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His head felt so muddled. As a man who’d been burned before by the woman he loved, he didn’t know what to think. It would kill him if Sebastian swooped in and took his business away from him. And it hurt that Addie hadn’t given him a heads up so he wasn’t blindsided by the letter. “I don’t know what to think. I just know your father is threatening to take this place away from me and he’s using your stake in this place as leverage.”
Addie shook her head. She threw her hands in the air. “I-I can’t believe this. If you really think that of me after everything, I shouldn’t even be here right now. I’m in love with you, Caleb. I wouldn’t hurt you for the world.”
She locked gazes with him. Her eyes begged him to stop her from leaving, but he couldn’t summon the words. He was too angry. And he felt like an idiot for trusting Addie so completely. Surely she could have intervened with her father? Why hadn’t she done anything to stop this? Why hadn’t she told him? He looked away from her and placed his head in his hands.
When he heard the sound of a door closing he realized Addie was gone. All he felt was emptiness. He wanted to chase after her, to apologize for his sharp tongue. But he felt so out of sorts. He didn’t know what to believe or whether his trust in her had been misplaced. Was he being played for a fool again by a woman he deeply cared about? Or had he just made the biggest mistake of his life?
**
Addie left the bistro through a veil of tears. She couldn’t believe her father had sent Caleb paperwork in an attempt to intimidate him into selling the restaurant. It was the worst possible thing he could have done to make Caleb mistrust her. She didn’t even know what to do. She couldn’t go back to the restaurant and face Caleb knowing how he now felt about her. He didn’t trust her. And she had been incredibly vulnerable and told him she loved him. His reaction had been nothing more than a blank, stony face. Her heart was crushed.
Her goal had been to live life out loud. Falling in love with Caleb fell into that category. But he didn’t love her back. It had been obvious by the look on his face. He’d been unmoved by her declaration. It was funny though. She still loved him, despite him thinking the worst of her. Despite his failure to take her in his arms and tell her he believed in her. Caleb was a good man who had been blindsided by her father’s business manipulations. Sometimes good people acted
poorly. They failed to live up to their own standards. It didn’t make her love Caleb any less.
She took a deep breath. There was only one thing to do at this moment. It was the only way she could protect Caleb and the Blue Bayou. It was the surest way of making certain that Caleb’s dreams weren’t taken away from him. He’d lost enough for one lifetime. Addie would move heaven and earth so that Caleb didn’t lose anything else.
**
Throughout the day, all Caleb could think about was Addie. He missed her presence at the bistro. He was so distracted by the events of this morning he’d found it necessary to leave the Blue Bayou in order to clear his head. Paolo didn’t say much to him, but he could tell by the way he was looking at him that he knew something about the trouble between him and Addie.
Caleb ended up driving around aimlessly. He didn’t know what to do with himself. He finally ended up at the harbor, sitting on a bench and looking out across the water. He idly fed the seagulls who were all too happy to snatch up pieces of bread. It bothered him so much that he’d lashed out at her. He hadn’t trusted her. He’d allowed his past with Felicity to color his relationship with Addie. She was nothing like Felicity! Not in a million years!
She had professed her love to him and he’d sat there like a fool and said nothing. Why hadn’t he acknowledged it? He wasn’t sure if it had been anger or fear. So much had happened over the past few days. He had reconnected with his mother. He had come to the realization that he loved Addie. Everything in his life was happening so quickly. Knowing that the Blue Bayou might be taken from him had knocked him off his feet. It had been a paralyzing sensation.
He knew Addie wasn’t capable of deception. She was loving and warm and loyal. Clearly she hadn’t known anything about her father’s plans for the property. Now that he’d simmered down he was able to see things more clearly. He winced at the way he had spoken to Addie. How could he have lost control so badly? He prayed Addie would forgive him.
Caleb knew he needed to head back to the bistro. He’d been gone for hours. What if Addie was there? Caleb didn’t know how he was going to face Addie without feeling like a complete fool. All this time he’d been worried about the lines becoming blurred between his professional and his personal lives. Now, he was fully prepared to get down on his hands and knees to beg her for forgiveness.
When he arrived back at the restaurant, Caleb found himself searching the lot for Addie’s car. His heart sank a little bit at the realization that she hadn’t made her way back to the bistro. Her bright yellow VW bug was nowhere to be found. Maybe she wasn’t coming back, he realized. He couldn’t say he blamed her after the way he’d acted.
“Are you all right?” Paolo asked when he came through the back door that led to the kitchen. “Did you and Addie have a fight? She looked just as shell shocked as you look right now when she was here a little while ago.”
“Addie was here?” he asked, hope rising up inside him.
“She came through here about twenty minutes ago, then left,” Paolo explained. “And she wasn’t her usually cheery self. She seemed really down in the dumps.”
Caleb needed to call her. He had to swallow his pride and tell her how wrong he had been. Caleb beat a fast path to his office, craving privacy so he could make the call. God willing, Addie would give him a chance to make things right.
A white envelope with his name scrawled on it was sitting on his desk. His heart began to hammer as he recognized Addie’s handwriting. With trembling hands, he ripped open the envelope and pulled out the letter.
Dear Caleb,
From the beginning of our partnership, I wanted you to know the Blue Bayou was yours. You were the one who breathed life into it. It was your creation. I never meant for you to feel as if it was no longer your own or worry about losing it. I came to the bistro to hone my business skills and to learn the restaurant business. In the process, I fell in love with the bistro…and you.
This is the only way I can show you what you mean to me. I’m giving you my share of the bistro. I want you to have it. I never want you to worry about someone taking it away from you. And now you won’t ever have to wonder if you’re going to lose it. It will belong to you one hundred percent. There’s nothing daddy can do to change that fact.
The day you came into my life was a blessing, Caleb Donahue. I will never forget you or what you’ve done for me.
Yours,
Addie
Tears blurred Caleb’s eyes as he finished the letter. The generosity of Addie’s gift was stunning. He had to go back and read that part over again. The words threatened to bring him to his knees. Addie had given him a tremendous gift. She had seen the desires of his heart and given it to him on a silver platter. Suddenly, he felt incredibly unworthy of it. And of her.
He had doubted her when they had been tested. Shame slithered through him.
He reached into the envelope and pulled out the actual paperwork whereby Addie had given him her half of the bistro. Instead of celebrating, Caleb felt empty. Addie had made this tremendous gesture. For him. She’d told him she was in love with him. Why had he rejected her words of love? There wasn’t an insincere bone in Addie’s entire body.
