Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek #1)(92)

The pain in her eyes reflected in his frown. “I’m sorry,” he said again.

“Don’t be. I’m not. I’ll find it someday.” She smiled at him. “What about you? You dreaming about a wedding with your beer woman yet?”

Well...

She chuckled lightly. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Where there’s a rumor that Luke Bradford’s ready to walk the white plank, it’s usually true.”

“Hey, watch it,” he retorted, humor returning to his voice.

“For what it’s worth, I’m really happy for you, Luke. Now you can finally have it all.”

His gaze faltered. And then his lips were moving without any assistance from his brain. “There’s a good chance I won’t have Desert Confections on that list,” he revealed softly.

Incredulous, her gaze snapped up to see if he was joking. “What? Why?”

Luke gave her the abridged version of his lease situation. “Quinn and I have crunched the numbers over and over. There’s just no way we can afford the lease increase. Unless we can figure something out, we’ll have to close our doors here for good in June.”

Angie shook her head, refusing to accept that as the only option in the stubborn way he’d always loved. “Don’t give up, Luke. You can just move and turn Desert Confections into as big a success in a brand new location. You’ve gained a huge following from the throwdown. You can—”

“No,” he said quietly. “Not if I sell my recipes too.”

Saying it aloud for the first time was like a knife to his gut; and by the stunned, appalled look on Angie’s face, he knew that she knew what this decision was costing him.

“What do you mean? Why in the world would you—”

“Quinn invested nearly as much as I did into the relocation. I’ve thought about this every which way. I can’t... I can’t drag her down with me. Not with everything she has on her plate.” Exhaling slowly, he met Angie’s sympathetic gaze. “Most of my homers would probably sell easily—a few premiere shops on the east coast have made offers over the years. And I can likely sell off my third basers to a company that specializes in chocolate gift sets for high-end department stores,” he rambled off emotionlessly.

All the while, Angie just kept shaking her head in denial, her expression stricken. “Luke, you can’t do this. I know you. I know what those recipes mean to you.”

“People are more important than recipes.” He patted her hand in a show of calm he wasn’t really feeling. “I can always create more.” He looked up and told her the part he knew she was wondering about. “My five best aren’t in that bunch.” At her relieved look, he clarified, “They’re being held as collateral for the loan I took out for all my equipment. I’m still contemplating what to do with those, but I’m leaning toward giving those up too, and closing out the loan.”

“Who would give you a twisted loan like that?” she asked, visibly angered.

“Noah Jameson. My landlord.”

Her hands curled into fists. “What a slimy bastard. I have half a mind to—“

He halted her rant. “I knew what I was getting into when I signed that loan. Noah’s not at fault here. In fact, he offered me a fairly long no-penalty deferred-payment extension due to the circumstances. But I just...” He sighed. “I don’t want to keep putting Quinn through this. A big part of me feels like I should just close out the loan and buy Quinn out. Cut things off cleanly. But another part of me is just hoping my other premium recipes will bring in enough so I can hold onto those five recipes for when I start over. Either way, everything I get from selling my recipes and dismantling the rest of the shop, is going straight to Quinn to return her investment, proportionate to the number of years she’s been with me, and give her a hefty severance package. Smart as she is, she’s way better off in some big corporation anyway.”

Angie studied his impassive expression. “Easy as that huh?”

“Yep,” he said blandly, his eyes avoiding hers.

“And where do you fit in all this? How much of what’s left goes to your future?”

His eyes grew more hooded. “Not enough to open up again on my own right away,” he admitted. “But that’s okay. I’ll start over. Make new recipes. Resave. I did this whole thing once. I can do it again.”

“This is a huge decision, Luke. All of it, not just the closing down, but the forfeiture of your five best recipes… What does your girlfriend think about all this?”

“I haven’t told her yet. She’s not exactly…future-oriented. I don’t want to scare her.”

Frowning at the dismal look he was undoubtedly wearing, Angie placed her palms on either side of his face and sighed. “Luke, the future is just a path. For two people to be on one path together, all they need to do is head in the same direction—at the same time—and want to take the same turns and exits together. In my case, my path eventually veered away from my husband’s. In yours, it might be as simple as you waiting a little longer for her to catch up.”

“Sometimes I wonder if she’ll ever get there.”

“Want me to light the heart signal in the sky?” asked Angie, straight-faced.

He pinched her side, laughing despite himself. “I forgot what a brat you are.”