“I’m good. I just put a cart before a horse.”
That was all she was going to offer in front of her staff by way of explanation.
She waved to Archie for him to follow her.
She’d take a drive over to nearby Manchester.
It was time to have an adult conversation out of earshot of anyone in Irish Hills.
ChapterTwenty-One
Hope
They were sitting at a booth in the Hungry Fox in Manchester.
Manchester was about thirty minutes away from Irish Hills. The drive had helped her calm her nerves.
Archie was wrist deep into a hamburger, fries, and a pop.
Hope was too worked up to eat. Despite calming herself and deciding to be an adult, she didn’t have an appetite.
“The way I see it,” Archie said between bites, “I manage the place. You cook. That’s what you like to do anyway. The girls said your rich friend isn’t charging rent in either spot, so we’re sitting pretty in terms of making bank. I’ll sell the Covington house, and we’ll be flush with cash. How about that?”
“That rent-free thing is a temporary thing.”
“Rich people love to act like they’re doing you a favor. We can milk that a long time if we play our cards right.”
Everything Archie said made her current friendship with Libby seem gross. She hated him knowing anything about it and even more that he wanted to take advantage of it. Hope wanted to start paying rent as soon as possible. She didn’t want to milk anything!
“I just want to get a divorce, okay? I don’t want to run a business with you.”
“Ha, well, it’s more like I’m running the business, and you’re running the kitchen.”
Archie could turn a gold mine into a trash heap. That was his magic power. He had the reverse Midas touch.
“No. I understand the girls want us to reconcile, but that’s a remnant of a fairytale childhood that I mistakenly wanted them to believe, that even sometimes I believed. But I’m not making believe anymore.”
She didn’t shout it, and in a way, she wasn’t even saying it to Archie. She was admitting all of it to herself.
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that.” Archie leaned over and produced a piece of paper. He slid it in front of her.
“What is this?”
“Divorce papers. I’m going to need a complete financial accounting of your catering profits, your contest winnings, the value of the restaurant, the cottage you’ve been gifted, and anything else you’ve been hiding.”
Archie seemed to think Libby had just given her a bunch of property. He was going to be really disappointed about that. She had cash from catering and winnings, but she didn’t own a thing, except the restaurant’s stove.
She had zero patience with his demands.
“You’rethe one who cheated onme! You’re suing me for divorce? That’s a real laugh.”
“I apologized. I told you it was a mistake. You’re obviously not being reasonable. So, there are some deadlines on there. And a number to call to fax the documents. My lawyer says I’m entitled to half of this enterprise in Irish Hills. Or you can be reasonable, and we’ll run it together.”
“What are you doing? Every time I try to have something for myself, you get in the way. You don’t want a restaurant or to live here, or me. You just don’t want to see me succeed.”
“No, babe, I want what’s mine, what I earned by supporting you all these years.”
“That makes no sense. I supported you! All your schemes.”
