Dishing up Romance: An enemies-to-lovers rom-com filled with laughter, chaos, and love in a cozy café setting. by Hannah Lynn

Author:Hannah Lynn [Lynn, Hannah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paper Cat Publishing
Published: 2025-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 45

On Kent’s suggestion, they met at The Yard. Given how she wanted to make up for quite a few things, Gemma arrived five minutes before they were due to meet and was planning on getting the drinks in. It was, therefore, a surprise to find Kent already there and a pint of cider waiting in her place.

“Don’t worry, it’s still cold,” he said. “I saw you coming down the road. Although if I’ve got it wrong, I’ll drink it, and you can get something else.”

“This is perfect, thank you,” Gemma said before removing her coat, sitting down, and taking a longer-than-average sip. She was hoping the drink would ease some of her nerves, but short of downing the entire pint, she doubted it was possible. The entire walk there, her mind had been skipping over every conversation she and Kent had had and how they would have gone differently if she’d known he was officially her boss. It was a futile exercise that left her regretting everything she’d said and desperate for a cigarette, though she’d kicked the habit over five years ago and had no intention of going back to it. Strangely, though, actually seeing Kent there, with a pint in his hand, made her feel notably calmer.

“Okay then, boss, I guess we should start talking,” she said.

Kent grimaced.

“I don’t want to be the boss. I want us to be a team, but yes, we have things to talk about.”

“Well, for starters, if we are going to keep those new tills, we need to get rid of all the random things on there.”

“Random things?”

“Caramel frappes? Pepperoni hot pockets. Things we really don’t and aren’t ever going to sell. I was looking at it all this afternoon when I was trying to get to grips with it. Why are they all on there?”

“Oh. Yes.” Kent took a sip of his drink, and it felt like he was avoiding looking Gemma in the eye, but a second later, he was smiling at her. “It’s just a second-hand till, that’s all. I suspect that’s why they’re still on there.”

“Wow, I can’t believe they ever used it. It looks brand new.”

“You’re right,” Kent said. “It does, but moving on from the till, I know it’s hard to hear this because I know how hard you work, but given its location and size, the café should be bringing in, conservatively, double what it is.”

“Double?” Gemma said.

There was no way she believed that. Sure, their prices were lower, but they were always busy. How did he expect them to handle any more without increasing the number of staff, and surely that would cut into the profits even more?

“That’s conservative,” Kent said. “And there are a few things we can look at straight away to turn that around. To start with, we could fit far more tables into the space. There’s room for at least thirty per cent more inside and outside needs to become strictly for customers. Loads of people just like to sit down and have a look at the view.

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