It’s been a few days since I fucked everything up with West. I’m not even sure what I said that got him so mad, honestly. He’s known this whole time that I live in New York, that I was just staying here to work on The Daff. He could see with his own eyes how much progress I’ve made on the building. And most importantly, I told him time and again that we could hook up, no strings attached. So I’m still just racking my brain for clues why it feels like we broke up when we weren’t even dating.
I tried messaging him, but he hasn’t written back yet. I’d go over, but he’s had Teddie for three days, and that wouldn’t be right to try to speak in front of him about all of this. The one time I could use some meddling from my parents, they seem utterly oblivious.
Now I’m staring at the email on my phone, offering me the job in New York, and I’m wondering what the fuck to do. A few days ago, I was sure this would lead nowhere, and I wouldn’t really have to make the choice on it, but now I got the offer. Sure, it’s still minimum wage, but this place has a freaking Michelin star, and this time it doesn’t have an expiration date. So it’s tempting. And I am considering it. But also, looking around The Daff, I feel so freaking happy here. Everywhere I look I see not only my hard work but also hundreds of happy memories of my gran. And Gran just reminds me that maybe I do want to stick around while my parents age. But they are only just now fifty, I could work for a decade in New York and still have thirty years with them back here.
I just wish I could shake a magic eight ball and it would somehow tell me the right thing to do. If I stay, I get my friends, my longtime friends, a close community, a business I own outright, a kitchen I’m in charge of… and maybe even a shot with West. If I go, I’ll have a completely different kind of life, clawing my way up the ladder in fine dining, maybe making head chef in fifteen or twenty years. But no West. When did West even become part of the equation?
He was supposed to be a bit of sexy fun time, and I know I had a growing crush, but I did such a good job at tempering it…until that little outburst of his made me wonder if there has been more to us all along that I didn’t want to hope was even possible. After all, he’d said the whole time it was impossible.
I’m so lost in thought I don’t even hear Chloe coming through the front door. “Holy shit, the floor is straight,” she gasps.
“Is it that obvious?” I lock my phone and set it down so I can give Chloe a hug. The woman is a level ten hugger, and I could use a good squeeze right about now.
She laughs. “Yeah, kind of, to me at least. I’m sure plenty of people don’t notice. Did that set you back a ton?”
“Naw, this time my dad had a friend who traded for a joy-ride in the chopper. Something about an anniversary present for his wife or something.”
“Well that’s lucky. You ready to decorate?” Chloe holds up overstuffed shopping bags.
“You brought stuff?” I giggle in surprise. “You didn’t have to.”
“Well it’s nice to have options. And I can’t resist a sale.”
Taking a bag from her, I lead the way upstairs to the freshly painted bedrooms. I even managed to get new sheets, blankets, and pillows on clearance, so everything looks just a little bit better than before.
“I have a bunch of options in this first room,” I say as we enter. Maybe I shouldn’t have used the bed that West pinned me to a few days ago as he rocked my world, but I hadn’t realized until I started spreading all my treasures out on it, and by then I was just too lazy.
“Oh this is some good stuff.” Chloe beams in her usually cheery tone. “Thanks for letting me play decorator with you. Henry’s idea of home décor involves deer heads and rifles, so my creativity has been starved for years now.”
“Well be my guest. I don’t really have an eye for things. My mom loaded me up with all this stuff and said you’d know what to do.” I wave my hand over the hoard of treasure that boggles my brain a bit like I’m offering gold to a dragon. I might as well be, the way Chloe’s eyes light up.
I nod. “Go nuts. And I have another hundred if there’s something we’re missing, but we might have to thrift shop for it.”
“This is the best day of my life,” she squeaks before her face falls.
“What’s wrong?” I ask at the sudden change.
“Nothing. I don’t want to bring the mood down.” She picks up a random pink vase from the bed and pretends to study it.
“Does it have anything to do with you being dressed so snazzy today?” I question, realizing Chloe usually opts for leggings and a sweatshirt, but today she’s wearing dress pants and a flowy top.
The way her eyes dart around tells me I’m right on the money. “Chloe, what is it?”
She sets down the vase and rubs her hands through her long tresses. “I’m not sure if we’re supposed to talk about it or not, but it’s West.”
“What’s happened?” I gasp, my heart leaping into my throat in its attempt to jump right out of my body and run to him. “Did he tell you about ripping my head off the other day?”
She nods. “Yes, but that’s not what’s going on. I just feel bad being happy today because he’s going to court in two hours to fight for Teddie. That’s why I’m dressed so nice. I’m going there after.”
