Just a Taste (8 page)

He set his glass on the table and turned, pulling one knee on the couch. “I think you need to own it first. Either you want to go, plan to go, or not. If you say you think you do, she can persuade you not to follow your dream. Do you want to go to culinary school?”

“Yes.”

“Then lead with that.”

She blew out a breath and drank more wine.

“Why is this so hard?”

She stared into her wine. “Because I wasted so much time doing nothing. I graduated high school and went to community college and screwed around.”

“You weren't ready to figure out your life. You didn't know what you wanted to do. Where's the crime in that?”

“She'll think it's another whim.”

“So prove to her it's not.”

“Easier said than done.” She settled back on the cushion with her glass and clicked the TV on with the remote. She put on some silly afternoon talk show and sipped her wine.

He couldn't relate to her dilemma because he had already known back in high school that he wanted to be a chef. He was like Ryan in that way; they both had known what they wanted and went for it. Colin had been the wanderer of their family, so it wasn't like he had no experience with it.

He tuned out the yelling on the screen and thought about the food truck. Would he want to change the menu? Introduce new items? Make things fresh? He wondered if Carmen would be open to suggestions.

Lily polished off her second glass and went for a third.

“You should probably slow down.” He'd known opening a bottle this early would be a mistake.

“I'm fine. It'll help me process things. So with this new job, does that mean you'll be free at night like regular people? I bet you won't have to work holidays anymore. What food trucks crawl through the city on holidays, right?”

He hadn't even thought about those perks. It had been so long since he held a normal job, it hadn't crossed his mind. “You're right.”

As she sipped more wine, she inched closer, until her leg touched his. “Will you miss the restaurant?”

He thought for a moment. “I'll miss the chaos of a busy dinner service. I'll miss my staff. Even though Jonathan was the one who hired them, they worked for me. We were a team. Yeah, I'll definitely miss being part of a team.”

In truth, he'd never worked alone. It would definitely be a new experience.

“I wish I could be like you,” Lily said quietly. “To not be afraid to take a chance. Just jump out there and do it.”

He couldn't hold back his laugh. Of all the O'Learys, he was the least likely to jump into anything. “It's not jumping in. It's a calculated risk based on something landing in my lap. If Gus didn't leave me his truck, I probably would've stayed at Porter's indefinitely.”

She shook her head slowly, the alcohol obviously catching up with her. “No, you would've gone out on your own. You were just waiting for the right opportunity. You're slow to act, but when you're sure, you're all in. I like that about you.”

Liam went to check on dinner. He didn't ask Lily to join him since he didn't think she was capable of cooking without hurting herself. By the time he had dinner ready, most of the wine was gone, and he knew she wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon.

CHAPTER 5

C
armen walked down the hall toward Liam's apartment trying to figure out what she'd been thinking by suggesting she come here. She held tight to the carrier with their coffee as her bag with her laptop and binder of information pulled at her shoulder. Besides wanting to get away from her house, she wanted to see where Liam lived. She wanted to learn more about the man whose life would be intertwined with hers for at least the next year.

Still, it would've made more sense for him to come to her house; that's where the truck was parked. He would need time to get the lay of the land if he planned to restart the truck and hit the road.

As she neared Liam's door, it flung open and a cute blonde rushed out, calling over her shoulder, “Late for work. Call you later.” As she rushed past Carmen, she swooped her hair into a ponytail with a smile on her face.

That moment cemented why Carmen wanted to come here. She wanted to know about Liam. A sudden shot of guilt hit her because she and Liam had never shared too many personal details, so she hadn't known he had a girlfriend. At least it explained why he'd turned down her offer to come into her house when she was drunk. Carmen sighed and knocked on Liam's door.

He swung it open with a smile on his face. “Hi.”

She extended the arm with the coffee, and he accepted it. “I got you black, but there's cream and sugar in my bag.” She followed him into his apartment. His living room was pretty bare. They would've definitely been more comfortable at her house. His looked like a showroom, except for the ugly throw pillows that didn't match anything.

He closed the door behind her. “I figured we'd work in the kitchen. That way we can spread out on the table while we talk.”

