Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“Nope. There’s only one place for this.” He crossed the room and stuck it right on the front of his fancy, high-end refrigerator. Then he turned to me with a smile. “Thank you, Embry. It means a lot that you remembered what I’d said and got that for me.”
Honestly, the magnet didn’t match the kitchen at all, and I never thought he’d actually stick it on his fridge. It was silly and kitschy, while everything around it was sleek and expensive.
But the fact that he enjoyed it and gave it a place of honor meant so much. It made me think, if something that off-beat could find a place here, maybe I could, too.
9
Bryson
Even though we got along great while we were in Las Vegas, I’d been worried about what would happen when Embry moved in with me. Was this going to be incredibly awkward? Would we have anything to talk about?
It seemed to be off to a good start, though. We baked macarons on our first day living together, which turned out to be the perfect ice breaker. Both of us had fun, and it seemed to help him relax a little and hopefully start to feel comfortable here. Also, it was nice to discover some common ground.
The next day, he told me he wanted to decorate the house for the holidays. “It looks Grinchy on the outside, compared to the other houses on this side of the street. Don’t you want to do something fun out there?”
My first impulse was to say no. I didn’t like the idea of him doing stuff to my house, so I tried to use money as an excuse. “I don’t want to sound like a cheapskate, but decorations can be expensive. I can’t see spending a lot of money on stuff that’ll only be used for the next three weeks.”
“I can do it for a hundred dollars.”
He sounded confident, but I said, “That won’t go very far.”
“Sure it will. In fact, I can decorate inside and out for that amount. For the front of the house, I’ll include lights, a door decoration, and a fun focal point in that little lawn area. I’ll also put up decorations in the living room and the lounge.”
“It can’t be done,” I insisted. “Not on that budget.”
“Bet me.”
I knew I had to let go of this need to control my environment. This was his home for the next year, and I wanted him to be happy here. Besides, he really wasn’t going to be able to do much with that amount, no matter what he said. “Okay. What should we bet?”
Embry thought about it before saying, “If I win, you have to cook me dinner.”
“I’m going to do that anyway.”
“But you have to cook whatever I want, even if it’s not up to your fine dining standards, and even if you think it’s weird and gross.”
“Fine. And if I win—”
He grinned at me. “You won’t. I’m already formulating a plan.”
“But if I do,” I said, “I want brutally honest feedback on some of the dishes I’ve been working on for my new restaurant. I know you’re a vegetarian, so I’ll obviously be mindful of that.”
“Great, it’s a bet,” he said. “Just so you know though, I’ll be happy to give you honest feedback, even after you lose.”
We went into my home office, and I pulled a hundred dollars out of the petty cash envelope in my desk and handed it over. Embry barely noticed. He stuck the money in his pocket without so much as a glance and gravitated to one of my two large, magnetic whiteboards. One was all about food, while the other focused on the look of the new restaurant. They were covered in sketches, notes, and a few inspirational photos printed from the internet or torn from magazines.
It was his first time seeing these, and he murmured, “Your drawings are absolutely beautiful. You’re an artist, Bryson.”
“Not really. They’re just ideas for how to plate some of the dishes I’ve been developing.”
“They’re amazing.” He pointed to a colored pencil sketch of frozen custard pearls and fresh red currants in a delicate meringue box. “Is this a dessert?”
“Yeah. I try not to do too many of those. I’ll obviously hire a pastry chef for my new restaurant, and they’ll want to develop their own recipes. But sometimes ideas for desserts come to me, and I draw them as a way of getting them out of my head. Then I can focus on other things.”
“I do the same thing with my ideas for cakes.” He pulled his phone from the pocket of his hoodie and smiled at me. “Okay, time to get going on the holiday decorating. Step one is to message my secret weapons.” He seemed happy and optimistic, but I was worried he’d end up disappointed when he realized how little that budget would cover.