Second Chance at Love by Joanna Campbell Slan

Author:Joanna Campbell Slan [Slan, Joanna Campbell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Spot On Publishing, a division of Luminary LLC
Published: 2018-12-03T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 43

MJ and Skye deserved to hear about my mistakes from me, personally, and not through the grapevine. Now that the local law enforcement authorities knew what happened, my past wouldn't stay a secret for long. When the door slammed behind Detective Murray, all the starch went out of my britches. I’d come so far⸻geographically and emotionally⸻but now I’d been dragged back to my past. Instead of feeling like a self-sufficient businesswoman, the sour stink of failure fogged my brain.

Worse luck, two people whose respect I craved were staring at me in confusion. They weren’t sure whether to keep moving ahead or to pack it in and call it a day.

I had to be pro-active. “Look, I'll tell the two of you everything, but it's a long story. Why don't we break for lunch?”

Skye volunteered to pick up an Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza and bring it back along with an assortment of colas. After I handed her some money for the food, MJ and I went back to working in silence.

Skye came back in a hurry; her physical presence announced by the yeasty fragrance of Anthony’s crust. No way could MJ and I ignore it.

“Time to eat,” I said.

Once we all found chairs and dragged them over to the old oak desk, I .took a long swallow of my Diet Dr Pepper, wishing it was something stronger. I could pretend that Kiki Lowenstein was here. That might help. Imagining her as a listener loosened the tight band of pressure that squeezed my heart. MJ and Skye munched on pizza, as I launched into my story.

“The summer that I finished high school, a man named Dominic Petrocelli, a recent graduate from the St. Louis culinary school, interned at our family restaurant. My father and Dominic hit it off immediately, spending hours talking about food. Dad had been wanting to add some old family recipes to the menu. With Dom's input, he did just that. People really took notice. Our business grew accordingly. Pretty soon, Dom included in almost everything we did, although my mom took a standoffish attitude about him.

“I can't describe how charming Dom is. Imagine the cover of a Harlequin romance novel come to life. Tall, dark, handsome with an accent. At seventeen, I was still gawky and unsure of myself. When he began paying attention to me, I thought it was because he liked my dad so much. But pretty soon, he started finding ways to seek me out. Alone. That wasn't too hard, because I spent most of my time at the restaurant, either waiting tables or working the hostess stand. As word spread of our expanded menu, we were busy all the time. We had to hire more wait staff, including a woman named Alicia Matteo. Alicia and I got along together really well, probably because we were about the same age. She kept telling me that Dom had a crush on me. I was a little intimidated by him, to tell you the truth. Finally, he asked my dad for permission to ask me out on a date.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.