She turned and faced an open layout that revealed a gorgeous kitchen. The space was everything the living room wasn't. It looked lived in and used. Even though it was filled with things she would probably never personally use, she loved it. It was the kind of place her dad would've appreciated.

Liam set the coffee on the table and swung his arm out. “This is my apartment.” He pointed behind her. “Living room. This is obviously the kitchen.” Then he pointed behind the kitchen. “My bedroom and bathroom are back there.”

“Nice place.” It was the kind of apartment she'd imagined herself living in after college. A place to call her own. But her living room would be comfortable and the kitchen bare. She took her bag off her shoulder and laid it on the table. She shook off her coat and hung it on the back of the chair. “Ready to start?”

“Yep. I've checked out the web site and read some articles on food trucks, but I still feel like I know nothing.”

Carmen slid her laptop out of the bag and then handed him the binder. “This is stuff my dad put together when he was planning to buy the truck. It's filled with articles and ideas, but it also has all the regulations you'll need to learn. Screw with those and the fines are astronomical.”

Liam rolled his shoulders as he opened the binder. He scanned pages while she booted up her computer. Why was it that silence with Liam felt more comforting than silence alone? It was still quiet.

He flipped past the articles and went to the regulations. “Two hundred feet from any restaurant?”

“Yeah.”

“Downtown is filled with restaurants.”

She waited until he got to the worst part.

“No way.”

She didn't have to look up to know what he was reading. “Yes way.”

“Walgreens and 7-Eleven are not restaurants. They're convenience stores. Who the hell came up with these rules?”

“That's the city hard at work. The Restaurant Association has a lot of pull. Food trucks cut into their profits. We threaten them, so they don't want us around.”

He flipped the page. “How do you find a good spot where people can find you?”

“Some places are established. Social media works wonders, if you use it right.”

Liam chuckled. “I can't imagine Gus on Twitter.”

Carmen smiled. “No. That was one of my jobs. Anything related to the computer or paperwork fell on me.” She waited a beat. “I'd be more than happy to pass it on to you if you prefer.”

He shook his head. “If it's working, don't mess with it.”

She'd hoped maybe he would want to mess with it. Social media was one of the things she didn't enjoy. She snapped her fingers. “I was hoping to dump that job.”

“Maybe we can hire someone to take it over. My sister Moira is always on those sites.”

“We can think about that as we get into spring. There won't be extra money through the winter.”

Liam went back to the binder and she took in her surroundings. She didn't know what she'd expected from Liam's apartment. The kitchen definitely suited him. She glanced back at the living room. The only sign of a woman's touch were a couple of throw pillows, which seemed completely out of place.

Carmen drank her coffee and questioned yet again why she needed to be here. She could've emailed the books to Liam and dropped off the binder. But as she watched him studying the information, she knew she wanted to be here because she enjoyed being with him. They didn't have to talk, but if they did, it was fun.

He suddenly slammed the binder shut. “I can't sit here and read this in one sitting. Is it okay for me to keep it?”

“Sure. I don't need it for anything.”

“Then let's get to the fun stuff: the menu.”

“What about it?”

“Is it always the same? It's pretty simple, so I wonder how you keep people coming back.”

“Dad kept the menu consistent. A couple of times, early on, he tried to introduce new items, but they didn't sell. One of the downsides to a food truck is that people put us on the same level as fast food. When they go to McDonald's, they don't want different. They want to know exactly what to expect. They see us the same way. In addition, the price has to be competitive. Like it or not, we're competing with all of those fast food places.”

Liam stared at her as intently as he had the binder while he drank his coffee. He absorbed what she said, but didn't comment. When she finished, he sat back a little and then scratched at his jaw. He'd trimmed the scruff a little, but it looked like the beard was there to stay.

“How do we change that perception? We're better than fast food. Well, that's what I'm assuming since I've eaten Gus's food. How do we convince people to try new things and be willing to pay more for them?”

“Got me,” she answered. She and her father had racked their brains for months to accomplish that and nothing they'd come up with worked.

“I guess I have to stay with tacos to start then. Did you by chance get your dad to write his recipes down?”

“I tried. He wrote some down, but you know how he cooked. He eyeballed everything and tasted until it was right. He didn't follow a recipe.”

