Page 91 of Risk It All
I rolled my eyes with a laugh. “Fair point.”
I paused, and we stared at each other. If I thought Louise was going to spill first, I was wrong. Her expression was solid. I let out a breath, giving up and asking my question instead. “Is there something going on between you and Ray?”
The corner of her mouth twitched. “Took you long enough to notice.”
My jaw dropped. “What?! Since when? Why didn’t you tell me?”
She shrugged. “We didn’t want to tell people at first in case things didn’t work out and we wanted to go back to beingfriends. It’s been a few weeks of us dating, and things have been good. Great, even.”
Now that I thought about it, Ray’s mood always brightened whenever Louise was around. His eyes were brighter, his laugh was louder. She brought him out of his shell—so much so that he’d been teasing and joking around more at work. It was kind of like Wes with Jules. And Gabe with Lily.
“Once we started dating, I realized there was no going back. I never wanted to stop spending time with him.”
I didn’t tell her how familiar her words felt.
“But you two had been friends for so long. What changed?
Louise leaned against the bar, a heavy exhale leaving her. “I stopped letting myself be scared. I didn’t want the fear of rejection or the fear of ruining our friendship or things changing to stop me from experiencing something much greater.”
Louise had gone through a painful divorce in her thirties, one that kept her from dating for a long time. Until Ray.
“How did you do that?” I asked, shaking my head. There were so many woman in my life I was in awe of, and Louise was firmly on that list.
“I decided I wanted to follow my heart more than I wanted to be scared. So I jumped.”
Her words hit me square in the chest, nearly knocking the wind out of me. “You took the risk? How did you know it’d be worth it?”
Her kind eyes searched my face, her expression softening. “I didn’t, but if I was going to risk it all for someone, it was going to be Ray. That I was certain of.”
“I’m so happy for you. And for Ray. I’m glad you two found each other.”
“Wasn’t so much finding each other as it was me realizing who was right in front of me.” Louise winked and grabbed the containers of limes, lemons, and maraschino cherries. “I’mgonna put these back in the fridge, but you should head out. Leo’s probably waiting for you.”
I rolled the final sets of silverware in a daze as her words replayed in my head.
Wasn’t so much finding each other as it was me realizing who was right in front of me.
But what happened when you were never supposed to fall for the person in front of you?
32
LEO
The long weekendpassed by in a blur of many,manymeals cooked, lots of socializing, and a burst of adrenaline that I hadn’t felt in a long time while in the kitchen.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t been passionate in my other roles—I had been, and it was why I’d had a successful career—but it was something about being in a small town. I’d thought cooking for people in a small town would get boring and repetitive, but it was the opposite, especially in Golden Falls when tourists were in the mix.
I liked how much people here cared about the town and what Lake Ridge had turned into. I liked seeing the same people come in, because they wanted to try a different dish or get information on what the next menu would be.
It got me thinking…did I want to come up with another menu for late summer? Or would I already be gone?
I’d had a couple of conversations with restaurants in Chicago that had gone well. Maybe a little too well, with how eager they were for me to come down for an in-person interview.
Did I want to stay here a little longer? Maybe through the summer and then plan to leave in the fall…or even the winter?
Of course, it wasn’t only the thought of my career and how much I’d grown to like this town that was weighing on me.
Eliza and my growing feelings for the woman I couldn’t stop thinking about were at the center. Because around her, I felt an ease I hadn’t experienced in years. Excitement, passion, and a desire to experience it all with her wrapped into one.
