Personal Chef

Chapter 52

"He's not wrong," Paige said, sipping her latte. "You two are broken up. He's a free man."

I scowled at her. "Sorry, I have to call a foul on you here. You are breaking the best friend code of conduct. You're supposed to support me unconditionally."

We were sitting at the coffee bar, and I'd just finished telling her about what had transpired the night before. The bistro was pretty quiet this morning, though I knew it would pick up a bit later when the post-church crowd showed up.

"I'm on your side, Chelsea. He shouldn't tell you he loves you each time he's back in town. It's not helpful at all. But you shouldn't end up back in his arms or in bed with him. Half of this is on you. I really don't think either of you knows what you want," she said.

She was right, of course. I definitely didn't know what I wanted. Obviously I wanted to get over him since he was gone. I needed to move on. When I saw him, however, I wanted us to be back together while he was with me. My rational brain stopped working when Shawn was around.

"So I overreacted last night?" I asked her.

"Hell no! He fucked that evil bitch and then wanted to be with you. You had every right to kick him out. I'm just saying that you can't be mad at him for having sex if you were split up."

"I wish I'd found out he fucked her after we'd had sex. At least I would have gotten laid."

"You'd feel so much worse this morning if that had happened," she reasoned.

I went back to the kitchen to make some cranberry orange muffins. They were a huge seller as the holidays drew nearer. On Sundays I only had one cook on duty, and we chatted about some other items we could add to the menu. He suggested we make Christmas cookies to sell individually or by the box. It was a brilliant idea. Since I had my afternoons off, I could easily make dozens of cookies each day.

The morning passed quickly and before long I was getting ready to lock up. I liked to do a once-over to make sure the place was spotless. I was wiping off a table in the back that had been missed by a server when I heard a knock on the door. I turned and saw Shawn standing there looking like he was freezing despite his scarf and plaid wool jacket.

Given how things had ended last night, you'd think I'd be furious that he showed up like this. I wasn't. After talking to Paige, I felt badly about how things had gone down. I knew I wasn't wrong, but I didn't like how we'd left things.

I walked to the door and opened it. "It was unlocked," I said as I stood aside so he could come in.

"It was past the hours listed on the door, so I didn't want to be rude and just walk in," he explained.

I smiled because it was so him to follow a rule like that.

"Coffee to warm you up?" I asked.

"Please," he said, taking a seat at the bar.

I got us each a cup and put a warm muffin on a plate for him. I then moved around to the other side so I could sit next to him.

"I thought you might yell at me for coming by," he said before breaking off a piece of muffin and popping it in his mouth.

"I'm actually glad you did."

He looked surprised. "Really?"

"We need to talk."

"That's exactly why I'm here. Do you mind if I start?"

I shook my head.

"I'm really sorry I hurt you, Chels. I went home last night and couldn't sleep because I kept thinking that I'd caused you pain. That's the last thing I want to do, because I love you."