AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And,” she continued, “even now, when I’ve worked so hard and sacrificed everything for my dream, it’s been more like a nightmare.”
I leaned away from her. “What do you mean, honey?”
She broke away from me, grabbed the brownie, and shoved almost the entire thing in her mouth. She closed her eyes and let the chocolate settle her soul while she chewed slowly. When she finally swallowed and sighed, she opened her eyes and faced me.
I pointed to a big blob of chocolate frosting on her lips. “You might want to get that.”
She licked her lips with a sad smile.
“Tell me what’s going on?”
“You’re going to think I’m stupid.”
I reached out for her hand. “That’s impossible.”
She took my hand and squeezed before letting it go. She looked up to our steel beamed ceiling. “I think Carter and Giselle are seeing each other. I know you and Dani told me not to open a restaurant with them, but we promised each other we would remain friends and the restaurant would be our priority. Lately though, I’ve noticed the stolen glances between the two and I can’t seem to do anything right in their eyes. They’re both constantly vetoing my new menu ideas even though my dishes are more popular, and they think I don’t manage people very well. They think I’m too soft.”
“You’re not soft, you’re kind. That’s a huge difference. And they’re jealous that you’re a better chef than the two of them put together.” The anger bubbling up in me had me wanting to go to Carrington Cove and go big sister crazy all over Gisele and Carter. I knew it wasn’t a good idea for her to go into business with those spoiled rich brats. All their investment capital came from their parents, while poor Kinsley had to take out a huge business loan that required the fatted calf, a sacrificial lamb, and the blood of ten virgins.
“I don’t know what to do.” She put her face in her hands and cried. “I can’t back out or I’ll have to declare bankruptcy, and there’s no way I can buy them out. But going to work every day is becoming miserable.”
I removed her hands from her face. “Have you confronted them?”
“You know I’m terrible at that sort of thing. I faked my period starting so I could come home and take a break from the two of them.”
“Ah, Kins, do you want me to go back with you and get all confrontational? Because I will.”
“No. This is my problem. You have your own to worry about. But why,” her voice hitched, “can’t anyone ever choose me? Why am I always the leftover or the sloppy seconds?”
I knew she wasn’t talking about work. She was talking about love. “You can do so much better than Carter.”
“It’s not only Carter.” Her face shined red.
“Who else?”
She waved her hand in front of her. “Never mind. No one.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks. “How’s it going with you and Jonah?”
“Kinsley,” I wasn’t going to let my last question go unanswered, “did you meet someone?” A thought popped into my head. A thought of her and Brant pairing off together for vehicle hide-and-seek on Thanksgiving. I saw the way she had smiled at him when he opened her car door. “Is it Brant?”
Her wide eyes looked as if I’d electrocuted her with his name. “Why would you say that? There’s nothing going on between us.”
Wow. The lady doth protest too much, methinks. “You can tell me anything.”
She grabbed what was left of her brownie. “There’s nothing to tell.” She shoved the rest of the brownie into her mouth. “Are you and Jonah working it out?” she asked with her mouth full.
I knew I wasn’t getting anything else out of her. I couldn’t blame her. I had kept my relationship with Jonah secret a long time ago, or at least I thought I’d kept it secret. And I had my own secrets now. “We’re taking it a day at a time. Actually, I might have to babysit Whitney tonight here, if that works for you and Dani.” I wasn’t sure if I was ready to go to Jonah’s yet. At least with Dani and Kinsley here, Jonah and I couldn’t get too cozy.
Kinsley finished chewing and swallowing. “Of course. That’s kind of a big step—watching his daughter.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Well, it might not happen. If Jonah doesn’t get called in, we are going to dinner.”
Kinsley gave me a crooked smile. “That’s a big step, too, for you.”
“I suppose it is.”
Kinsley tilted her head. “By the way, why are you dressed like that? It looks like you had a job interview.”
I pursed my lips, thinking about what to tell her. “I’ll tell you where I went if you tell me about Brant.”