“That’s today?” I’m a little hurt my parents didn’t tell me. Maybe because he asked them not to? “Shit. I never got to tell him about the recording.”
“Your recording of Abby’s dinner conversation. I never got the chance to tell him because it seemed like an in person conversation, and then he was on call for three days, and then he came here after he passed his test, and we had like earth-shattering sex and then he had to go, and I told him about the interview, and he blew up at me and hasn’t returned my calls since. I thought we had more time, though. Fuck!” I sprint from the room and Chloe follows at my heels.
“Okay, we are coming back to this earth-shattering sex thing when the world stops imploding around us, but for now we have to get this recording to him.”
“You better send it, he doesn’t answer my messages. But someone should be with him when he hears it. It’s bad, Chlo, really bad.” My heart clenches at the thought of West having to listen to the recording by himself. He’s going to freak out about it. I know he’s a grown man and all that, but everyone should have support when facing down the treachery he is about to hear.
“Wait, should I not send it yet?” she asks, thumb hovering over the button.
“I don’t know, time is not on our side. Can you call him?”
Chloe nods, her face pale as a sheet. She dials the phone and West answers on the second ring. “What’s up?”
Hearing West’s calm voice helps me relax a little and take a breath.
“Hey, West, um, I’m here with Amelia, and she has something you really need to hear. Where are you?”
“Chloe, I don’t have time for this today. Did you forget what I’m doing in two hours?”
“No, West, it’s not what you think. Please. This is important. It has to do with the hearing. Where are you?”
“It what?” his gruff voice asks, clearly confused. I should have told him right away. I should have woken him up that night, or gone down to the fire station the next day. Regret swims through my belly, and I realize now just how much West is going to hate me for sitting on this information for so long. And he should hate me.
“Where. Are. You.” Chloe barks the words. I’ve never heard her voice get so stern before.
“I’m at home with your hubby.”
“Okay, don’t move, we’ll be there in ten,” Chloe says quickly and punches the red button to end the call as we tear out of The Daff at breakneck speeds.
I’m pretty sure Chloe doesn’t even touch the brake pedal on her SUV as we rip through town. I’m pretty sure I keep my ass clenched the whole time wondering if we’re going to die on the way, but sure enough, seven minutes later we pull into the driveway and leap from the car. Like the Kool-Aid man, we bust through the front door, only instead of a tasty sugary drink, we come bearing a horrific recording that might just both ruin and make West’s day all in one fell swoop.
“West,” I gasp when I see him all dressed up in a suit and tie, looking horribly handsome and yet giving me a cold distant stare.
“Well, what’s this about then?” he asks as Chloe rushes to sit next to him and places a hand on his thigh. I wish I was the one comforting him through this, but I lost that right by being dense when it came to what was happening between us. West was giving himself to me. It might sound crazy that a man giving up sex was a special thing, because most of society didn’t work that way, but that’s what West had been doing that afternoon. Giving himself to me wholly. Telling me with his body he wanted to let me into his life. And I didn’t see it at the time. I was too worried about the recording and then the hot sex and then the fated interview.
Chloe nods to me, and I pull open my phone. Without another word, I hit play on the recording and the noisy sounds of the restaurant fill the space. After a few seconds, Deborah excuses herself to the bathroom, and I know what’s coming. I fall into place on the other side of West on the couch and clutch my phone tightly to stop myself from reaching out to him. That’s when it starts, and West hears the whole sordid snippet. It only lasts a few minutes while their guest is away, but that’s plenty of time to paint a clear image of Abby.
When I pause the recording, his face is completely ghost white. “That evil bitch,” he mutters with seething rage in his voice.
“We have to get this to your attorney. Right now,” Henry braves the instruction and West nods.
“What’s his number?” Chloe asks, and West unlocks his phone, thumbing through the contacts and holding out the number for her. She punches it into her phone and the little swoop sound tells us it’s sent.
“You better call him and tell him what’s coming,” Henry adds in a calm and sure voice.
West nods and stands. “I’ll call him now. Can you all uh, give me a minute, please?”
Everyone stands then and walks over to the door together. It’s bright and reasonably warm for Alaska and sunny today, but none of that helps break up the gloom hanging over us.
“I think I should go,” I say quickly, realizing fully just how much West is going to loathe me after this fuckup.
“That’s probably a good idea,” Henry says in a grim tone that completely destroys me.
With a silent nod, I slink off and say a prayer this recording can reach his lawyer in time to help.