Once Upon A Bet: A Grumpy Single Dad Romance, page 19
“No,” I said. “He can fuck whoever he wants.”
“Hmm,” Farrah said. “He can, but that doesn’t mean you’re not going to be pissed if he does it right in front of you.”
I picked the knife up again and started cutting. I didn’t really enjoy that she was right. And what the hell did it mean that I was still getting jealous? I wanted to believe I’d shut the door on Greyson Ashford, but how much could the door be shut if I was still getting ready to go choke out a bitch just for smiling at him?
“I think it might be healthy if you two had one last conversation before he goes,” Farrah said. “To give you both some closure. It’s not normal. The way you two are so tense around each other. It’s like a bomb is always about to go off when you’re in the same room.”
“He’s welcome to come talk to me if he wants to,” I said simply. “I’m not the one who was an asshole. It’s not my job to apologize or try to handhold him into doing the right thing. Besides,” I said, chopping even faster until my knife was practically a blur. “I’m pretty sure things went exactly how he wanted them to. He wanted to make sure things were broken off before he went home, and they feel pretty damn broken off to me.”
Farrah pursed her lips and rolled them to the side. “Yes, they do.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I snapped.
She grinned. “Relax. Or at least put the knife down. I’m getting worried that girl is about to end up on the floor in a pool of blood.”
I set the knife down. As if on cue, the girl popped up at the counter. She was smiling brightly and looked every bit like the prom queen prototype from some busy suburb town.
No stabbing, brain. I deliberately tucked my hands in my apron and took a step away from the knife.
“Hi, I’m Gabby.”
I smiled. “I’m Harper. This is Farrah, she helps out in the kitchen and also jumps out to run food and take orders. Lin should be coming in a few minutes, but she pretty much does the same.”
“He seems really nice,” she said, nodding toward Greyson. Kenny Mathers had come downstairs with his assistant, and they were talking to Greyson about something–complaining, judging by his body language.
I forced a smile. “Mhm. Yep.”
“So he told me I should come chat with you.” The girl smiled, flashing white teeth, dimples, and baby blue eyes that were wide and framed with thick lashes. I wanted to groan. Why couldn’t this girl have just come after Greyson was gone? Or why couldn’t he have met her when he was back home and spare me being able to picture them together.
I may have decided to hate him, but an irrational part of me still didn’t want to even imagine him lusting after some other girl. Not yet, at least.
“Uh, yeah. Let me show you around the kitchen.”
Lin arrived a little while later and I walked Gabby through what I was doing. She frustratingly proved to be competent and not the empty-headed bombshell I was selfishly hoping she’d be. I even grudgingly found myself enjoying her company. She had a dry sense of humor and was refreshingly willing to laugh at herself when she got confused about something I was showing her.
Lin was like a walking zombie while Kenny was downstairs in the lobby. She ruined two batches of dough by forgetting how much salt she’d mixed in, and I eventually had to banish her from working on anything important until she could get her head on straight.
All four of us were working to roll balls of dough for pizzas at the prep table when Greyson came up to the counter. “Small problem,” he said.
We all stared, waiting.
“Kenny Mathers and his band didn’t think they needed to make reservations. They also have to leave before dinner service, and his backup vocalist is throwing a massive fit about it. She was apparently really excited to try the food.”
“And?” I asked.
“Kenny and his assistant told me she’s planning to trash us on her social media. She’s a small part of the band, but she has a huge following. I checked.” Greyson waited, watching me. God, he looked frustratingly good. I could still remember what it felt like to have those lips claiming every inch of my skin–to have those eyes locked on me with hungry intensity. He’d been dressing up ever since the grand opening, and he somehow looked even better in slacks and ties. It was a constant battle not to notice.
“So you’re saying you want us to drop what we’re doing and cook them a special meal?” I asked.
“Thank you,” Greyson said. He started to leave.
“I didn’t agree.”
