Anything For You. Kristan Higgins

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       CHAPTER FIVE

      Eight and a half years before the proposal...

      THE SECOND TIME Connor and Jessica hooked up was almost exactly two years after the ill-fated first time.

      In the time that passed, Connor had surprised himself by moving back home. While at the Culinary Institute, he’d traveled quite a bit—internships in France, Miami and then a prestigious stint at the only restaurant in Manhattan ever to earn three Michelin stars. And while he learned immeasurably, the big, glitzy restaurant scene wasn’t for him. Food presentation bordered on the ridiculous...filet mignon topped with a circle of half-inch, precisely cut white and green asparagus tips arranged in a yin-yang symbol; symmetrical dollops of red beet paste making a half circle around a brick of polenta with the restaurant logo branded onto it.

      The food was amazing, but it wasn’t the type Connor wanted to make. He wanted to make ordinary food taste extraordinary. It was all about flavor and the experience. Happiness should be part of the meal, and at Vue des Anges, where dinner for two could easily cost more than $500, there weren’t a lot of happy patrons. Snobby patrons, definitely. Patrons trying to impress their companions. Bored patrons, sullen patrons, patrons a little stressed by the high-pressure dining experience.

      What he wanted, especially now, was a place for normal people. A place that served perfect meals without the pressure. Lasagna made with veal and pork and cream and four kinds of cheese and homemade pasta—not fussy, not ridiculous...just perfect, thoughtful, fantastic. Yes, they’d serve hamburgers, which would probably enrage Etienne, his former boss, but hamburgers made with Angus beef and shallots and flat-leafed parsley and garlic-infused butter. His sister’s weakness, nachos, served with Cotija cheese and wafer-thin slices of radishes and charred tomatillo salsa.

      A place that was home in a way that his own home had never really been.

      On the surface, the O’Rourkes had always seemed like the classic American family—two kids, two cars, parents who were still married.

      Underneath, though, ran a tension that only Connor felt. Well. Connor and his father.

      Connor had never felt particularly close to his father, ever. The dog bite had only cemented that feeling. Pete O’Rourke was too busy being Manningsport’s answer to Donald Trump. Growing up, Colleen had always been Daddy’s little girl, the more outgoing twin, always with some funny, fast remark, always getting attention. She could do no wrong in their father’s eyes. Her grades weren’t as good as Connor’s, but Dad never seemed to notice or mind... Collie was never told to study harder or help their mother more. She was simply adored.

      And Connor was largely ignored, except when they were out in public. Then it was Pete and his gorgeous kids, leave it to Pete to have twins, weren’t they just great, good-looking kids, both of them, and on and on and on.

      Jeanette, their mom, thought Dad walked on water, never minding his slight, and not-so-slight, condescension toward her, his long workdays and lack of reciprocity in the affection or praise departments. No, the O’Rourkes were a sitcom family, starring Dad as The Hardworking Businessman; Colleen, the Sassy and Beautiful Daughter; Mom with a supporting role as Slightly Dim Housewife; and Connor as...

      As not that much. As Colleen’s twin. Barely a walk-on role, at least in his father’s eyes. No matter what, Connor always seemed to disappoint his father, and somewhere along the line, he’d stopped trying. Mom was so grateful for any affection or attention that Connor made a point of being her ally, complimenting her when she got dressed up, because his father always had some not-quite-nice comment for her, or watching a TV show with her, rather than have her sitting in the living room, alone.

      Connor knew his father was something of a slimy businessman not above some questionable business deals. Pete used money and influence and favor-trading to get his way.

      And Connor knew his father cheated on his mom...at least, he strongly suspected it. When he was fifteen, he’d been walking past an empty storefront Dad owned, and there was his father, kissing a much younger woman.

      Connor wasn’t an idiot. He knew grown men didn’t kiss a woman without hoping to go all the way. And the woman sure didn’t seem to mind. For weeks afterward, Connor gave his father the cold shoulder...not that his father noticed or cared.

      Just before Connor and Colleen had graduated college, their father had announced that he was leaving their mother for his girlfriend. The fact that he even had a girlfriend had shocked Colleen and Mom.

      It hadn’t shocked Connor.

      However, Dad’s piece on the side was pregnant...and that was a shock.

      Mom fell apart. Colleen, too, was struggling; not only was her image of their father utterly smashed, but she’d dumped her longtime boyfriend and had been walking around like a ghost all summer.

      And then Connor got the call from Sherry Wong, who was the commercial loans director at the local bank, and whom Connor had taken to the prom. The Black Cat, a nasty, run-down bar right on the Manningsport green, had gone into bankruptcy. She’d heard that Connor was a chef... Any chance he might want to buy it?

      There СКАЧАТЬ