Falling Sweetly (Starling Falls #2) (14 page)

Read Falling Sweetly (Starling Falls #2) Online

Authors: Aidan Willows

Annette held out a perfectly manicured hand for me to shake.

“Nice to meet you, Niki. I come to your bakery all the time. I simply love your raspberry and white chocolate muffins. And I think I’ve met your sister before. She works at hospital with my father, Dr Turner, right?”

I nodded and was about to respond when she turned back to Jake and tutted loudly.

“You’re not thinking big picture, Jacob. Just wait until you see the inside. This spot has mega-potential.”

“Why? Is there flesh eating mould growing on the walls inside that counts as modern decoration? Or a nice family of rabid rats we can keep as pets? Maybe a poltergeist or two that could help with the renovations?”

I hit Jake lightly on the shoulder. “Be nice,” I chastised quietly, which earned a grin from Jake as we followed Annette into the bar.

A musty smell was the first thing that hit us upon entering the dark space. Annette walked around and began opening shutters to let in some light.

“Holy shithole batman.” Jake sounded unimpressed as he took in the interior. “So, when you said a little work, you meant that it would take at least a decade?”

He brushed aside a large cobweb that was hanging from the ceiling. “It looks like an entry for a haunted house competition!”

“It honestly looks worse than it is. The building is structurally sound, it just needs a lick of paint or two,” Annette said soothingly.

“Try a lick of paint or ten,” Jake said plainly. “Where’s the kitchen?”

We followed Annette past a small curved wooden bar area, our steps leaving footprints in the thick coating of dust on the wooden floor.

She pushed open and walked through rusted swinging metal doors into a large, tiled, greasy looking kitchen.

Jake made a vaguely approving sound. “Well at least it’s a good size.”

Annette seemed happier at the first compliment and drew a card out of her purse.

“The owner wants a quick sell. He’s willing to go
way
below the listed retail price for the right person.” She handed Jake the card with a number written on it.

His eyebrows rose in surprise. “Seriously? This is all he’s asking for it? What’s the catch?” he asked suspiciously.

“There isn’t one. He’s tired of the property just sitting here gathering dust, but he wanted it to go to someone who would appreciate the old place. I told him about you, Jacob. The owner is keen to see the place restored to its’ former glory, he’s had generous offers from developers who only wanted the property for the land but he turned down every one of them.”

She took a step closer to Jake. “I have some other locations lined up for you to view, but none of them comes close to the size or price. I don’t need to tell you what a good deal this is, even with the redecorating that you would need to do.”

Jake nodded and touched my elbow gently. “You’re being very quiet. Do you hate it?”

“I didn’t want to intrude,” I murmured, meeting Jake’s piercing stare.

“Niki. I asked you to come with me because I want your opinion. Tell me what you think,” he said firmly, his hand still on my arm.

“Well…I think this place really does have potential,” I said looking at Annette who smiled triumphantly.

Starting to feel excited about the project, I took Jake by the wrist and dragged him back into the main space.

I pointed to the booths lined along the wall.

“Okay, so the booths are fine, they may need to be upholstered, but there are a lot of them. The tables are wooden and in a decent condition, so you’d just have to varnish them and they’d be as good as new!”

I walked over to where three large, shabby pool tables were placed along the right side of the bar.

“You could get rid of these pool tables and put more tables and chairs here instead, so you have a larger seating capacity.”

Still speaking at a fast pace, I pulled him over to the bar.

“Just look at how beautiful the wood on this bar is! After you restore it, it could be stunning! You could buy work from the local artists in the community and decorate the whole restaurant with them.”

“And here.” I dragged him to an open space next to a jukebox. “You’re not a bar - you don’t need this dance floor space. You could put more tables here too. Though I would keep the jukebox because it looks amazing and vintage. Ooh! You could even put a small temporary stage here and have live performances from time to time. I’m sure people would love that.”

I spun him around and made him look at the space again.

“Okay, so it won’t look like a typical diner. But maybe that’s a good thing. You could be some sort of restaurant, diner, bar hybrid. That’s the whole point of this, right? You’re creating something that’s your own. There are no rules you have to go by, simply do whatever you want to do!”

I walked around his large body, so I was face to face with Jake.

“You may need to spend a good couple of months fixing this place up, but I think it would be worth it. It seems to be mainly cosmetic work that needs doing anyway. You could easily keep restoration costs down by doing most of the work yourself and drag your brothers and friends in to help. You could do so much with this bar, Jake.”

And the motor mouth returns.

I took a deep breath and met Annette and Jake’s amused gazes.

Annette was the first to speak. “Are you looking for a career in real estate? I could use someone like you on my team.”

Jake laughed loudly. “She certainly sold me on the place.”

He threw an arm around my shoulder as he looked around the bar once more. “A hybrid restaurant. That’s interesting.”

Calm down heartbeat, calm down!

Annette’s expression turned suggestive as she looked between Jake and me. “Hmm. You know, you two make a cute couple. You’re a lucky man, Jacob. This one’s a keeper.”

“Oh no. We’re not… that’s not… we’re friends,” I stuttered quickly.

Thanks for making things weird. And there was me thinking I liked you, lady.

Jake’s arm left my shoulders, and I immediately missed the warmth his body had provided. I heard him muttering something about ‘being friends’ under his breath.

“Oh. Sorry. I just assumed…” Annette trailed off, before she cleared her throat and swiftly changed the subject. “Well, what do you think?”

Jake glanced at me and I nodded once. “I’ll take it.”

CHAPTER 12

Jacob

“So, what do you feel like for lunch?” I asked Niki as I started the car.