He paused, then turned to focus on me with a dangerous look in his eyes. “I asked you out of courtesy, Harper. While I’m here, I’m still your boss.”
“You’re my temporary boss, and you can’t afford to lose me right now.” My heart was thumping in my throat. Careful, Harper. You still need this job, no matter how much he pisses you off.
I felt Gabby and my friends tense beside me.
Greyson’s jaw ticked. “Are you refusing to cook for them?”
Lin seemed especially stiff. I considered what she would want. Probably the least drama involving Kenny she could manage. With an internal sigh, I folded my arms. “I’ll cook them something, but we’re not taking orders. They can get what we’re ready to cook right now or nothing. Deal?”
Greyson hesitated just long enough to let me know he didn’t appreciate my defiance or my demands. “Alright. I’ll let them know. When will you be ready to serve them?”
I pulled open the door to the fridge and quickly put together a menu in my head. Only about twenty percent of the menu was ready to cook at this point, but I thought I could scrap together a full meal for four or five. “Forty minutes. Gabby, do you mind helping for a bit?”
“Not at all!” She flashed a smile, and I was glad to see Greyson was already gone.
I rubbed my temples. So what if he decided to screw his new assistant? I needed to make up my damn mind. I was either over him, or I wasn’t. This in-between crap had to go. I lifted the last ball of pizza dough and slapped it down into the proofing bin. “Alright, let’s do this quickly,” I said. “Are you going to be good, Lin?”
She looked paler than usual. All her typical sass and bluster was gone. “Farrah can serve them.”
“I’ll do it,” Gabby said. “I may not be much help in the kitchen, but I’ve got a background in hospitality, and I’ve waited tables. That’s kind of what Mr. Ashford hired me for.”
He already hired her? What happened to having me talk to her first. I shoved down the annoyance at that, but knew it was still going to fester. Asshole.
Kenny and his band lingered at their table with their plates pushed away and picked clean. I got on my tiptoes to take one last look, then headed back into the kitchen to get back to work. I’d just lost forty-five minutes making food for them and still had my full prep list to work on for tonight. It wasn’t impossible, but I was going to need to make sure I moved quickly and delegated as much as I could to Lin and Farrah.
Lin had stayed as deep in the kitchen as she possibly could the whole time, carefully avoiding any areas where there might be a line of sight to Kenny’s table.
She was fileting a fish when we heard a knock on the counter. I turned to see a tall, lean and darkly gorgeous man in jeans and a ratty t-shirt. He had on several bracelets on one wrist and a necklace. The accessories would’ve been cheesy on a normal guy, but he definitely pulled them off.
“I wanted to meet the chefs,” Kenny said. He was standing in the kitchen like he owned the place. He noticed some bacon we’d cut up and prepped. He helped himself to a piece, grinning as he chewed. “Wait,” he said, squinting at me. “I know you. We went to school together, right? Don’t tell me–” he pointed, looking up as he tried to guess my name. “Shit,” he laughed and shook his head. “Sorry, I can’t remember.”
“It’s okay. I’m Harper, and yeah, we did go to school together.”
“Looks like you’ve been busy. You cooked that shit?”
“I’d like to think it wasn’t shit, but yes. I did.”
“Damn,” he said, nodding in approval. He noticed Farrah then and pointed. “I recognize you, too. Cara?”
“Farrah,” she said quietly. I didn’t blame her for being shy. The guy wasn’t just famous, he was ridiculously attractive.
“Right, my bad. And you are?” he asked Gabby.
“New here. I just moved from North Carolina to take this job. I’m a big fan.”
He smirked at her, and I could almost see how he was deciding if he wanted to fuck her or not. For some reason, he seemed to decide against it. “You guys got any booze back here?”
“For cooking, yes,” I said sternly.
He gave me a tilt of his head and a smile that nearly made me go dig out the nearest bottle of liquor for him. “Come on. Not even a few sips for an old friend?”
