Including Mia, though she masked it well with her ambition. But deep down inside her studious nature there lurked a wild Cassidy and he damn well knew it. Which was why he needed to check up on her.

   After he got dressed and went to his car, he voice dialed his sister while he was driving home.

   “Hey, stranger,” Mia said.

   “Hey yourself. I haven’t talked to you in a while, so I thought I’d see what was up with you.”

   “Oh, the usual. Studying for a test right now. How did practice go today?”

   Leave it to his sister to know where all her brothers were on any given day. “Good. We’re ready for Detroit on Sunday.”

   “Of course you are.”

   “How’s the workload for your master’s program?”

   “Manageable. A lot of reading and ridiculous paperwork, but that’s to be expected. I’m working on my thesis now.”

   “I’m proud of you.” He wasn’t sure he’d ever told her that, and for some reason it was important to him to let her know.

   She paused for a few seconds, then said, “Thanks. That means a lot to me coming from my oldest brother. And speaking of, I’m probably going to be out there sometime within the next few weeks. I’m trying to schedule an interview with Stanford.”

   “About their PhD program?”

   “Yeah. Can I crash at your place when I come out there?”

   “You know you’re welcome anytime. Just let me know.”

   “Awesome. I’ll be watching you on Sunday. Get some sacks, okay?”

   He laughed. “I’ll do my best. Love you, Mia.”

   “Love you, too, Flynn. See ya.”

   He clicked off, then changed lanes. Not that it did him much good since the freeway was currently a parking lot.

   He tuned the radio to the sports channel and resigned himself to sitting in traffic for a while longer.

 

 

THREE

 

   A week and a half later, Flynn arrived at the restaurant before it opened. He wanted to go over all the aspects for the team party Thursday night. They were going to close to regular customers, change around the seating and make sure they had adequate staff on hand for serving.

   He met with Amelia, along with Ken, the restaurant’s manager, the three of them sitting down at one of the corner tables.

   Amelia looked over her notes. “For hors d’oeuvres, I have bacon-wrapped figs, ahi tuna, avocado and cucumber. I’m also planning crab, chili and mint crostini and goat cheese and herb mini puffs.”

   Flynn looked from Amelia to Ken. “Now I’m hungry. I think you should make some of those right now.”

   Amelia cracked a smile. “Sorry, no can do. But I do have some buffalo and black bean chili simmering in the back.”

   “No wonder we’re hungry,” Ken said. “I knew something smelled delicious.”

   Amelia pushed her chair back. “Give me just a minute and I’ll ladle some up for you.”

   She disappeared into the kitchen and Flynn turned to Ken. “What else?”

   “I made a chart showing how we’ll arrange the tables. I thought we’d set them up along the windows here and here, to allow for viewing, with a few spread out in the middle. We’re using the bar tables to give people a place to set down their drinks, but still leave room for people to mingle.”

   Flynn nodded while Ken went over the seating. “Great plan. You have all the liquor stocked?”

   “Yes. And extra bartenders and servers will be on hand. We’re in good shape.”

   He always had confidence in Ken. The guy was a master at managing Ninety-Two. “I knew you would be.”

   Amelia returned carrying a tray. She set bowls in front of Flynn and Ken, along with a basket of crackers and bread.

   “None for you?” Flynn asked.

   Amelia took a seat. “I taste while I cook. Trust me, I’ve had plenty.”

   Flynn took the spoon and dug in, letting the spicy chili spark his taste buds as he swallowed. “This is really good.”

   “He’s right about that,” Ken said. “It’s going to be a customer favorite, Amelia.”

   “Thank you.”

   “You should definitely serve it the night of the party,” Flynn said. “The guys will love it.”

   She shook her head. “Chili is so messy, and a lot of your guests will be wandering about. It’s too hard to manage a bowl and slurp up chili while trying to carry on a conversation and walk around. Plus, it goes great with crackers. It’s not a good party food.”

   “She has a point,” Ken said.

   “Yeah, you might be right about that.”

   “Though one of the things I wanted to talk to you about was doing a special chili night, especially during happy hour. We could set up a chili station at the bar. I know you have the games on the TV in the bar. I could make up several chilis with the appropriate accouterments and guests could sample the different ones. We could also do it in the restaurant as well. Kind of a chili sampler.”

   Flynn thought about it for a minute. “We could offer it on the appetizer menu in the bar and in the restaurant.”

   “I like that idea, too,” Ken said. “In fact, it would be great to have it on the menu on Sundays during the football games.”

   Flynn loved that the people who worked with him had such great ideas. “Perfect. Let’s do it.”

   Ken nodded. “I’ll add it to the menu.”

   “And I’ll start creating some different chilis,” Amelia said. “When do you want to put this into effect?”

   “I’ll leave it to you and Ken to work out the details. Whenever you feel it’s ready, do it.”

   “Great.”

   Amelia smiled as she made notes. He liked when she smiled. She was so damn pretty, but always so serious, which he supposed was good for his restaurant. Her focus produced great results, but there was nothing wrong with smiling and being happy about the work you did, either. He wasn’t sure he’d ever heard her outright laugh.

   “You should do that more often.”

   It took her a second to lift her head. “Me? Do what more often?”

   “Smile.”

   Now she frowned. “I smile.”

   “No, you don’t. You always look like you’re in the middle of some horrible midterm exam.”

   “I do not.”