“They can in France,” Dean muttered darkly.
“Exactly!” She pointed her flute out. “Forget my bad pronunciation. My point is no one told me. I thought everyone had noticed how much I’ve changed. I can handle things now. I faced down Sawyer’s demon of a mother. Sorry, Sawyer, but her nails still give me nightmares.”
“Me too,” Sawyer mumbled, taking Phoebe’s hand.
Brooke leaned forward on her pillow, her green eyes entreating. “Oh, Thea, take a breath, sweetie.”
“I am not a sweetie!” Thea pressed her hand to her chest. “I’m angry and frustrated and hurt. You should have told me! I understand why you didn’t tell Nanine, but everyone else knew. This news is important. It’s awful, and I let myself cry for twenty minutes because I’m trying to cry less too.”
Kyle’s throat locked when she angrily swiped at a tear falling down her cheek. “Thea, I’m so sorry. I didn’t keep it from you to hurt you. The opposite, in fact. I should also set the record straight. Nanine knows, too.”
A few gasps sounded around the room, but he couldn’t focus on them now. Not when Thea was so upset.
He felt Madison slide around his back on the floor, and then she was taking Thea by the shoulders. “Hey!I know thishurts, and I’m sorry it hurt you. We didn’t mean that. I’d rather use my cleaver on myself than make you cry.”
“This situation affects me too.” Thea clutched Madison’s black shirt. “Those are our breads. Our menu. Do you remember how we came back from seeing Nanine in the hospital and immediately got started on the menu she asked for? You told me your idea for the bread pairing, and then we volleyed ideas. I can still see delighted Nanine’s face the day we presented our draft menu to her. She was days out of the hospital, and I felt like we’d healed part of her heart. And that a-hole is going to keep the Michelin people away, just like he did with Nanine! It’s not fair.”
Madison’s face was tight with anguish. “No, it’s not. In the history of culinary excellence, it’s some of the dirtiest pool I know of. But we can’t change it?—”
“Hey!” Kyle almost shouted. “That’s not?—”
Her golden eyes swung to him. “Don’t you dare give her false hope, Kyle.”
She might as well have sliced him open with her cleaver.
“I can protect myself,” she continued, her voice cracking him open. “I can fall back on a lifetime of disappointment and disillusionment. But not Thea. She’s everything good in this world. Unicorns run down her street. Rainbows appear in the sky. Despite her new cred for facing down Sawyer’s scary mother.”
He could feel his control slipping out of his hand. “I’m tired of all this negativity and talk of this a-hole winning. You all just have to let me do my thing.”
Madison stood up, her fists clenched at her sides. “Kyle, I love you with all my heart, but you need to be open to the fact that you cannot do your thing here. Nanine, William Silver, my old mentor, Rico—the whole culinary world—knows this situation is impossible. Sometimes even you can’t change the cards you’re dealt.”
Her breath was coming in harsh pants. They stared at each other before she finally looked away.
The deepest cut of all.
“I asked you to believe in me,” he said, trying to stay calm even though he felt like he was being ripped to shreds. “If you’ve lost faith in me and my word about helping you win your star, you need to say it.”
“Kyle, this is out of your control.” Her golden eyes found him again and turned bright with unshed tears. “More than anyone, I understand how hard that is to hear. You made mewantto believe it could be done.Given what you know of me, that’s a miracle. But it’s time to face facts. We never had a chance.Excuse me, I need to go.”
She rushed from the room.
He pursed his lips, fighting to keep his shattered control.
Thea laid her head against his shoulder as the door slammed, saying, “I’m so sorry.”
So was he.
