Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
“What made him change?”
“Once my career took off, Henry became very intrigued with my goals. Me, being a stupid kid, told him about my dreams. I shared secret recipes with him. I told him about my restaurant. I pretty much poured my soul out to him, and he stole my work. He opened a restaurant using my menu without telling me.”
My hand flew to my mouth, stifling an involuntary gasp. “He stole your menu?”
“Worse. He even stole the restaurant name.”
“You’re kidding.”
His smile was a quiet reflection of his past regrets. “I wish I was. That place ranked as one of the top five restaurants across the nation that year, and the menu was voted as a top three treasure.”
“But it was yours! Did he get in trouble?”
“Nope. There was no way I could prove he stole anything from me. After that, we stopped talking. Yet, we’d unfortunately run into one another at events. That was how Catie met him. When I surpassed him for awards, his resentment toward me grew. Even though it should’ve been the other way around. It was as if he couldn’t deal with the fact that I was winning. He couldn’t deal with the fact that I didn’t need him either.”
“So he slept with your girlfriend.”
“Yeah. You know what’s funny? When I called him out on it, he told me that she basically threw herself at him. That he had no option to say no to her. Imagine that. This fifty-year-old cocky fucker couldn’t help but sleep with the woman I was with.”
“What a monster.”
“You have no idea.”
“Did knowing who Catie slept with make it easier for you to get over her? Do you think it would’ve been harder if you didn’t know?”
“No. If anything, it just cut deeper. Especially since it was with someone I hated.”
I stared down at the sidewalk as Feliz walked beside me. “For a while I wished I knew, because then I could get closure, but now that I think about it that wouldn’t be closure. It would just be more…hurt.”
“Exactly. Sometimes closure is just not giving a damn anymore.” He bit his bottom lip for a second. “Looking back, it’s probably the best thing that happened to me. Catie wasn’t the one for me. I convinced myself that she had been because she stuck around for a while. After my parents walked out on me, I sadly became a little obsessed with anyone who would stay. What about you?” he questioned, nudging me. “How the heck did you end up with someone like Cole?”
I blew out a cloud of hot smoke. “Truthfully? I think I missed my mom.”
“What does that have to do with Cole?”
“Cole lived across the street from us growing up. After my mom passed away, I’d watch him from my window when he’d play with his mom, Lindsay, in their front yard. She was a very hands-on mom throughout all the seasons. From building snowmen in the winter to setting off fireworks during the Fourth of July. I just started wandering over there to join in the activities, and one day, Cole and I were a thing. I don’t think I was looking for him, though. I was looking for a mom who made me feel included in the ways my mom used to during each season.”
“That oddly makes sense.”
“Yeah. By the time Cole and I were in high school, I knew he wasn’t the one. Deep in my gut, I saw him shift from his sweet preteen self into someone different. He started becoming popular, and he found the same kind of cockiness that his father had. He started undercutting everything I loved just to get laughter out of others, too.”
“Why did you stay?”
I gave a wistful chuckle. “Because if I lost him, I would’ve lost Lindsay, too. It sounds stupid, but it took me years of abuse to realize that I had to let her go, too. Whenever there was a fight between Cole and I, whenever I was almost ready to let go, she’d pull me back in and convinced me that he loved me. At the end of the day, she’d always be in his corner because she was his mother, not mine. She would always back her son. After the breakup, I tried to remain in contact with her, but it was too hard. She was really pushing for me and Cole to work things out. I haven’t spoken to her in a while.”
“Does that make you sad?”
A smile touched my lips for a bit before fading as the chill wind brushed against my face. “Yeah, it does.”
“It was hard for me to let go of Catie’s family. Her parents were amazing. I’m sure they still are, and well, Mandy is fantastic. Letting go of Catie’s parents felt cruel because they were always so welcoming to me. I missed them more than I’d ever missed her.”