Touchstone by Karen Stivali

Author:Karen Stivali [Stivali, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Heart Eyes Press LLC

21

Phoebe

I’d learned early on that when things clicked with a guy as fast as they clicked with me and Sam, they wanted more. More than I could give them.

I didn’t want to disappoint Sam. I certainly didn’t want to hurt him. And the fact that for the first time in my life I wanted more too scared the living shit out of me.

I was pretty sure the Subaru drove me to the Busy Bean on autopilot, because I was so flustered I could barely think straight. Coffee with Audrey helped, as did scoping out the Bean’s menu so I could make sure I wasn’t duplicating anything with my menu plans.

The initial round of Speakeasy interviews was scheduled for that afternoon, but I arrived while it was still morning. Food vendors hadn’t begun delivering supplies yet, but some of the basic cookware was already there. I’d stopped at the grocery store and picked up flour, cheese, eggs, yeast, garlic, and a few other spices. I needed to bake to calm down and didn’t want to go anywhere near Sam’s kitchen to do it. And I had to bake savory things so I could pretend it was my first round of sample items for the bar to hand out to customers instead of admitting it was much-needed stress baking.

By the time the interviews rolled around, I’d whipped up multiple batches of gougères—asiago and manchego—several flatbreads, cheese straws, and some parmesan crisps.

It helped. When the first interviewees arrived, I was focused and calm. Well, calmer.

“I’ll be in touch early next week and let you know.” I ushered the last person out the door. At least one of them had potential as a server. The other two maybe for bussing? Thankfully, several other applications had been sent in, so I had a lot more candidates to choose from. It surprised me a small town had so many people searching for work.

Alec popped his head into the kitchen, startling me. I hadn’t even realized he was there but he must have been in the office down the hall the whole time I was cooking. “Damn, it smells like an actual restaurant in here. What have you been up to?”

“Just making some assorted free samples for the regulars to try tonight. Thought we could start tonight with the theme of cheese.” I held out a tray of gougères. They’d crisped perfectly in the oven and were light and airy, just as they should be.

He popped one into his mouth and grinned as he chewed. “Very nice.”

“These are tiny, so great for munching at the bar, but I can also do bigger ones to fill with cold cuts or chicken salad...”

He snapped off a piece of garlic flatbread and crunched. “You’re making me hungry just thinking about the possibilities. Keep up the good work.”

“I plan to.”

I found some small, decorative buckets in the storage room, lined them with parchment paper, and filled them with the assorted munchies. When Ty, the general manager, arrived, I motioned him into the kitchen.

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