Need You for Always (Heroes of St. Helena)(81)
And the crowd reflected their hard work. Peering out the window, Emerson could see the bright colored trucks lined up side by side, stretching all the way through the parking lot of the Napa County Fairgrounds. Bold flags flapped in the wind as the crowd of foodies took in the quirky menus and vinyl-wrapped trucks boasting their mascots. Thousands of street food enthusiasts had turned out—and a good handful were swarming her truck, waiting for the window to open so that they could sample the menu she and Harper had labored over.
“Thanks, Dad,” Emerson said, wondering how so much had changed in just a few short weeks. Her sister was happy, her dad was on to an exciting new chapter, and Emerson had opened the first truck in her soon-to-be Greek streatery fleet.
She’d also fallen in love, had her heart broken, and yet somehow she was surviving. It still hurt every time she breathed, and even thinking about Dax made her stomach knot, which happened every time she slowed down, but she was pushing forward, and her family was there to help her.
“What do you think Mom would say?” she asked, wondering if Dax was allowing his family to help him or if he’d decided to go it alone.
“I think she would say the nachos are ingenious, the baklava tastes just like your great-great-grandmother’s, and that the lamb needs more salt.” Roger wiped his hands off on his apron and pulled Emerson in for a hug. “She’d also say that you are an amazing chef and an amazing daughter. Then she’d wipe her eyes on her sleeve and blame it on the onions.”
Emerson laughed and did a little wiping of her own. “Yeah, she would. And she’d be wrong on the lamb. It’s seasoned perfectly.”
Roger smiled but added a sprinkle of salt. “It looks like people are already starting to line up, and the girls did a great job handing out the fliers.” Harper had the brilliant idea to make up coupons—a buy-an-entrée-and-get-a-cupcake-free campaign to bring in a crowd. And from the looks of things, it was working. “I’d say we’ve got less than ten minutes until opening.”
“Okay, give me a minute.” Emerson took a breath and forced her heart rate to slow. She wanted to be in the moment, experience how it felt when everything finally came into focus and things that had seemed so impossible just a few weeks ago were suddenly real.
This was her time and she didn’t want to miss a second of it.
“I’m ready,” she said.
Emerson opened her eyes and turned around, and everything slowed to a stop.
Dax stood in her truck, dressed in full camo fatigues, wraparound glasses, and his army cap. He looked big, bad, and combat ready. There was also a duffel bag at his feet that had her going lightheaded.
“The truck looks great,” he said. “And the food smells amazing, even the green stuff.”
“You came here to try my food?” she asked and a painful laugh escaped her lips. “Or is this some twisted I am a man of my word moment? Because I meant what I said, I’ve got this.”
She didn’t want his crumbs. She wanted it all: love, magic, all of him.
“I came here to give you this.” His face was carefully blank, not giving a thing away as he handed her a one-page, handwritten letter.
She swallowed hard and took the paper. Her heart was hammering too fast for her to make sense of anything, so after a few lines she gave up. “What is it?”
“An application.”
Her throat went tight. “But you already have a job.”
“I quit that one,” he said, removing his glasses, and when his piercing blues met hers, she stopped breathing altogether. “This is for a new job. One here.”
“With Jonah?”
He shook his head. “With you.”
Not sure how to take that, she lifted the paper again, but she was shaking so bad it was impossible to make out anything beyond a few words, like chopping and sous. She looked up. “You want to be my sous chef?”
“Today I do. And tomorrow, if you’ll let me, I want to be your pillow. And the next day your first and last customer.” He took her hand in his and trapped it against his heart. The beat was steady and sure. “The day after that I want to cook you dinner. It won’t be perfect, but I’m willing to try. And that brings us to Thursday, which means I’d be your co-leader.”
“And Friday,” she asked, hating how her voice shook, her heart so heavy with hurt she was too afraid to hope. “What happens then? Because we did all of that, and it wasn’t enough for you.”
“Friday,” he said, his voice so raw she had to look away. Gather her thoughts. But he wasn’t having it, waiting until she was ready to look at him again. And when she couldn’t, he lifted her chin until she was gazing into his eyes. “Friday, I want to be your fun. I want to take you for a ride down the coast, maybe pitch camp on some isolated beach, and spend the entire night telling you just how amazing you are. And just how sorry I am.”
“Sorry doesn’t take away the hurt,” she said. “You hurt me, Dax.”
“I know. I had everything I wanted right in front of me, but grabbing it meant staying here. In my hometown.”
“We could have worked it out,” she said, taking a step back, but he didn’t let go of her hand. “I was scared too but I was willing to risk the ache for a shot at something amazing.”
“Did you know I was the only person who came home on my plane who didn’t have a family member waiting for them at the airport?” he asked quietly. “Not because they didn’t want to, but because I didn’t tell them I was coming.”