The Chef's Choice / The Boss's Proposal. Kristin Hardy

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СКАЧАТЬ had been built in 1911 to provide rooms for the clientele of her great-great-grandfather Archie McBain’s main business, the marina next door. For four generations, the sprawling white clapboard inn had perched at the edge of Grace Harbor. The original neo-Colonial style had long since been obscured by almost a century’s worth of additions. Now, the building stretched out in all directions, rising three stories to a roofline festooned with dormer windows and red brick chimneys. It should have been a fright, but wrapped by a broad porch and softened by rhododendrons the height of a man, it somehow managed to look warm and friendly and welcoming.

      Family lore held that it had been Archie’s wife, Jenny, who’d planted the maple that spread its branches over the little spit of land at the back, and Donal’s wife, Manya, who’d added the white gazebo. Donal’s son, Malcolm—Cady’s grandfather—had contributed the quartet of four-room guesthouses that clustered around the main inn. There, guests who wanted more privacy could enjoy their own decks overlooking the harbor.

      White sailboats still bobbed at the docks of the Grace Harbor marina next door, but it was owned these days by Cady’s uncle Lenny and run by her cousin Tucker. She saw Tucker on the docks, dark and lanky, and raised an arm to acknowledge his wave before they stepped inside.

      “Now, we’ve only got three rooms full at present,” Amanda told her, crossing the lobby to the Dutch door that served as the inn’s front desk. “Six guests."

      Cady didn’t miss the frown that flickered over her father’s face. In early May, the Maine tourist season was weeks away, but they still should have had at least double the number of occupied rooms. Especially with the new roof, her parents needed every penny they could get.

      The clank of spoons on china had Cady glancing down the hall off the lobby in the direction of the morning room. “What about breakfast? Where are you at there?"

      “Just started,” Amanda said. “One couple is eating, the rest are still in their rooms. Everything’s set up, though. All you need to do is keep an eye on things, stock up whatever needs it. Make nice, clean up afterward. You know the drill."

      “For about the past twenty-seven years,” Cady agreed.

      “Fresh,” her mother said.

      Cady’s lips twitched. “This is a surprise?”

      “They’re a pretty easy bunch,” Amanda continued, ignoring her. “With any luck, things will be quiet while we’re gone."

      Ian’s snort sounded suspiciously like a smothered laugh. It was an inn. Things were never quiet, Cady knew, unless it was empty, and often not even then. Hope could spring eternal, though.

      “Anyone coming in today?” she asked.

      “One guest. He’s not due until after we get back.”

      “Where’s his registration, just in case?”

      “His paperwork and keys are right here.” Amanda opened the Dutch door and went into the tiny office and kitchenette behind to pull an envelope from a wicker organizer. “You shouldn’t have to deal with him, though."

      “Perish the thought,” Ian muttered.

      Amanda elbowed him. “Hush, you. She’ll do fine. Won’t you, Cady?”

      “I’ll be the milk of human kindness,” she promised, tongue firmly in cheek. “Now get going or you’re going to hit traffic."

      She followed them outside and watched them walk toward the parking lot, hand in hand, like always. Since she’d been a child, the two constants in her life had been the inn and her parents’ quiet love for each other. For an instant, she felt a tug of wistfulness. She’d always assumed that someday she’d find a love like that, at least until she’d hit high school and discovered that what guys wanted were curvy, blond cheerleader types with Pepsodent smiles, not opinionated, auburn-haired tomboys.

      Well, she was who she was, for better or worse. The day she’d given up looking for romance with a good-looking charmer had been the day she’d finally started to get comfortable in her own skin. And at twenty-seven she wasn’t about to change for anyone.

      She washed her hands and tied on an apron. Even though the Compass Rose boasted a separate restaurant, breakfast had always been in the morning room of the main building. Despite the fact that the inn’s restaurant employed a half-dozen cooks, responsibility for breakfast had always fallen on Amanda and Ian and the front desk staff.

      And on that particular day, the front desk staff was Cady.

      She sighed. It wasn’t that she couldn’t be polite, exactly, it was just that she had strong opinions. And maybe her patience was a teensy bit limited. Okay, maybe a lot limited. Her father, now, he could be interested in just about anyone for as long as they wanted to chat.

      Cady tried—sort of—but somehow it never worked. The problem was her face. It always showed exactly what she was thinking, and if she was thinking that the person she was talking with was a bore or a fool, well …

      It could be a problem.

      Shaking her head, she pasted a smile firmly across her face and walked into the morning room to begin refilling the stocks of coffee, hot water, muffins and fruit. One pair of the missing guests had arrived and were tucking in with gusto. A little too much gusto, she realized—the orange juice pitcher was nearly empty. Unfortunately, so was the carton in the little refrigerator tucked back in the office.

      Perfect. An hour left to run on breakfast, one pair of guests still to arrive and her with no orange juice. Time to get resourceful, she thought, grabbing the carton and hurrying out the door.

      Outside, the air smelled of the sea and the pines that grew up around the cedar-shingled restaurant building. Cady slipped stealthily through the back door to the pantry and dishwashing area, heading toward the walk-in refrigerator. She’d just liberate a little juice, enough to refill, that was all.

      “Don’t you be tracking dirt on my clean floor,” a voice said.

      Cady jumped and looked guiltily through the doorway to the kitchen. “Roman, what are you doing here?"

      “Writing my memoirs.” The young, mocha-skinned sous chef glanced over from where he was mincing onions. “There’s nothing to eat here. Go over to the breakfast room if you want food."

      “That’s where I just came from. I’m on desk duty.”

      He stared. “You?”

      Cady rolled her eyes. “Yes, me. Lynne’s sick, Mom and Dad are out for the morning. I’m pitching in. I can do it, you know."

      “Your parents gotta get some more help.” He resumed chopping, shaking his head.

      “The way I hear it, you’re the one who needs more help,” she countered as she ducked into the little passage that led to the walk-in.

      The restaurant’s head chef, Nathan Eberhardt, had moved on three weeks before, leaving Roman to run things in his stead. While Roman was both a talented line cook and a tireless worker, he was barely twenty-three. He hadn’t anything like enough experience to be suddenly managing the complicated dance of running a kitchen. To his credit, that hadn’t stopped him. He’d kept things going, mostly by dint of practically living at the restaurant.

      “You’ve СКАЧАТЬ