Page 24 of Risk It All
The first weekendof serving food at Lake Ridge went better than I’d expected.
I figured people would show up, given it was a small town and they’d want to support a local business, but theytrulyshowed up. The place had been packed all weekend with people who either wanted to go out for dinner or a place to socialize, dance, and play games.
As much adrenaline as I felt in the kitchen, being out on the floor boosted me, too. Running food and meeting more of the town’s residents let me see how Lake Ridge came to life. We weren’t serving food on Sundays, but maybe that should change once there was a bigger staff.
I’d believed Wes when he first said we could turn this into something special. After one weekend, I was sold on the vision he had. There really was something here, and I’d do what I could to help him move toward it while I was here.
I wasn’t entirely sure how that would work. Typically, when you were looking for a new job, you weren’t advertising that to your current boss, but…this felt different. I wanted to believe that Wes would understand and appreciate the honesty.
For now, though, Ray and I had Sundays off.
After completing a run on one of the nature paths this morning, I was heading to Maple Bluffs to visit Mom and see what needed to be done at her house.
Luckily, my car had arrived just in time. When I first moved out west, I’d made the drive, stopping along the way during the more than two thousand miles of travel. I stretched the trip out a week, which allowed me to stop in towns I otherwise never would’ve visited. I stopped in pubs, taverns, and restaurants. The move to Golden Falls had a quicker turnaround, which meant it made more sense to have my car shipped. I hadn’t needed my car much in town since the apartment was a few blocks away from the bar and past that was a small grocery store.
Golden Falls was similar to Maple Bluffs in that they were both small towns surrounded by nature. While Golden Falls centered around Lake Golden, Maple Bluffs was along the river. It was smaller than Golden Falls and didn’t attract as many tourists, but visitors still flocked to town, especially in the fall for apple picking, the pumpkin patch, and to sample the iconic maple syrup.
The drive was about an hour, which meant there was no avoiding calling Colin to finally fill him in on my recent life changes.
Once I got on the highway, I hit the voice button on my steering wheel and said, “Call Colin.”
The phone rang twice before he picked up.
“Leo?” he answered, and it probably didn’t shine a good light that he was answering my phone call with a question, surprised I was calling in the first place.
“Hey, man. Got a few?” I asked.
“Uh, yeah. Give me a sec,” Colin said, and I heard aclangon the other end of the line, like he was setting down a set of weights.
“You at the gym? I can call back later,” I offered.
“Yeah, but it’s not a big deal. I was finishing up my lift anyway and about to pack up. What’s up?”
“Realized we haven’t talked in a while. Wanted to see how you were doing and also tell you that I’m not in Portland anymore.”
“Wait, you moved? What—when did you do that? I didn’t even know youwantedto move. I was just out there, and you didn’t say anything.”
I wanted to tell Colin that there hadn’t been much time for us to talk during his visit, but I held my tongue. At the time, I didn’t know anything about the job or the move. I thought I’d secured the promotion I’d all but been promised to get—only for it to fall through my fingers.
“It all happened pretty fast,” I admitted. “Things didn’t work out like I thought they would at my old job.”
“You didn’t get the promotion?” Colin cut in. So, maybe he had been listening.
“No, I didn’t. And, actually, around that same time I got a call for a different gig. A head chef role at a small town bar and grill.”
My grip on the steering wheel tightened, and my pulse kicked up a notch. Why was I so fucking nervous to tell him I was in Golden Falls?
“No shit, really? That’s awesome. Where are you then?”
“I’m in”—I cleared my throat—“I’m in Golden Falls working at Lake Ridge.”
Silence filled the line, and when Colin didn’t say anything, I added, “I’m going down to see Mom today, actually.”
“Wait, you’re in Golden Falls, like the one in Wisconsin? The one where…” Colin trailed off, and I wondered if he was going to bring her up. “I thought you didn’t want to be in a small town?”
“That’s the one,” I confirmed, leaning my head back against the car’s headrest as I focused on the open road. “I didn’t think I wanted to either, but I needed something different, and the job is a good step to the next thing. Maybe back to Portland or Chicago. Or a completely new city. This’ll help me get to where I want to be.”
“So, it’s temporary?” Colin asked, skeptically.
