Chapter 25
Eve
What the hell was this about?
I hovered between wanting to go and wanting to stay and find out what cracked concept Joshua had come up with to ply me into submission.
Faith exited Cowboys n’ Cuts, wearing an expression like she’d stepped in a day-old steaming cow turd. If she was unhappy, that could only be good news for me, since she’d only taken joy in my pain thus far.
“Joshua,” I started again.
“Just wait,” he said. “Hear me out.”
People had already gathered to watch the scene in front of the restaurant, a miniature Hope Creek crowd of locals, all intrigued to see how my love life turned out. Would the stranger who’d arrived six months ago stay and sweat it out with Faith as her boss? Or run off never to be seen again?
God, it was like some terrible reality TV show for them. It made me want to hurl. I hovered on the brink of running off again, eyeing the truck’s driver side door.
“I know that Bryan didn’t want you in his restaurants. He didn’t believe in you or respect the fact that you had a dream to own your own restaurant one day,” Joshua said.
I froze and stared at him. I hadn’t realized he’d absorbed that much from what I’d told him, or that he’d cared enough to even think about it after we’d had a discussion about my ex.
“You deserve everything you’ve dreamed about, Eve. You’ve paid your dues,” he continued.
My cheeks were still wet from the tears I’d shed earlier. I removed a Kleenex from the pocket of my jeans and dabbed at them. Anything to distract myself from this.
Joshua was notoriously private about his life. The fact that he’d chosen to speak to me in front of all these people…
I swallowed. “What’s this about? I thought – no, I should leave.”
“Faith,” he said, and held out his hand.
The bitch of the year dropped a set of keys into his palm.
“What is this?” I asked. “Did I just win a car or something?”
A titter of laughter from the onlookers. Heat crept up the back of my neck.
“No,” Joshua said. “I bought Faith out. I own Cowboys n’ Cuts, now. And I want you to be the head chef.”
A gasp rang out from the crowd.
“W-what?”
Faith’s bitter expression redoubled. She sniffed, turned on her heel and walked off without another word. It was unbelievable. The woman who’d taunted me, fired Cassidy, and determined to make my life hell had just handed over the keys and walked off.
“H-how did you? When did you? What the hell?”
“I bought her father out, actually. After I made sure that he knew exactly what his daughter had gotten up to,” he said. “Well, I had some help in that.”
I reeled to catch up. He’d bought the Cowboys n’ Cuts, and he wanted me to be the head chef.
“And before you say anything, I want you to know that this position comes without any obligation. If you don’t want to see me again, other than in a professional capacity, that’s fine. I want you to have this job, Eve. You’ll have the ability to change the menu whenever you want and run the place how you want it to be run. I won’t interfere.”
I sucked in a breath. “That’s generous, but I can’t accept. I’d feel obligated to –”
“You’re not. But before I give you these keys, I want you to know that I am doing this because I love you.”
Another gasp.
My knees wobbled and almost gave out. “What?” He loved me. He loved me?
“I love you,” he said. “You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved, and I want you to be happy. That’s all that matters to me.”
My heart ached for him, to accept the fact that he wanted me to be happy. That was something that Bryan had never wanted. Never. He’d only cared about his own happiness and he’d taken me down to the bottom and left me there.
“You love me,” I said.
“And I know you love me, too, even though you’re scared. Even though you want to run away from me,” Joshua continued. “I need you to understand that I will never hurt you. Never.”
I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep from speaking or crying or both.
“If you don’t want to give this a shot, I’ll understand, I just feel that what we have is too important to throw away,” he said, “the way I feel about you after such a short time, it’s… fuck it, Eve, it’s magic.”
A few of the women in the surrounding crowd actually sniffed or blew their noses. Oh, shit, Mrs. Lemon was one of them. When had she arrived? She flapped a handkerchief at me as if to say, “You go ahead and get him, girl.”
The tide of resistance waned. The doubts dissolved, piece by piece. He wouldn’t hurt me. He loved me. Could I let go of everything that’d happened and move on with him as mine, and me as his?
I’d already professed I was his. Sworn it during our lovemaking.
“I’m not asking you to marry me,” he said. “Just that you take the job in my restaurant. And maybe, if you’re up to it, you let me take you out on proper date.”
A chorus of ‘ah’s’ from both men and women this time.
“If she doesn’t kiss him, I will,” one of the old ladies whispered.
I stumbled forward a couple steps. “This is what you want?”
“This is what you want,” he said.
I stopped in front of him.
“I might not know the day you were born, or your mother’s name,” he whispered, these words were just for us, not for the folks who surrounded my car and the restaurant, “I may not know your favorite color, Eve. But I know what’s in here.” He pressed his palm to my chest, above my breast, over my heart. “I know your soul.”
I threw my arms around his neck and buried my face in his scent. He brushed a hand over the top of my head and down my back.
“Is that a yes?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“For the restaurant?”
“Yes.”
“And the date?”
“Double yes,” I said, and looked up at him.
A commotion spread through the crowd. A ripple of noise, followed by loud chatter – the type that came from a little person who had no clue they’d interrupted something important.
