She made a non-committal noise. “They said it will be more than a month before we can even start thinking about re-opening.”
That caught his attention, and he jerked upright in his chair. “A month?”
“It’s going to take time to get all the bids in and then to get the supplies and get it done.” She sounded so defeated.
“We’ll come up with something in the meantime,” Evan told her.
“I don’t want to think about it right now. I’ll deal with it tomorrow and call Catherine.”
“Let me know if I can help with anything.”
“Okay.”
“Kayla, I’m serious. Everything else aside, I’m invested in the restaurant, too. I want things to work out for you and for it.” He was quite literally an investor.
“I know. I just need to process all of this. Maybe wallow in some self-pity with a gallon of ice cream and then I’ll be back to normal. For now, all the guests for this week are taken care of. We did it last night, so I don’t need to do anything right now.”
“Do you want me to call Catherine?” he offered.
“Please don’t. I love her, but I don’t want a bunch of people showing up over here tonight.”
“Understood. Promise you’ll call if you need anything or want to talk?”
“Sure.”
The call ended and Evan felt worse than he had this morning. This wasn’t good news. At least he had something to do now. He had to figure out how to help this process move faster.
ChapterSeventeen
Kayla
Kayla woke early Wednesday morning, surprised she’d slept at all. Between Evan and the restaurant, she was worn out but couldn’t stop thinking about them.
Yesterday after Evan had left, she had decided that she wasn’t doing anything. She didn’t talk to hardly anyone and only barely functioned, and then she’d fallen asleep and had missed the insurance company’s first call.
She was sore, too, which was making it hard to get Evan off her mind. She almost didn’t want to. Then she remembered that she’d gotten exactly what she wanted, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time in her life.
Evan would be there for her no matter what, she knew this without hesitation, but was she in the right mind to be making decisions like this, ones that would impact everything in her life going forward? Had she already ruined it by inviting him in last night? Probably.
That was the hardest thing to accept. She wanted Evan here, helping her deal with everything, but at the same time, she needed space. This was why friends shouldn’t turn into lovers, no matter how hot they are or how incredibly good the sex was.
It had been good, too. Never had she had two orgasms in one session, much less in one night. He’d also been surprisingly commanding, something she didn’t know she liked. He had thrown in just the right amount of what she needed—she was getting excited again thinking about it.
Pushing those thoughts aside, she headed out of her apartment. She needed to go and look at the damage with fresh eyes and then start making calls and plans.
With a new resolve, she held her head high as she left. She needed to handle business. No more wallowing in the nonsense. It was time to deal with it.
Security guards stood blocking the plywood-covered door as she pulled up to the restaurant. The driver of the rideshare let her out right in front, and she thanked him before heading off. Her car was still in the parking garage from two nights ago when Evan had driven her home.
He must have forgotten because there was no way that he would have left it there. She was grateful he did, though. It was better than driving herself, and it gave her a deadline to get out of the house by.
“Hi, gentleman,” she said to the two men.
One of them opened the door for her. “We haven’t had any trouble.”
“Thank you,” Kayla answered as she stepped through, surprised there was no glass on the ground anymore.
They didn’t report to her, or maybe they did. She wasn’t really sure, but she was glad to hear that nothing more had happened. Not that it would really matter at this point considering all the damage that had already been done.