TV celebrity chef and cookbook author Adam de Leon walked away from his lover when Jason's drug addiction spiraled out of control. Adam also abandoned his renowned restaurant in San Francisco to start a small bistro in the Sierra Foothills.<br><br>Five years later Adam is battling the conservative leaders of Stone Acres, California, to open a new restaurant in the historic Old Town area when Jason turns up on his doorstep -- a recovered Jason, now going by the name David and claiming he's overcome his addictions. What's more, he begs Adam to take him back and says he's ready for their happily ever after.<br><br>Adam has enough on his plate with problems plaguing the opening of his restaurant. Now he's having a hard time deciding which to follow -- his head or his heart.

When Adam Fell

“So what do you suggest?” I was hot and tired. I needed a shower and a beer.


“Tell me something.” I was about to pop him one when he turned serious. “What are you really thinking about the Star’s opening? You want a soft opening first? Then a gala of some kind?”


“No. I just want to open the restaurant and have people come eat.”


He sighed. “God, you do need me, don’t you?”


“Hey! That’s what happened when I opened the Bistro. I told a few people in the city I was open for business and then the phone rang and people booked tables.”


“Yeah, I ran an ad in the Sacramento Bee, the Sacramento News & Review, the Stockton Record, and the San Francisco Chronicle. I listed the reservation line number and told the kid I’d hired for the front of the house to limit it to twenty people a night. It went fine.”


Chapter 21