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“Nothing,” I say and down the rest of my water. The waitress interrupts and saves me from further embarrassment and takes all our orders. My sweet Harmony comes and sits on my lap and lays out a coloring page and hands me a red crayon. If I didn’t already love her with my entire heart, it would all be hers after that.
“I love you, kid,” I say as she looks up at me.
“Love you too, lady.”
“Lady?” I say, tilting my face back in mock horror, looking at her like she’s crazy. “Who is lady? I am not lady; I am your proud Aunt Lyla.”
Tickling her sides, Harmony wiggles on my lap and laughs. “You win! You win, Aunt Lyla.”
“Thank you.” My smile is smug, and I hear Cole laugh but don’t look at him. Harmony sits back over by her parents, and I remember I need to ignore Cole, at least until I figure out how to deal without losing my shit. The doors open, and the room fills with the most delicious smells. I can smell each individual dish, and as my eyes drift closed, I can practically taste every spice used, and I know I could recreate every plate identically. In a past life I did. As my steak is placed in front of me, I stare down and mentally calculate the average gross and net cost of the meat and slowly make a mental recipe for later.
“Would you like any steak sauce?”
“What?” I can feel Cole staring at the side of my face as I look up at the waitress. “I’m sorry, no I don’t need any sauce. Thank you.”
Somehow, I manage to keep my eyes down and not look at him. Everyone around the table is in a conversation but me. I’m finally here, and I’m still letting a man run my life. Fuck that.
“Excuse me,” I say to the waitress right before she hits the door. “Could I please have some honey?”
As soon as the last word is out of my mouth I hear and feel Cole spit out his water. He coughs and hits the table with his hand. His face is beet red. And I smile triumphantly. If he wants to be weird, I’ll make it as awkward as possible for him. Cole continues to beat his chest and cough while the entire room stares at him. It takes a massive amount of willpower not to laugh my ass off at the look he’s shooting me. I cover my mouth with the napkin as though I’m just wiping my mouth, right before Marcus follows his gaze to me. As he stares at me I right myself, and no one is the wiser. Feeling like I have the upper hand back, I dig into my dinner.
“I really think she’s going to bring a lot of personality to the label.” I hear Marcus say a short time later.
“She has over two million followers on her YouTube channel,” Charlie adds.
“I got to hear this,” Grace says as she pulls out her phone. “What’s her name?”
“Keke Simone.”
“Wow, she’s pretty,” Grace says, looking at Marcus who doesn’t look at her. She pushes play on one of the videos and the hip-hop music fills the small dining room. I sneak a glance to Cole, but he’s looking down at his plate. The music continues and a woman starts rapping so fast I can’t help but lean over to Grace to see her for myself. She is pretty and dominates the screen in a video she clearly made, but it’s badass. She’s flawless in speech, and the lyrics give me goosebumps, and I have to rub my hands up and down my arms for friction. When the song ends, I dramatically look at Marcus with my jaw on the floor.
“Dude. Girl’s got talent. She’s really signing. When? Can I meet her?” I laugh.
“Yes, she’s really signing. She flies in next week, and she will be moving here from Colorado next month,” Marcus says proudly.
“We’re stoked,” Mason says from the other end of the table.
I notice Charlie staring at me and give her a shrug, hoping she’ll drop any suspicion she might have. The last thing I want is to pull her into any Marcus/Cole drama that I might have created.
“She’ll be a game changer. I’ll definitely be telling everyone I know about her. Maybe help her get more followers,” Grace says.
“Who is everyone? I thought everyone you knew is right here,” Marcus teases Grace.
“Very funny but I do actually have other friends, Marcus.”
“No one believes you, Grace.” He stares at her with a big grin until she playfully rubs her hand over his face, pushing him back a just a little. We all laugh. More at the way they joke with each other than the crack on Grace.
“The food in this place was delicious, Marcus. Thank you,” I tell him honestly.
“You bet. Although I know for a fact yours would have been better,” he says and winks.
I know I should feel good about what he said, but I just feel the opposite. Dread fills me as I wait for all the questions from the new people in the group that don’t know I was a chef. Everyone who does know, also knows I’m not anymore and really don’t have any hope to be again. I take in a deep breath.
“Are you a good cook?” It’s Cole’s sister Willow who starts.
“I like to think so,” I say, hoping to deflect.
“That’s cool. Maybe you wouldn’t mind hosting a family dinner one week. We could have it on your roof if my brother would ever finish fixing it up.” Willow glares at Cole until he starts nodding in agreement. He hasn’t said much to anyone tonight, and I hope that’s normal, but by the look on his sister’s face, I’m going to guess it’s not.