“An old friend who didn’t remember my name?” I asked.
He chuckled, and seemed to notice me for the first time then. I shrunk a little under his focus, but we all jumped when a pan clattered to the ground.
Kenny frowned and took a few steps into the kitchen until he could see where Lin was crouched under a metal prep table. She made a noise somewhere between a trapped mouse and a scared cat. He walked right up to her with his hands on his hips and a widening grin.
“Come out of there,” he said, voice oddly stiff.
Lin obeyed, trying her best to get out from the cramped space with dignity but knocking over measuring cups and bowls as she climbed out.
“You wouldn’t be hiding from me, would you, Lin?” Kenny asked.
Lin straightened. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
Kenny took her by the shoulders and Lin went as stiff as a brick. He looked her over, smiling in a way that wasn’t entirely friendly. “You’ve been growing since I saw you last. Damn.”
Lin seemed to catch herself and she jerked back from him. “No shit. That’s what people do.”
He chuckled. “Still sassy, I see? What, you’re not intimidated by me?” He asked the last in a near whisper. I suddenly felt like I was witnessing something private and had to calm the urge to slip out of the kitchen. He didn’t seem to care that the three of us were just watching with our mouths hanging open.
“I’d need more than one lifetime to stop hating you,” Lin snapped. She rushed out of the kitchen and gave him a hard bump with her shoulder as she left.
Kenny looked after her, rubbing his lower lip with his thumb and grinning. He seemed to come back to himself a few moments later. “Well, thank you lovely ladies for the food. And sorry about Maria’s little tantrum. It was top-notch of you to humor her. Maybe I’ll make sure we stop by again some time, and I’ll try to mention you guys at a few concerts. Drum up some business.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Sure, anything for old friends.” He got a distant look on his face as he looked to where Lin had gone again. “Besides, I think I may have to steal that one eventually. It’s the least I can do for poaching an employee.”
“What, Lin?” I asked.
Kenny was about to answer when Greyson appeared at the counter again. He looked at Kenny, then at me, and his expression darkened. “I’ll have to ask you to leave the kitchen,” he said to Kenny. “They’re behind now and need to hurry to get ready for dinner service.”
Kenny didn’t look bothered by being ordered around. He just shrugged and headed back toward where his band was sitting in the otherwise empty dining room. “I’ll see you guys around.”
Greyson was glaring at me like he was trying to light me on fire with pure annoyance. I could practically feel the little points of heat from his eyes on my face. “Well?” he asked impatiently.
“Well what?” I demanded.
He clenched his jaw again, then stormed off without another word.
“You two don’t seem to get along so well,” Gabby noted.
“That’s fine,” I said. “He’s leaving soon. There’s no point in him making friends when he has one foot out the door, is there?”
40
GREYSON
I leaned back in a chair at Katie’s place. A monopoly game was strewn about the table half-finished because the kids had grown bored and wandered off. Katie and Zack were still at the table with me, and Matt was in the kitchen doing the dishes while humming to himself. The guy was an absolute dork, but I had to admit he had kind of grown on me. I guess it was easier to see my ex ride off into the sunset with a harmless puppy instead of some growling wolf who would get territorial and make my life hell. Matt was happy to let me see the kids and be around whenever I wanted, and he deserved credit for that.
Zack scratched his beard and counted his monopoly money. “You know I was going to win. This is bullshit.”
I grinned. “You never win.”
“Yeah, because your kids never let me finish you guys off.”
Katie took a deep breath. “Matt and I decided we want to stay in Fairhope.”
I’d known this might come, but it didn’t help prepare me for actually hearing it. It felt like my chest hollowed out until all I could feel was a cold wind blowing straight through me. Piece by piece, I’d felt my life start to come apart when I came to Fairhope. I didn’t regret helping Gramps, but I fucking regretted everything else about this place.