“And then teacher said that I could bring him to school. So, for Show and Tell I’m going to take him. And then for the next one, I’m going to take Aunty Eve. Aunty Eve is a chef. Did you know that?” Charlie’s voice traveled from the back, and folks parted in front of it.
Finally, Cassidy strolled into view, but Charlie wasn’t with her. The little girl was in the arms of another – Roger, the business friend who’d met us out ages ago.
“Are you a chef, too?” Charlie asked and frowned at Roger. “You don’t like you cook. You wearing a suit.”
Elderly women cooed and giggled at Charlie’s babbling.
“Hey, there’s Aunty Eve!” Charlie yelled. “Momma, told you she would get married.” Roger let the little girl down, and she darted toward me.
I dropped into a crouch and held out my arms to her, then gave her a tight squeeze. “Hello, sweetheart. I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.”
“Much better.”
Cassidy hurried over, with Roger in tow. “Sorry, she insisted on coming with. She kept telling me that we needed to come see you before you finished getting married. I don’t know what’s gotten into her.”
“You’re so pretty,” Charlie said, and kissed me on the cheek.
“I hope we’re not interrupting anything,” Cassy said, and took her daughter’s hand.
“I think it’s pretty clear we’re interrupting something,” Roger replied and looked over his shoulder at the Hope Creek crowd. “And I’ve got to say, it’s pretty creepy. Guess I’ll have to get used to it, now that I’m moving here.”
Cassidy blushed and I blinked at the interaction, and stood up. I couldn’t feel anything but joy at the prospect of my friend finally finding someone who would treat her with respect and tenderness. Roger seemed the right type of guy.
“Well, I wouldn’t have come if Joshua hadn’t told me to,” Cassidy said.
I grinned up at him, and my heart skipped a beat at the smile he returned. “Should I tell her or would you like to?”
“It’s your restaurant,” I said, then pressed two fingers to my mouth in mock contrition. “Whoops.”
“What?” Cassidy’s head swung from left to right, back and forth between us. “What? Restaurant, what?”
“I own Cowboys n’ Cuts,” Joshua said, and produced the keys. “And Eve’s going to be the head chef. I think we’re missing some staff, though. Ha, do we have any waitresses?”
“I was thinking we might need a floor manager. Someone who can deal with the front of house, all that social stuff,” I replied.
Cassidy gasped. “Don’t you play with me. Don’t you dare.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I said. “Well, what do you say? Do you want the job?”
“Do I want the job?” She let out a hysterical laugh. “Of course, I do!” She threw her arms around my neck and squeezed me until I choked. Charlie jumped up and down on the spot and clapped her pudgy little hands.
Cassy released me after a second and let out a breath. “Well, that helps. Now, I can stop stressing about you leaving and about making ends meet.”
“Aunty Eve isn’t leaving,” Charlie said, with authority.
“No, I’m not,” I replied.
It took a couple of minutes, but the crowd finally thinned and people wandered off in different directions. Mrs. Lemon winked at me and gave me thumbs up. I had the feeling that getting my old apartment back wouldn’t be a problem. Not that it would be a permanent living situation.
No, if things went well enough, I might find an entirely new place to live. I shot Joshua a sneaky glance and he caught me looking and winked.
“Wait a second,” Cassy said, after a minute. Roger had already picked up Charlie and begun regaling her with a tale about butterflies, or farterflies as he’d called them – the hilarity was instant for the little girl.
“What?”
“How did you get rid of Faith?”
Joshua puffed out his cheeks. “It wasn’t easy, I’ll tell you that much, but she won’t be a problem anymore. Let’s just say Lee-Roy Stone has decided that his daughter needs to do some character-building activities.”
“Huh?”
“He’s relocating to Houston with her, and from what I’ve heard, he’s enrolled her in a beauty school. She’s going to study again, and then she’s going to use what she’s learned to work for her money. Ah, that’s what he says anyway. We’ll see how long it lasts before she twists daddy’s arm again.”
Cassidy laughed. “Yeah, somehow I doubt that’s going to work out. Good god, this is like a dream come true. Thank you, Joshua. And you, Eve.”
“Me?” I asked. “I didn’t do anything.”
“You moved the world in Hope Creek. You being here changed everything,” she said, then blew me a kiss. “I’d better go. Mama’s waiting at home, and she’s promised to look after Charlie while Roger and I go out on our very first date.”
“Have fun,” I said, and Joshua slipped his arm around my waist and tugged me closer to his body.
I spun into him, clutching his shirt. I didn’t have the words to tell him how much all of this meant to me, and how he’d changed my life, and helped me see who I could be. Who I was.
He pinched my chin between a thumb and a forefinger, then brought his lips down on mine. The kiss stunned me. It’d been an eternity since I’d last fell his heart beat against mine, tasted him, felt the heat of our bodies melded together, yet it’d only been two days.
Joshua broke the kiss and smiled down at me, brushed my cheeks, gently, and sent goosebumps chasing down my spine. “Mine,” he said.
“Yours,” I whispered.