Page 24 of The Orchard at Rosevale
El laughed. ‘Your grumpiness doesn’t fool us. Behind that glower is a trivia buff just waiting to win a meat tray.’
Cruz brightened. ‘Is that the prize?’
Kyle and El laughed, and Cruz reluctantly joined in. Maybe a night out at the pub wouldn’t be so bad? Give him a chance to get reacquainted with locals because when he opened his restaurant, he’d be counting on them for business.
Not that he intended on schmoozing. He’d never been any good at small talk. But opening a new restaurant in the country, where money was tight for a lot of people, required more than publicity. Word-of-mouth recommendations went a long way in Rosevale Grove and showing his face at the pub would be a good start if his idea—or El’s, more precisely—came to fruition.
‘I’ll see you later,’ he said, keen to start number crunching now that he’d seen the potential in the shed and had a menu planned out.
He made it back to the homestead before realising he hadn’t asked El if she wanted to collaborate on the promotional side of things. Oh, well, time enough for that tomorrow. She still had five days left on the farm and he intended on making the most of them.
In a purely professional capacity, of course.
CHAPTER
14
Engrossed in her work, Elora jumped when a knock sounded at the door. Glancing up, she saw the sky had darkened outside and she hadn’t noticed. Heck, she’d been so busy updating the farm’s website, she’d forgotten about a more extensive tour of the farm and dinner at the pub. Deb, her graphic designer, had come through once again, her cutesy avocado graphics and gorgeous colours exactly what Elora had wanted. Deb had a way of taking a rough vision and turning it into something special, and once Elora updated all the pages, and streamlined the pale green and lemon colour palette throughout the website, the entire thing would pop.
The knock sounded again, an impatient rapping this time, and she knew it had to be Cruz. She opened the door and struggled not to gawp. Cruz in head-to-toe black—jeans, shirt, blazer—made her slightly weak-kneed. And when he offered her a tentative smile, she clutched the door for support.
‘Ready to go?’ he asked, his gaze roving over her. ‘There’s no point taking two cars, so I thought you’d like to ride with me.’
‘Sure, that sounds good, but you’ll need to give me five minutes to change. I got caught up with work and didn’t realise the time.’
‘You don’t need to change, you look great,’ he said, the appreciative glint in his eyes making her stomach tumble in startling ways.
She held up her hand, fingers spread. ‘Five minutes, promise.’
‘Okay. I’ll meet you at the car.’
He didn’t move and for one crazy moment, before common sense slapped her upside the head, she wondered what it would be like to throw caution to the wind and invite him in while she changed.
Insane. Sleeping with the boss would muddy their working relationship.
‘Is there something wrong?’ she asked.
He shook his head. ‘I just wanted to say thanks for suggesting the pop-up restaurant. If I can get the numbers crunched correctly, I’m going to do it.’
‘That’s brilliant, Cruz.’ She squeezed his arm. ‘I’m so happy for you.’
‘I’m happy for me too,’ he said, his gaze focussing on her mouth for a second. ‘You’re full of good ideas.’
She’d thought so too, once, before her confidence eroded and her pesky mental health issues took over. These days, she had everything under control, but it hadn’t always been like that. At times, like when she’d discovered Jason had cheated, she reverted to an anxious, quivering mess, and no amount of deep breathing or meditating could settle her.
Forcing the fake smile she’d honed to a fine art over the years, she said, ‘If you need help promoting the restaurant, I’m your gal.’
‘Let’s open it first. Don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.’
But his words held no malice, and she could see herself staying in this place for longer than a week—for however long it took—to advertise her brilliant idea.
‘We can chat about it in the car, after I’ve changed.’
‘Seriously, the pub is pretty casual. You’ll probably be overdressed with what you’re wearing.’
‘I like to look good.’
‘I can see that.’ Once again, his gaze slid over her in a leisurely perusal that set every nerve ending alight.