Except even that wasn’t true. No matter how much thinking about Harper stung, I couldn’t honestly say I regretted the few memories I had with her. I just hated what an idiot I’d been to let things get so messy.
“You’re serious?” I asked. It sounded like my voice was coming from somewhere far away.
She nodded. “The kids love it here, Greyson. Matt loves it. I love it. And I know this will be hard to split time from so far away with the kids, but we promise we’ll do everything we can to make it fair. We’ll pay for flights, or–”
I got up. “I don’t need your money.”
“Greyson–”
I left through the front door and got in my car. I couldn’t think straight anymore. The business I’d set up for Gramps seemed to be booming. Katie wanted to move out here with the kids. My brother wanted me to move out here and so did my gramps. It seemed like every fucking person in the world wanted me out here except me.
Did they all just expect me to leave my job behind like it was nothing? This wasn’t some fantasy. My career and everything I’d built was hundreds of miles away. Moving to Fairhope would be idiotic.
I took a slow, shaky breath, then turned on the car. In two days, I’d be on a flight back to D.C. Harper Halladay would be a distant memory, and I could set about rebuilding everything I’d torn down here in three months. Except Harper wouldn’t be that distant of a memory, would she? She’d be right here every time I came to see the kids.
That was fine. I’d just have to fly them out to me instead.
I shook my head as I pulled out of Katie’s driveway. What pissed me off most was that I wanted nothing more than to drive to Harper’s place. I wanted to bring her some cheesy wine coolers, get myself a few beers, and unload everything that was on my mind.
I’d never met anyone who made me feel like I could open up like she did. Harper wanted to hear about my problems, and she cared about them. She didn’t even have to have solutions. Talking to her about the shit that pissed me off helped me feel better, and part of me missed that even more than the sex.
But she deserved more than I could ever give her. I’d already proven once I wasn’t marriage material. It was like Katie said, I didn’t know how to need someone. The more I depended on them, the more I felt the urge to run.
That thought hit a little too close to home. I shut my brain down and just drove. Two more days. All I needed to do was make it for two more days and this would all be behind me.
41
HARPER
It was late and I was nearly finished closing up the kitchen. Lin and Farrah were long gone, and the only sound was something clinking from the lobby as Greyson worked. The inn had been transformed ever since the restaurant opened, just like he predicted. It was a hub of activity all day. High profile guests would check in all morning and afternoon and then the restaurant would explode at night for dinner service. There’d be even more late-night check ins and the lobby only returned to its sleepy, crackling fire norm well after dark.
But if I ignored the hollow feeling in my heart, I could see how this was what I wanted. I spent my day laughing and sweating with my best friends. I got to watch dozens of people enjoy my food. Better yet, I was getting a bigger paycheck than I ever thought I’d get. Life in Fairhope wasn’t expensive, so the salary I was earning here was enough to let me live like a queen if I wanted to.
My mentor had responded to my email the other day. He said I was welcome back if I wanted, but I’d surprised myself by turning him down. I didn’t feel like I needed an escape plan anymore. The worst had happened already, hadn’t it? Greyson and I had gone nuclear, just like I’d feared. But I was still standing, and I still had my own restaurant. And tomorrow, he was leaving.
I gritted my teeth. Even after everything, it felt wrong to let things end like this. He and I barely spoke anymore. It was all stiff glances and avoiding eye contact with us. If he really needed to get a message to me, he sent it through Gabby. And to my surprise, he hadn’t made any signs of wanting to hook up with her. He was just as stiff with her as he was with me.
I needed to at least say goodbye. I set down my towel and headed into the lobby. Greyson was cleaning out the coffee mugs and setting them on a dishwashing tray.
“Hey,” I said.
He froze, then turned to look over his shoulder. It had been getting chilly this week, and he had on a thick white sweater and blue jeans. He looked like he belonged right there–taking care of the inn and getting it ready for tomorrow’s visitors. But I knew his heart was already somewhere else.
