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“It looks like you’re trying to hide your face.” She wrapped her scarf around her neck. “Where to for food?”
    â€œYou pick. I’ll drive.” He held the door open for her.
    â€œSo what did you do last night? You said you went out with your friend’s daughter?”
    With his keys jingling in his hand, he said, “Yeah, she was bummed about her dad and she was trying to pack up his stuff. I took her out for a drink.”
    â€œOh.” Lily’s eyes widened. “When you said daughter, I thought you were being a good Samaritan and taking a little girl out for ice cream.”
    Liam pressed the button to unlock the car, suddenly feeling like he was being interrogated. He got behind the wheel and started the engine. He didn’t know how to respond to Lily’s comment.
    â€œSo was this like a date?” Her face didn’t reveal much. She continued to smile as she looked out the window, as if his answer didn’t matter. But he had sisters and he knew there was a right and wrong way to respond.
    It hadn’t been a date. At least it hadn’t started out feeling like one, but then Carmen had flirted and he’d wanted to kiss her, which was the definition of a date. “No. Carmen and I were kind of friends when I used to work at her dad’s restaurant.”
    She turned in her seat to face him. “That probably sounded bad. I didn’t mean to pry.”
    Liam had a sinking feeling about this whole conversation and all he wanted to do was escape it. “Have you talked to your mom about the new recipes you developed?”
    She sighed. “No. I don’t think she’ll ever give up any control in the kitchen. She likes to keep me out front as a waitress.”
    â€œMaybe it’s time for you to move on. Find something different.” He’d been struggling with the same feeling at his own job. The difference was that Lily was still young and finding her way. He was thirty and should’ve figured out his way by now.
    â€œI can’t do that. She needs me.”
    â€œThen your only other option is to make her listen. If you don’t, you’re just going to end up bitter and resentful.”
    She nodded silently. He was glad she didn’t want to continue talking about Carmen.
    As they neared the restaurant, Lily suddenly said, “I need you to teach me mac and cheese.”
    â€œHuh?”
    â€œI keep trying to make some really good mac and cheese, but it comes out lumpy or worse, like glue. I need to know what kinds of cheese work best and how to make it so that it will work for the diner. If I can sell my mom on a new mac and cheese recipe, prove to her I can do it, that might work.”
    Liam breathed a sigh of relief. Food talk was something he could handle. He wasn’t ready to examine what had transpired between him and Carmen. He certainly wasn’t ready to consider why Lily would care how he’d spent his night. He needed to focus on the food. He knew what to do with food.

    A week and a half later, Liam sat in his car staring at the certified letter. The past week had been crazy with trying to spend time with his family around Thanksgiving, but he always had to work on holidays. He’d gotten the notification of the letter, but ignored it for days. It wasn’t until he was on his way to work that he stopped by the post office to pick it up.
    Now, he couldn’t believe the contents. Calling the lawyer had only confirmed the information in the letter. Gus had left him half ownership in his food truck. Although Liam had known that Gus sold the restaurant when Inez had gotten sick, he didn’t remember much about the food truck. Gus had mentioned it at some point, but on the occasions that they spoke, they rarely discussed Gus’s business.
    Gus was always asking about Liam and how he was doing. They talked about family, but Gus never even hinted at this. He had a huge family. Why would