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I nodded. “I’ll have that.”
“I can’t wait to hear your opinion. Everyone I’ve brought here loved it.”
As we sat down, Chase flagged a waiter. We all ordered tacos and sodas. The second he left, Chase began. “So, Elijah, have you given my offer more consideration?”
What is he doing? He needs to ease in.Elijah was looking forward to this dinner, and Chase was all but steamrolling him.
I pressed my thigh against Chase's, and he immediately stopped talking. The contact electrified me.
Elijah pointed to me and then at Chase. "You two are an interesting couple."
I almost laughed at how he changed the subject, except my cheeks felt like they were on fire. "We're not. I work with Chase."
"Really? Why exactly are you here, then?” He focused on Chase. “You thought if I heard your sales pitch from this pretty girl, it would win me over?"
Damn it. This is not off to a good start.I was planning to find out a bit more about Elijah before bringing up the family history, but I had to adapt.
"Not exactly a sales argument," I said, keeping my voice calm, "but the store is important to Chase."
Elijah waved his hand. “You’re running a financial services company. What do you want with this store?"
"His parents owned it."
That had exactly the effect I wanted. He jerked his head back, looking at Chase. "Is that true?"
Chase nodded. How could this be so uncomfortable for him?
“Why didn’t you tell me that?" Elijah continued.
Chase cleared his throat as the waiter brought our tacos. “I didn't consider it to be a relevant argument.”
Elijah looked incredulously from Chase to me, then took one of his tacos.
I had one with pork, one with chicken, and one with shrimp. I started with shrimp and was going to work my way up to the pork.
I couldn't help but glance at Chase. He truly didn't belong in this place with his cuff links and his expensive suit. But he ate with surprising ease, which made me think he wasn't a food snob.
I ate my shrimp taco quickly and sighed. "That was amazing." I was definitely going to come back here again. "It had so much flavor but not too much, so it doesn't overpower the shrimp." I’d tasted cilantro and lime mixed in.
"Exactly," Elijah said, but he was fixated on Chase and the conversation at hand. "Now, tell me more about your parents. When did they own the store?"
"Twenty years ago," Chase said. His tone was clipped.
"Why did they sell it?"
I took one glance at Chase and realized exactly why this was so uncomfortable for him. He didn't want to talk about his parents’ divorce with a stranger, yet there was no way to tell the story without mentioning it.
“They couldn’t pay the mortgage on the place, so the bank sold it to the highest bidder.”
I stopped in the act of reaching for my next taco. He hadn’t told me that. My heart ached for his parents.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"They did what they had to do," Chase said in a brusque tone. “They used what equity they got from the sale to start over.”
"What exactly do you want to do with the store?" He was only looking at Chase, so I kept my mouth shut.
"I’ll surprise my parents with it. My dad might want to pick up where he left off. I'm not sure if Mom still wants to. She's enjoying her retirement. They put a lot of heart and soul intothe store, so I think they’ll appreciate that it’s part of the family again."