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“Do you know that for sure?”
I shrugged, and when the update came on, I turned to watch it. What I heard caused my jaw to drop. Ali was speaking with Tarin at the restaurant, dressed in her chef’s coat. “Blake and I had a great friendship right from the start, and we really enjoyed our time, but we realized that we were much better as friends than we were anything else.” Ali laughed softly. “My best friend told me I should have gone with sexy and not safe. I think I should have listened to her.”
People were staring at me, and I could do nothing but stare at the screen. Ali and Blake weren’t together anymore? What? Why didn’t she tell me? Why didn’t she say something?
“You okay?” Carol asked, and I jerked back to reality.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. Look, it was great talking to you, Carol, but I gotta go.”
She smiled. “I bet I know where you are going.”
I laughed. “Well, that makes one of us.” I kissed her cheek, thankful that she had tapped me on the shoulder and made me watch it. “Maybe we will see each other again.”
“I hope so, Harvey. Good luck!” she called out as I made a beeline out of the tavern and to my truck.
Now to figure out how to deal with this. I returned to my house and located the laptop that I had tossed aside. After plugging it in, I turned the program on and watched her move through the kitchen as she worked.
I tried to come up with a plan of how to apologize for being such an ass. What could I do to fix what I’d done? No wonder she looked heartbroken when she left here, but why didn’t she tell me? Why didn’t she just say she wasn’t with Blake anymore? It would have been so easy, and everything would have been different.
I tried not to think about what would have happened if she had told me, because I didn’t need my hormones jacked any higher than they were already.
Instead, I watched her work through the night and leave. I had no clue where she lived, so it wasn’t like I could find her right now. Suddenly, I remembered that earlier today, she had been talking to me. I found the recorded files on our server and started listening to them again from the moment she came into work.
I found the place that I had turned off the sound and listened again. “I sure thought I did. I mean, I know I told you that I was sorry and that I had chosen wrong, but what Blake and I had on the dance floor was exactly what you had said; it was safe. It was also very wrong. He isn’t the one that I want. He never really was. I want sexy and exhilarating, a man who made my toes curl with a kiss, and someone who could make me scream their name.”
Shit!
“I wanted a man who wouldn’t try to make me change but would help me find ways to adapt my life into theirs. Someone who appreciated how hard I worked for my career, and who saw eye to eye with me.”
What was she saying here? She stared into the lens and continued. “I found that. I found it in you, Harvey. I should never have picked Blake, but what you don’t know is that I broke it off with him several days ago, and today when the show airs, the entire world will know that I chose wrong. I should have gone with my heart and not my head. I should have chosen you, Harvey. I should have told you that I wanted the next dance with you, and the one after that, and the one after that, and the one that lasts forever.” She paused. “I hope you see this. I hope that whoever sees this will put your ass in a chair and make you watch it. I want what we started on that dance floor. I want what we shared last night so briefly. I want you.”
I heard a door open, and her eyes jumped to the back of the room and then came back. I had to adjust the volume to hear what she said next. “There is only one more thing for me to say. I want you to come to me, and I want you to ask me for the next dance, Harvey. Can you do that? Will you do that?”
I sat back and smiled as she started talking to a guy named Malick about breakfast. An idea began to form in my mind, and I smiled for the first time since yesterday.
I picked up the phone and called Mike. “Hey, I need your help with something.”
“Yeah, I’m kind of busy right now.”
“Mike, I’m telling you that I need your help. You all got me into this mess, and now you all need to help me get out.”
He was quiet for two seconds. “You’re right; what do you need?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ali
It had been three days since the show aired, and I hadn’t heard from Harvey. Maybe he hadn’t seen it? Maybe the video hadn’t been live when I’d done my little impromptu speech on Saturday night. I fretted over it when I wasn’t feeling the pins and needles under my backside to see when the next person would get sick.
When the kitchen wasn’t open for business, I was personally going through each station and sterilizing it over and over again. I knew that by now, I had cleaned every inch of the room—twice. I had even gotten up on the ladder and sanitized the fans, the lights, and the ceiling panels.
I documented every single thing I did and knew that video was recording my every move. If only I didn’t have to wait for someone else to get sick to figure out what was going on.
The last couple of days, business had been busier than usual, and quite a few people had asked to speak to me. Not about the food, but about my experience on the show. Who knew doing that show would help business? Several of the women I spoke with made sure to let me know that they would have chosen Harvey over Blake in a minute. Didn’t they know I knew that already? Didn’t I say in the show that I had chosen wrong? I was pretty sure that I had. Two women even asked me if I knew how to get in touch with Harvey. I smiled politely, told them no, and wished them a good meal.
I was frustrated with the whole situation. I had assumed that word would have gotten to Harvey, even if it was by Alice or Maggie, that I wasn’t with Blake anymore, but so far nothing. I hadn’t even heard from Holly in the last couple of days. I was starting to conclude that he just wasn’t interested.
Which made no flipping sense! After what happened with us Friday night, it was so evident that he felt something for me. Was he denying it? Did he feel guilty for the way he had treated me after? Was he just an inconsiderate ass?
