Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Now, I didn’t care.
She could be here to apologize and to try and make it all right and I honestly wouldn’t care. I didn’t want to get back with Virginia, the way that I had once longed for. In fact, her coming here like this was kind of pathetic. I knew that she didn’t want to get back with me, that she didn’t really care for me. She was trying to trick me and seduce me into doing what she wanted.
I wondered briefly if Theo knew that this was the tactic she was taking, or if he even cared. He might have encouraged her to do it, might have been laughing at me right that moment, or he could think that I’d cave to Virginia immediately with no real work required.
“So,” Virginia asked, wrapping up the long spiel that I hadn’t even been listening to. “What do you think?”
I smiled politely at her. “I think my point still stands. Neither you nor Theo are getting your hands on this restaurant. That includes filming at it. But by all means, feel free to order something to eat. On the house.”
The look on Virginia’s face was priceless.
Chapter Twelve: Stevie
Y’know, I didn’t really think of myself as a violent fucking person but I just might murder Virginia Madison.
I hated her. I’d hated her from the moment Brooke had called me crying and I’d learned what she’d done, cheating on Michael with Theo. I’d had to help nurse my best friend’s broken heart and watch as Michael struggled to be strong when what he clearly wanted to actually do was break down.
Now she was back and in the restaurant, Michael’s restaurant, the restaurant he’d told her to stay away from—and hamming it up at Michael as if she still actually cared.
I could stab her with a fucking steak knife, honestly.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, poor Brooke was in a complete tizzy.
Brooke’s relationship with her mom hadn’t been so hot the last few years. Understandably so. They’d been close but when your parent cheats on your other parent with the guy you viewed as your older brother-slash-uncle figure… it hurt, no matter what way you sliced it.
“She didn’t tell me that she was coming!” Brooke hissed at me, her voice cracking a bit. “She didn’t tell me, and now she’s going to want me to go out there and make nice and say hi and play big happy family.”
“Honey.” I left the oven, directing Steph, to take over, and grabbed Brooke by her shoulders, leading her over to a quieter corner. “I need you to breathe, okay?”
Brooke took a few deep breaths and I nodded reassuringly. “There you go. Now, remember, you don’t owe her anything, okay? I know that she’s you’re mom and it’s hard to think of yourself as able to stand up to her but… she chose to walk away from the family, to walk away from you, okay? You don’t actually owe her any time. If you don’t want to sit down with her then you don’t have to.”
Brooke nodded, calming down a bit. I was glad to see it because I was a little busy freaking out myself, even if I couldn’t show it the way that Brooke could.
“Can you check on what’s happening?” Brooke whispered. “Let me know what’s going on?”
“Of course.” I nodded, squeezed her arms, then slipped out of the kitchen to see what was happening.
From the door that led into the kitchen, I could just see the booth where Virginia and Michael were sitting.
I didn’t think that he would go back to her—he knew better than that, surely, didn’t he? He knew that she was no good for him, didn’t he?
Michael wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t be that stupid.
My stomach twisted viciously as I saw Virginia reaching across to touch Michael’s arm. Michael politely moved his arm away and my stomach unknotted just a little, but not completely, since Virginia didn’t seem to take this as a setback and kept smiling at him and flirting with him.
Could she actually want to get back with him? I mean, I could personally see why she’d want to, because I also wanted to be with Michael. I had always thought that Virginia was an idiot for letting him go in the first place.
But after everything with Theo, would she really then leave all of that to go back to Michael after she’d made it so very clear how little she thought of her now ex-husband?
I didn’t trust it. She had to be doing it to use Michael, she had to.
And there was no way that I was going to let Michael go back into Virginia’s clutches, or let him slip through my fingers. Especially not for someone who had been so awful for him. If it was another woman, someone who captured his attention and his heart then… as much as it sucked and as much as I’d try to fight for him, I also couldn’t judge him, or the woman.