“You really don’t need to buy me lunch,” she protested quietly. “We can just go straight back to town. I have a ton of stuff to do at the bakery anyway”

I sighed softly. Every time I seemed to think I was making progress, she would begin to withdraw from me again.

“We’re getting lunch, Niki,” I told her firmly before repeating the question, “What do you feel like?”

“Uhm. Italian?” she said unsurely. There was only one small family-run Italian restaurant in Starling Falls, and the food there was amazing.

I smiled approvingly, “That sounds good to me. You ever tried the Chicken Parm at
Ristorante D’Angelo
?”

“I’ve never been there.”

“What? How have you been here for nearly a year but haven’t tried the Starling Falls institution that is
Ristorante D’Angelo
? This is beyond tragic and must be changed immediately. You poor thing. You’ve been deprived for months and you don’t even know it,” I said outraged.

Her soft laughter made me smile. “Okay then. Educate me, Jake.”

I bit back a groan thinking about all the ways I would like to ‘educate her.’

Pervert.

* * * * *

The mouth-watering smells of bread, garlic and tomatoes assaulted our senses as we walked into the cozy restaurant. The small tables were covered with plastic red and white chequered table clothes, and each table had been decorated with a small rose in a tiny glass vase.

“Jacob!” a warm voice called out, as a small, plump woman with long dark, brown hair and eyes threw her arms around me.

“Look at you!” she pinched my cheeks as she spoke, “Every time I see you, you seem to have grown taller and even more handsome. How are Debbie and Jeremy?”

“They’re both fine, and I’m sure I stopped growing at eighteen, Mrs D’Angelo,” I said, trying to get out of her iron grip.

I heard quiet laughter sound from behind me, and I threw Niki a playful evil stare, to which she just grinned back as she watched the older woman continue to grope me.

Mrs D’Angelo noticed me looking over my shoulder, and her smile widened knowingly when she saw Niki standing behind me.

“Jacob! Where are your manners? Your aunt would be so disappointed. Are you not going to introduce me to your lovely friend?”

I rolled my eyes as I introduced Niki to Mrs D’Angelo and grinned when Niki squeaked as she was engulfed by a big hug.

After she had cupped Niki’s face and proclaimed how pretty she was, we were finally taken to sit at a small booth near the back of the restaurant. Mrs D’Angelo winked at me over Niki’s head and walked away.

Niki looked around the booth confused. “There are no menus,” she said quietly.

“Nope. You don’t get menus here. You eat whatever Mrs D’Angelo’s mother-in-law decides to make for the day and you make sure to look happy about it.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s the way it’s always been here. You want to get thrown out on your ass? Just try to request something. Unless it’s because of an allergy or dietary issues, you’ll be chased out of here by Nonna D’Angelo with a rolling pin.”

Niki laughed just as a Luciana D’Angelo, the owner’s daughter, came by our table with two glasses of red wine and a jug of water.

“Oh, we didn’t order the wine,” Niki told her kindly as she has started to walk away.

Luciana tucked a loose strand of light brown hair behind her ear as she looked at Niki.

“It must be your first time here. I’m Luciana. My mother is the crazy lady who seated you. When she says to bring you red wine, you get the wine. No arguments.”

“Oh. Okay,” Niki replied, looking slightly bewildered.

Luciana smiled, her light brown eyes sparkling and her red lips curving as she looked between me and Niki.

“You run Trudy’s, right? I love that place. I’ll be back with your food soon.” She sent me a questioning look before she walked away to the kitchen.

Damn gossipy small towns.

I shook my head and huffed quietly, knowing that news of our lunch together would have reached Aunt Deb before we’d even started our meal.

“They seem to know you well. Does your family come here often?” Niki asked while looking around the restaurant.

I nodded, my eyes fixed on hers. “Small towns. Everyone tends to know everyone else, and Mrs D’Angelo’s son Vinny works with Caleb at the fire station.”

Niki nodded as another silence fell over our table again, and she began tracing the squares on the plastic table cloth.

What the hell am I doing wrong here?

I reached across the table to still her hand. “Are you okay? Do you want to go?”

She looked up, and a blush appeared on her cheeks again. “No, I’m fine,” she said so softly I barely heard her.

She muttered something to herself quietly and took a deep breath before speaking. “How do you feel about The Saloon?”

Good to know she talks to herself too. Our future babies will definitely have some beautiful but crazy genes.

“Good. I’m going to have to get a contractor to make sure that the structure is actually safe and to check out the wiring and plumbing. But, I’m feeling really good about it.”

“I’m happy for you, Jake. It’s so exciting!” her beautiful smiling face beamed at me from across the table, and it took everything in me not to grab her and devour her mouth like I wanted to.

“Thanks.”

Luciana brought over a large tray of food and began to place several dishes in front of us. Niki’s eyes widened as she took in all the dishes covering our table.

“We can’t possibly finish all of this.”

Luciana scoffed. “You’ve seen the Jamesons eat, right? Trust me. It’ll finish.”

I made sure Mrs. D’Angelo wasn’t looking before I flipped Luciana off, making her laugh.

“Someone’s not getting a tip!” I called out to her as she walked away from the table.

Niki slid smoothly out of the booth. “I’m just going to the restroom. I’ll be back soon.” She let out an odd laugh, “Well, that was a stupid thing to say. I mean, obviously I’ll be back. It’s not like I’m going to climb out the toilet window and disappear or anything. That would be a weird thing to do.”

She walked away shaking her head, and muttering to herself.

Adorable. Even her ramblings are fucking adorable.

I was watching the sway of her hips as she walked away, when the message alert on my phone sounded. I groaned as I read the message I’d just received.