Miracle Pie Read Online Free Page A

This was business. But when he’d entered the cottage
kitchen, he’d given each woman a quick sweeping glance. He’d seen
enough to know the pictures his uncle had sent didn’t lie. They
weren’t deficient there. Not by any measure.
    The viewers would eat them up.
    “Well?” Rosa asked. In another moment she’d
be tapping the toe of her shoe on the floor. Like a bull, she
wanted to take charge. Maybe she didn’t have balls, but for a long
time Gabe had suspected a vagina was a hell of a lot stronger.
    He held back a laugh. This was the wrong
time to think of vaginas or testicles or any body parts. Food and
money. That’s what he needed to think about.
    “A lot of chefs are trying to make it,” he
said. “On the Food Channel, the Travel Channel, the Top Chef shows,
the morning shows, the afternoon shows, any show they can get. Most
with impressive credentials and awards.”
    Rosa gave him a stare that reminded him of
his fourth grade teacher when he displeased her. “I don’t care.” A
faint southern Italian accent thickened her voice like honey
sliding out of the hive. “I believe in myself.”
    “You’ll need to believe in yourself. Your
competition isn’t coming from neighborhood diners. They’re from
four-star restaurants. Everyone wants to be famous.”
    She narrowed her eyes. “Are you trying to
discourage us?”
    He glanced at Katie. Her gaze was switching
back and forth between him and Rosa, a frown puckering her forehead
as she waited for them to duke it out.
    “I’m telling you the truth,” he said,
turning back to Rosa.
    “In that case, we don’t need you.” Rosa took
a decisive step out the door.
    He stayed planted on the cream-tiled kitchen
floor. “There’s another way to get in.”
    Rosa stopped. Her narrow-eyed stare could
have bored holes in his brain. “I’m not sleeping with anyone.”
    He laughed so hard he had to wipe tears from
his eyes. When he sobered, both women were frowning at him as if he
were a turd on the sidewalk.
    “What kind of mind do you have?” he
asked.
    “The kind of mind that knows how men
think.”
    He grinned. This was turning out to be more
fun than he’d hoped. “A friend—a woman friend—is a shoe
addict. She started putting videos on YouTube that showed off her
shoes. Telling viewers where she bought them and how much they
cost, where she wore them, and what people said about them. The
videos are fun and funny and short. Viewers have found her. She
signed up for an advertising program. It’s been a year. Her views
are in the high six figure mark, and she’s making good money.”
    “Advertisers?” Rosa’s forehead furrowed. “On
YouTube?”
    “You know what YouTube is, don’t you?”
    “It’s a place with videos of people doing
silly things.”
    “Or singing songs,” he said. “Or cute cats
doing cute things. Or clips from weddings. And sometimes...” he let
his voice croon... “cooking. The money you get for each view is
small, but the more viewers, the more the money adds up.”
    The lines on her forehead deepened. She
shifted her gaze to Katie. “What do you think?”
    “It might be cheaper.”
    “It might be faster.” Rosa’s tone was
considering, but she frowned even fiercer. Gabe could practically
see her creating an Excel sheet in her head, pros on top, cons on
the bottom.
    It was his job to make the pro list longer.
He needed to convince her that his vision was the better choice for
her.
    “You could build an audience with the
shorter clips,” he said, getting Rosa’s attention and holding it.
“All the money would go to you. Not to the TV station, which would
give you a tiny percent. But to you .” And to him. They’d
each get their fair share. “I know a way to help with the
costs.”
    “What’s that?” Once again her eyes narrowed
in suspicion. With eyes like that, she didn’t need to talk.
    His gaze traveled to Katie. Her lips were
partly open. With her reddish brown hair, he’d expected brown or
green