“It’s bad, isn’t it?”
Forcing his thoughts back to the restaurant, Javy turned to Tommy, the manager who’d discovered the burst pipe. He’d returned to Delgado’s after realizing he’d lost his wallet sometime during his shift. Javy hated to think of the damage several more hours would have caused if he hadn’t.
Yeah, it was bad, all right. Bad enough to bring back memories from ten years ago, when he lost his father, his fiancée and nearly lost the restaurant, as well. He could still remember the feelings of helplessness that had nearly overwhelmed him as everything he knew and loved threatened to disappear.
He’d been little more than a kid, so Javy supposed he should cut himself some slack, but he’d never forgiven himself for the fire that occurred on his watch.
At least now, the business and their finances were on firmer ground. He wouldn’t need Connor to bail him out, and this time Javy wasn’t the one at fault.
Focusing on the work to be done, he said, “We’ll fix it. We’ll have to shut down for a few days, but after that the restaurant will be up and running again.”
He glanced over at the younger man, hoping to see some enthusiasm in the kid’s expression. Instead, he was treated to a look of slack-jawed distraction. “Hey, kid, I’m giving one hell of pep talk here. Least you could do is pretend to listen.”
“Yeah, um … what?” A slow flush climbed the younger man’s face, and Javy figured out why as soon as he heard the female voice behind him.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Javy waited a second before he turned to face Emily Wilson. He knew damn well he’d look as besotted as Tommy if he didn’t. The brief respite did little to prepare him. Kind of like no amount of time with your eyes closed could ever prepare you to look straight at the sun, Javy didn’t think he could ever get used to Emily’s breathtaking beauty.
The fancy gown, upswept hair and dramatic makeup from the night before were gone, replaced by a powder-blue camisole top, white capri pants and beaded sandals. A headband pushed back her golden blond hair, and only a hint of makeup kissed her face.
She probably thought she looked casual, but to Javy, she still looked classier than any woman he’d ever met. The low thrum of desire kicked up again, vibrating along every nerve in his body.
“I wanted to stop by and see if everything’s okay. Obviously it’s not,” she said as she looked around the restaurant.
“It’s going be. I was just telling Tommy, we’ll be up and running in no time.”
“Of course,” she agreed faintly, a worried frown pulling her eyebrows at his pat response.
The compassion in her gaze caught him off guard, tugging at something in his chest and drawing out everything he wanted to deny, until a part of him longed to confess the feelings he’d buried since the moment he’d stepped inside the restaurant. That the damage left him heartsick; that he didn’t know how long it would take before the place was up and running again; and that he worried that even then, the inevitable changes couldn’t possibly live up to the way the restaurant had been before.
Emily lifted a hand to push her hair back from one shoulder, and the diamond bracelet she wore caught enough light to send prisms dancing across the restaurant. For a crazy second, Javy thought of the fake diamond engagement ring he’d bought for Stephanie.
Simulated, the salesgirl had called it. It had been all he could afford at eighteen, and as a symbol of his foolish teenage love, the diamond had been 100 percent genuine. But to Stephanie, the ring had been a cheap knockoff, and his best had been nothing but second rate.
Shoving aside memories—as well as any asinine thoughts of spilling his guts—he asked his young night manager, “Do me a favor, will you, Tommy? Move the damaged tables and chairs into the back, okay?”
Puzzled, the younger man asked, “Um, where do you want me to put them?”
“Just try to find some place out of the way.”
As the younger man grabbed a carved chair in each hand, Javy turned back to Emily. He still wasn’t sure why she’d come to the restaurant, but this definitely wasn’t the way he wanted her to see it.
He was proud of his parents’ place, of the hard work and dedication that had made Delgado’s into a neighborhood landmark. He would have liked to show it to her at its best—on a Friday night, with the music blaring and every table filled by happy, hungry customers.
Not now, not like this, with the damp smell of stagnant water already replacing the restaurant’s once mouthwatering aromas of peppers and spices, and with unwanted emotions and memories creeping past his defenses.
“What are you doing here, Emily?”
At his question, soft color slowly bloomed in her cheeks—like the petals of a rose unfolding. The effect was so beautiful and so stunning, he would have sworn she did it on purpose if he hadn’t been pretty sure such a thing was impossible.
“I shouldn’t have come. It was a mistake. I was thinking that I could help, but it’s not like I can do—” she waved her free hand to encompass the mess around them “—anything.”
Even without Emily’s pronouncement, Javy would have bet the restaurant that major remodeling work was not her forte. That her experience was with hair dryers, not handsaws, and that the only nails she was familiar with were the ones painted a delicate pink on the tips of her fingers and toes.
But he also knew from listening to Connor moon over his girlfriend years ago that Emily could sing and dance. She’d been in dozens of beauty pageants and plays while growing up. That she was a skilled equestrian and had been an honor student. He could only imagine she’d honed those talents at college and in the years since.
Yet, for reasons he couldn’t begin to imagine, she was ready to dismiss all that with the flick of a wrist to help him. The curiosity urging him to discover all the reasons why told Javy his mistake would be in asking her to stay.
In the end, he didn’t have a chance to say anything. The front door opened, letting in a blast of heat and sunlight and a prayer in Spanish as his mother stepped into the restaurant. At work, she normally wore the same style dress as the rest of the female staff—a colorful blouse and embroidered skirt. It was strange to see her there dressed in a plain olive T-shirt and khaki pants. Her haste to leave the house showed in her hair, which she had left loose to fall to her waist. It had to be his imagination that overnight more gray seemed to shoot through the dark strands.
“Dios,” Maria breathed, shock and dismay filling her expression.
“It’s not as bad as it looks, Mama,” Javy said immediately, not wanting to consider her reaction when she saw the worst of it.
“It’s bad, Javier. Like the fire …”
Javy flinched at the reminder of his failure and the disaster that had almost destroyed them. “It isn’t,” he insisted. “It’s not that bad. I can fix it.” His voice trailed off as for the second time, he lost his audience in the middle of his inspirational speech.
Maria stared at Emily, but unlike Tommy’s wide-eyed infatuation, disapproval was written clearly on his mother’s face. “Solo tú, Javier,” she murmured. “Only you.”
Realizing Maria was speaking Spanish to exclude Emily, he glanced at her, an apology in his eyes, and drew his mother aside. “Only me what, Mama?” he asked in English.
“Only you would bring a girl to the restaurant now. Bad enough you have a different girl in here every other week, but today? It is a disaster, and you bring a date.”
His dating, or more specifically, his refusal to settle down, had long been a point of contention between them, one he refused to get into now. “We aren’t on