She’d made penne pasta along with freshly baked rolls, antipasto and a salad. Flynn had brought the wine.
George was absolutely gorgeous and he looked a lot like Adam with his dark good looks and thick, dark hair. They’d had a great time catching up and Ken was fortunately going to be back at work in time for the media event. Adam’s leave was longer, which Ken said made him feel better about leaving George.
Amelia had spent as much time as possible holding George, and watching her rock the baby in her arms sent weird pangs of need shooting through Flynn. He’d thought a lot the past year about settling down and having kids, but his main goal had been to find the right woman. The whole kids thing had been something that he’d thought was far off in the distance.
Now, though, he could imagine Amelia holding their child. That “someday” was becoming more and more real to him. It was time to have a conversation with Amelia about his feelings for her.
But it would have to wait until after this whole media event at Ninety-Two.
He’d been in constant contact with Spencer and with the producers of the Battle of the Restaurant Jocks show, as he’d been informed it was named. Sounded hokey as hell to him, but he wasn’t in television, so what did he know?
They were arriving at the restaurant today, and he was grateful he’d been able to arrange it for a week he was going to be in town.
This was Ken’s first week back, and Flynn had never been happier to see someone when he arrived at the restaurant on Monday.
“I am so glad to see you. I’m going to tell you right now that you were greatly missed. Not only by me, but by Amelia and the entire staff.”
Ken grinned. “I do like being missed. There’s nothing worse than no one noticing you’re gone.”
“Trust me, everyone noticed you were gone. And I’m damn glad you’re back, especially today. Though I’m sorry you’re being thrust into the middle of this whole TV show thing.”
“It’s fine. I’m happy to stay busy. Then I won’t hide in my office and cry every time Adam texts me a picture of George.”
Flynn put his arm around Ken and gave his shoulder a squeeze. “You know you can dash home for lunch or dinner to spend time with your baby. Or Adam can bring him by.”
“I’m going to be fine. It’ll just take some time getting used to. And thank you for that.”
There was a knock at the door. Flynn sighed. “That’s probably the film crew,” Flynn said. “I’ll go let them in.”
Ken gave him an understanding nod. “Let’s get this party started.”
* * *
Amelia had supervised the food purchases for today at the market, wanting to make sure everything was perfect before she headed over to Ninety-Two. She’d spent the past few days reviewing all of the dishes on the menu, trying to select the best. Since Flynn had been out of town the past few weeks, and then busy with practices for this week’s game, he’d left it to her to select the dish they’d prepare.
There was some pressure. But she knew what she wanted to do and she made sure to select the freshest ingredients.
By the time she arrived at the restaurant, she noticed the network’s two vans were parked out front, along with a couple of other SUVs.
She was not looking forward to this. She just hoped it brought a lot of great publicity to the restaurant.
Entering the side door, she was stopped by a very tall, imposing looking security guard.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “No visitors today.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m the head chef here.”
The guy pulled up his netbook. “Name.”
“Amelia Lawrence.”
He scrolled down the list. “Okay, you’re clear.”
Taking a deep breath, she repeated her internal mantra—she would not be irritated by the intrusion of people into her place of work.
There were cameras and lights and tripods and something that looked like a giant silver foil alien thing. Jeez, what a mess. Amelia wondered how they were going to get actual customers into the restaurant tonight.
She saw Flynn talking to some guy and went over to him. He looked up at her and smiled.
“Hey, Amelia. This is Paul Birch, the producer of the show they’re doing. Paul, this is Amelia Lawrence, head chef of Ninety-Two.”
Paul smiled and shook her hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Amelia.”
“Same here, Paul. We’re all very excited that you’re featuring Ninety-Two in your show.”
“Thanks. We’ve heard a lot of great things about the restaurant—and the food here. I’m looking forward to seeing what you cook up for us tonight.”
“I know you’re going to love it.”
Paul grinned at Flynn. “She’s confident. I like that.”
“She’s good at what she does,” Flynn said.
Paul’s phone buzzed. He looked at it. “I need to take this, so if you’ll excuse me for a minute.”
Paul stepped outside and Flynn turned to her.
“Exciting day, right?”
“Yes. Very exciting.”
“I really want to kiss you right now.”
Her lips curved. “Probably not a good idea in front of the camera crew. They might be filming, and I don’t think you want that kind of exposure.”
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind.”
She laughed. “Time for me to get to work. I’ve got a big day ahead of me, and my team needs to make sure it all looks perfect.”