well, so any offer would have to be quite substantial for us to even consider it with this much real estate.”
He nodded, those honey-brown eyes of his flicking to me and then away.
“And this fella here—I’m sorry, what was your name again?”
“Cameron Gallagher.” I made sure Jeremiah heard me and took that moment to stand up and offer him my hand. “And you’re Jeremiah?”
His gaze locked with mine as he took my hand. “Jeremiah Wolfe,” he told me, and there was a glimmer of a smile when I squeezed tight.
“It’s a pleasure,” I assured him sincerely. “As I explained to my colleagues, and I will reiterate it to the CEO of the Rauch Group tomorrow, acquiring Kingman’s is not in the best interest of their partner.”
“It makes no sense,” Mrs. Bowen told him. “And even less so now that Mr. Gallagher––”
“Please, call me Cameron.” I glanced at her, still holding on to Jeremiah, then returned my focus to him.
“Cameron explained that breaking up the land would not be in our best interest,” she told Jeremiah. “So nothing to worry about, honey. This won’t be a Country Porch; it’ll stay a Kingman’s.”
“Good,” he said, his heated gaze meeting mine. “That’s a nice save there, Cameron.”
“Just the facts,” I assured him, letting go of his hand. “It’s important to have those.”
“Well, we should let you go so you can make sure this place keeps running smoothly,” Drake commented as I moved away from Jeremiah with difficulty and returned to my chair. “I have no doubt running a restaurant like this is terribly taxing.”
It was snide and cutting, and I felt my face warm even as I was terrified Jeremiah would think I was anything like Drake.
“It’ll keep you on your toes,” he told him before smiling and leaving the table to return to the kitchen.
“He wasn’t here the last time we came,” Ellen told Mrs. Bowen, smiling at her. “I would have remembered.”
“He only works part-time now that he’s got an internship as a counselor, and he’s in school at Sac State as well. I worried he was going to quit us altogether, but thankfully he’s not there yet. It took both Charlie and I together to do his job—” She chuckled. “—and even then we weren’t as successful. He’s so good with people. I tell you, that boy could charm the birds from the trees.”
“He had a rough time, with his mama taking off when he was just a boy, only fourteen or fifteen or so, all alone, but we took a chance and hired him. By the time he was eighteen, he was already a manager,” Mr. Bowen added, and I could hear how proud he was of his employee. “He started school when he was twenty and got a bachelor’s in social work, of all things. I keep hoping he’ll change his mind and stay here with us, but he’s headstrong as hell.”
“That’s impressive,” Ellen agreed, smiling at the older man. “And his mother just walked out? I don’t mean to pry, but fourteen is young.”
Mrs. Bowen nodded. “That woman was no good. Best thing that ever happened to Jeremiah was her leaving, but it was really hard for him without anyone stepping in.”
The Bowens shared a look, and I was dying to know what it meant. Jeremiah had gone to the hotel looking to sell himself for money, so clearly things were not as good for him as these nice people thought. It was killing me to sit there and not get up and find him and demand answers.
That, of course, would not go over well, but my breath quickened and my pulse was hammering, and I wasn’t sure if it was pain or pleasure or pure panic. I had his name, yes, but what I wanted was his home address so I could go there and camp out. I took a breath, realizing how insane that sounded, even in my own head, but it didn’t make the desire any less. I also wondered how I could stay behind after everyone else finished their meal. Or maybe I could return with them to the hotel and then rent a car and come back. I needed to figure it out.
Excusing myself, under the pretext of using the bathroom, I walked across the recycled barnwood floor, made up of every color of wood imaginable, toward the front of the restaurant. I looked everywhere for him on the way, even leaned into the kitchen and apologized lavishly when I was yelled