More Than Anything (Broken Pieces #1)(68)

She had never gotten around to contacting the paper again either. She had all but convinced herself that it was probably too late to apologize now.

“Oh?” she asked, lifting her eyes and fully expecting to see Harris standing behind Ricardo. Instead it was a vaguely familiar woman, whom she couldn’t immediately place. It was only when Ricardo shifted to one side and she saw the woman’s huge belly that Tina recognized her as Daffodil Carlisle.

“Hey,” the woman said with a quick smile. “I should probably have called and made an appointment—I know you’re likely busy. But I was seriously bored out of my gourd at home, so I hopped into the car and popped over. I wanted to show you what I’ve been working on.”

Ricardo, clearly figuring he was no longer needed, left without further word, and the pregnant woman waddled into Tina’s office and sat down across from her, dumping her satchel unceremoniously onto the other chair.

“Sorry. Just give me a sec to catch my breath. This baby is heavy as hell. I swear, he’s probably going to be as huge as his dad someday.”

“It’s a boy?” Tina asked, for lack of anything else to say, really.

“Damned if I know,” the other woman said with an indifferent shrug. “It better be. A girl the size of my husband would be a little unfortunate.”

The irreverence surprised a laugh out of Tina. Earth mother Daffodil Carlisle was not.

“Anyway, I’ve been thinking about what we could do to promote the—”

“Wait, hold on.” Tina held up both hands to stop her, and the other woman gave her an impatient look but stopped talking. “I’m sorry. We should have discussed this before. I wasn’t expecting you to just up and run with it like this. Look, Mrs. Carlisle . . . I really appreciate this. I do. But I don’t think I can accept your help.”

“Why the hell not?” the other woman asked, her brow furrowed and impatience still gleaming in her gray eyes. “And Jesus, call me Daff. Mrs. Carlisle sounds like some fuddy-duddy old bird in slouchy gray support stockings.”

Tina choked back a laugh. She was starting to really like this woman. She was completely different from her huggy, overly sweet sister, and Tina appreciated her frankness.

“I don’t think I can afford your services.”

“Damned straight you can’t afford my services, not the way this business is clearly struggling. I know it’s early days and everything, but damn, woman, this place is emptier than a church on a Saturday night out there. Luckily for you, I’m not charging you for my services.”

Like Tina needed even more affirmation of how terribly the restaurant was doing. Clearly, everybody could see how badly she was botching up this business. Even perfect strangers. It was disheartening to hear all her worst fears about MJ’s being verbalized so frankly. And having the woman offer her services for free was absolutely humiliating. Did the situation look dire enough to outsiders to actually warrant charity?

“I can’t accept that,” Tina said, inserting an entire glacier’s worth of ice into her voice. Wanting this woman to know exactly how insulted she was by even the suggestion of charity. Daff responded to her affront by rolling her eyes.

“Okay, get your panties out of that twist. I had your friend pegged as the easily offended one, not you. I’m not charging you, because you’re the one doing me the favor. Do you have any idea how mind-numbingly boring it is to sit at home every day waiting for this baby to pop? Spencer won’t let me lift a finger at home, and for some dumb reason he seems to think using one’s brain is overtaxing as well. I need this. Or I’ll go stir crazy.

“Besides, I think this will be fun. It really won’t require too much work from me at all. You’ve already done such a fantastic job with the place. It looks amazing, and the food is wonderful. MJ’s now has the potential to be a drawing card to tourists and out-of-towners as well as locals. And that would be great for the entire town. It just needs a few tweaks.”

Tina considered Daff’s words for a moment, and the defensive tension slowly drained from her. Hearing praise from someone as impartial, blunt, and honest as Daffodil Carlisle felt . . . well, it felt amazing, actually. It felt like validation, like she was doing something right. Like her instincts about the place may not have been as terrible as she had started to believe they were.

She had failed at so very many things since her baby’s death—it had become her norm. She had allowed herself to start each new job or project with the assumption of failure looming over her. And her family’s low expectations had only reinforced that lack of self-belief. But maybe MJ’s really was her chance to move forward. Her opportunity to finally—after so many years of failing at so many things—allow herself to succeed.

Not wanting to seem too eager, she gave Daff a long, measuring stare before resting her elbows on the desk and steepling her fingers. She hoped she looked as cool and businesslike as the guys who did the same in the movies.

“Okay,” she said, relenting. “Show me what you’ve got.”

Half an hour later, Tina couldn’t keep the excited smile off her face. Daffodil Carlisle looked a little peaked but extremely satisfied with herself. Her smugness was completely justified. She had outlined a comprehensive social media marketing strategy and partnership ideas with a few of the local businesses, including her husband’s Riversend store and an upmarket clothing boutique she had worked for in the past. Daff’s community-outreach ideas were also phenomenal; it would mean more work, but she had suggested donating pastries to some of the local charities, as well as the youth center her husband ran. She had even proposed catering the city council’s next few meetings free of charge. “Give a little to get a lot,” was her motto, and Tina could not find a single flaw in that strategy. Gaining favor with the leaders would go a long way in a small town like Riversend.