone here brings their significant others, we could have a pre-launch meal to help you test the food and staff.”

“I bet Tom and Patty would come, too,” Beth offered.

These were not names Lauren knew.

“If we can get a babysitter for the twins, Sam and I will come,” Callie said.

They were only four days away from opening. How were they going to get a pre-launch dinner in and still have time to adjust for any issues?

“I’m not sure we’ll have time. We’d need a period after to address any necessary changes.”

Will lifted Pilar onto her lap. “What about tomorrow?”

“You’ve got the meeting with the Ferrero family tomorrow night,” Roxie reminded her.

“Crap. How about Thursday?” She looked to be asking Roxie, who smiled.

“You’re free Thursday night.”

“Can we bring the kids?” Beth asked. “If Tom and Patty come, then that would eliminate our babysitters, but I wouldn’t want them to miss it either.”

This was moving way too fast.

“There’s a kid’s menu,” Roxie said. “If you’re going to test the food, you might as well test all of it.”

Lauren couldn’t believe these women were willing to drop everything on such short notice just to help her out. Could they really do this? The staff was ready, and the dishes had almost been perfected. Front of house had started training yesterday morning and since most had worked at the Marina, they’d picked things up quickly. All she needed were the fresh ingredients, and Wyatt would likely help her out with the fish if she showed up at the pier at dawn.

“Are you all sure about this?”

“We’re talking about after five, right?” Callie said.

An evening service would give the most time to prep.

“Sure. How about six thirty?” Lauren asked.

There were nods all around as cell phones were pulled from purses and pockets to text spouses. Fifteen minutes later, all had confirmed while, as Sid had promised, Lauren enjoyed the most decadent chocolate cupcake she’d ever tasted in her life. Not until an hour later on her drive home did the reality set in. Pilar’s would seat a party of fourteen plus four kids in less than forty-eight hours for a full menu tasting.

She could only pray the staff didn’t kill her when she told them the news.

Nick assured himself that he was only checking in with a friend. The fact that during the check-in he could find out what was happening at Pilar’s was a minor coincidence. He hadn’t heard from Lauren since Monday morning when he’d made the short walk back to his place. Granted, that was only thirty-six hours ago, and they’d made no plans for when they would talk or meet up next. Why would they? She was busy trying to open a restaurant.

And Nick was busy imagining all the things that could be going wrong that he could help fix. A fact Lauren would likely resent.

Her ambition and independent spirit were two of the traits he liked most about her. There was also her complete lack of pretense as well as the unexpected displays of vulnerability. Nick had glimpsed the woman behind the wall. The woman with nerves of steel and a heart full of scars. She could talk a mean game, cook like a master, and bring a man to his knees. All of which she’d done on Sunday evening.

The simple fact that he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head ever since should have sent him running, but Nick was tired of running.

“Hey, man,” Jackson said as he joined Nick at the end of the bar. “How’s it going?”

“That’s what I was going to ask you.” The crowd at O’Hagan’s Pub was quiet on a Tuesday evening, which was why Nick had picked this location. “Four