“Then I really have my work cut out for me. I haven't cooked Mexican since I worked with your dad. Even then, I mostly watched.” He set his coffee on the table, and his face became more serious, as if that was even possible. “How are you doing?”

“Good.”

He reached out and touched her hand. “Don't give me the answer you toss out to everyone because it's expected.”

Again, embarrassment flushed through her. She'd broken down in his arms. He'd seen her at her worst. Did she even thank him for everything he'd done? She nodded. “I really am better. Rosa came over yesterday and we cleared out more of my dad's stuff. I made lists of things I want to do around the house. You know, projects that have gone neglected for too long.”

“So you plan to stay?”

She pulled her hand back from his. “For now. I don't know what I want. I looked at ads for jobs, but even there, I couldn't focus. It's been so long since I thought about my career and what I want that I wasn't sure where to look.”

“At the risk of sounding tacky, are you okay on money?”

“Yeah, my dad made sure I'd be okay. Thanks for asking.” She slid her coffee out of the way and moved her computer to face him. “Here are the rest of the books. The spreadsheet I sent you before was this year's, but I thought you might want access to older stuff, to be able to see how we've grown.”

For the next couple of hours, they poured over the books and the regulations together. The information was dry, but talking through everything with Liam made it interesting and even fun. They laughed and joked, and Carmen knew that being in business with Liam would be an excellent prospect.

Liam had never had a more difficult time focusing as he had during the last two hours. He and Carmen looked at spreadsheets and laughed over some of the information Gus had saved. But part of his brain kept getting caught on the sweater she wore that hugged every freaking curve she had. His hands itched to run over those curves. Then she opened her mouth, and he was reminded that she was a smart businesswoman, his partner, not a woman to get into his bed.

Although he had a basic understanding of how to run a restaurant, the more she spoke of profit and loss and tax information, he started to glaze over. How had he ever thought he'd be able to run his own restaurant just because he knew how to cook? He'd always known there was more to it, but he never looked into it since he wasn't ready to branch out on his own.

He must've been staring at Carmen because she suddenly said, “What?” Then she wiped at her face as if she had something smeared on her.

“Nothing. I was just struck by how lucky I am to have you as a partner in this. I would be completely lost.”

Her eyes darted away and a hint of pink rose in her cheeks. “It's really not hard once you get the basics down. In fact, a lot of it is the same thing over and over.”

“Still. Thank you for taking the time to teach me.”

Her gaze returned to his. “Thanks for taking over the truck. I hope you don't end up regretting it.” She closed her computer and shoved it in her bag, obviously intent on leaving. Liam didn't want her to go.

“What's your rush?”

She lifted a shoulder. “I gave you everything I've got. You said you need time to read through the binder. Did you want me to stay and watch you read?” Her lips spread wide in a teasing smile.

“No, but I thought we could hang out, maybe do something fun. I haven't been jobless in years.”

“You're not jobless. Taco Taxi is your new job.” She pointed at the information spread on his kitchen table. “And you have plenty to do.”

“I work well under pressure. Let's go do something fun.”

“Like what?”

His brain fumbled through ideas that wouldn't sound like a date. “Let's check out our competition.”

“How?”

“I bet you know where to find all of the most popular trucks. We'll drive around and sample each of them. It'll let me know what we're up against. I'm sure Gus did that, right? He would want to know who he had to fight for business.” He piled the binder and loose sheets of paper on the corner of the table. Then he went in search of his coat.

Carmen stayed rooted in her spot.

“Not a good idea?” he asked.

“It actually sounds like a very good idea. And I don't think my dad did that. When he started there were only a couple of other trucks. He spent so many hours working that he didn't have much time.” Still, she hesitated.

“Tasting the competition would be a business expense, wouldn't it?”

She nodded.

“Then let's go.”

“Are you sure you want me to go with you?”

He slid his arms into his jacket. “Why wouldn't I? We're partners. You'll notice things I wouldn't pay attention to, like price and location.”

She bit her lip and he knew he almost had her. He didn't know why she was so hesitant. They had fun together.

Finally, her shoulders relaxed and she smiled. “Okay.”

He held the door open for her and he followed her out. Liam pushed aside his attraction and focused on building a strong partnership and friendship.