in deeper. She smelled like flour and alcohol and home. One sniff and Lexi felt the tears threaten. “I thought we had a good relationship, me and Jeffery, but he never even told me that he was interested in culinary foreplay.”
“Of course not, dear,” Pricilla cooed, smoothing a hand down Lexi’s hair. “You are a good Catholic girl, and he respected you too much for that.”
“We haven’t gone to church since I was seven.” Lexi sniffed. “Plus, Jeffery respected Sara enough to marry her.”
“In a hotel. With her best friend as acting as officiant. She’s probably a Protestant.”
“She’s going to run my kitchen.”
“Which means that you got to come home and finally help me turn Pricilla’s Patisserie into what we always dreamed it could be.”
Lexi had fallen in love with food at a young age, the tastes, textures, and different combinations fascinating her. By the time she was in middle school, she knew a career in the culinary arts was her future. And opening the Sweet and Savory Bistro, with her grandmother, had always been at the center of that dream.
“You and I both know that this town needs a place where locals can share a meal without all the fuss and fanfare of the Napa Valley. Simple food for simple people,” Pricilla went on.
It was also a simple solution to Lexi’s financial problems. She owed her grandmother a great deal of money, and this was the perfect way to pay her back—for everything Pricilla had done for her over the years.
“I know, and I’m excited that we finally get to do this.”
Jeffery had promised that after college they would move back to St. Helena, but then he found the perfect vacancy in Manhattan for their dream restaurant and put in an offer without consulting her. Wanting to make her marriage work, she had believed him when he promised they would only need three years to get Pairing up and running and then they could open their West Coast location and move home.
Then again, he’d also promised to honor and to cherish.
Three years had turned into six, and Jeffery showed no interest in moving home. He also showed no interest in her opinions on how the restaurant should be run, how going organic and local would help boost sales, or how not making time for them could ruin their marriage. The only thing he had listened to her on was their unique menu and the unexpected pairings of flavors, something the restaurant had become famous for and something that Lexi was extremely proud of. And that menu was the only good thing she had salvaged from their marriage.
“But parading around with a different guy every night isn’t my style. Plus, what kind of man agrees to go out with someone’s granddaughter?”
“I met your grandfather that way,” Pricilla scoffed.
“You met Grandpa at the track. Betting on a race.”
“Yes, well, my grandfather taught me how to place bets. I was very good. And Perkins”—Lexi felt Pricilla sigh—“he was so handsome. Walked right up into the stands between races and asked me if he could have the privilege of escorting me to dinner after the last race. We stayed up until nearly midnight talking and holding hands and sharing dreams about the future. We married three weeks later.”
The dreamy look that her grandmother got whenever she talked about Perkins made Lexi’s heart ache. What would it be like to have a love affair like that? Sure, Lexi had loved Jeffery, but never with the fierceness that her grandmother displayed.
“I didn’t know Grandpa raced?”
“Oh, he didn’t race. He was in charge of the tires. But after we married he opened up the tire shop, and two years later he’d made enough money to build me the patisserie. When your mother came along, he added this apartment so I could keep early baker’s hours and still be with the family. We never liked to be apart for long.”
Lexi hadn’t been able to get Jeffery to agree to be in the same room with her for more than an hour unless it was at the restaurant. “I just need time, Grandma. I haven’t even been divorced a week. The last thing I want to do is end up like Mom.”
Lexi’s parents had divorced when she was seven. Since then Evelyn Moreau had been in love a total of fifteen times, engaged eleven, married to six different men, and lived through seven divorces. Husband number three was stupid enough to also be divorcé number six. And last