Chapter 33: An Unexpected Confrontation
The article ran a week later in Charlotte Taste. The magazine came out Wednesday and before I could even open my copy, I'd had multiple people reaching out asking me for interviews and friends sending their support.
The most uplifting was the call from Delilah.
"It's about time you stuck it to that stick-in-the-mud ex of yours," she said. "And you couldn't have picked a better way to do it. I'm so proud of you, Lacy Lou."
We chatted a bit about the whole situation and I caught her up on how the restaurant was doing. She promised to come in again soon.
Now, Thursday morning, I'm up early getting ready for breakfast with Henry. He wants to make plans to take me to see his family for Sunday dinner.
I've just finished getting into my favorite white sundress with sunflowers around the edges, pulling my hair into a simple bun, and putting in sunflower earrings when I hear a knock at the door. Henry is apparently running early, but that's fine. He's planning to help me make some Eggs Benedict to go with the cinnamon rolls and homemade orange juice I made yesterday. Now we can get an earlier start.
But when I open the door, I don't find my handsome date. Instead, I find a different familiar face.
"Jeff!" I exclaim, taking a step back in consternation.
He takes advantage of my retreat to push past and close the door.
"No, get out," I demand, straightening my posture and glaring at him.
He just raises a dark eyebrow, brushes his longish, dark hair out of his gray eyes, and sneers. "Or what? You'll make me? We need to talk."
"About what?"
"That interview you did has ruined everything for me. I need you to retract it."
"Just like you retracted your interview that painted us in a poor light?" I raise an eyebrow as well.
"Oh come on. You know you deserved it."
"For what?" My voice is rising in volume. "What did I do to deserve such a low move? Is it because I succeeded after you left? Because I picked up the pieces of my broken heart and moved on? YOU'RE the one who left. YOU'RE the one who walked away. How is it my fault?"
"You weren't supposed to replace me. You were supposed to ask me to come back."
"I tried, dang it Jeff! How many times did I call and text and beg you to listen to me?"
"But you didn't come in person."
"Would you have really listened?"
He frowns and shrugs. "Maybe."
"That's not good enough. I tried, and then I moved on. If you had really cared, you wouldn't have walked away in the first place."
"It was that stupid soup."
"No. It was your gosh dang ego! You couldn't handle that Delilah Lee Jones liked my dish better than yours."
"I went to culinary school!" he yells. "I put in all the work! Being a chef was MY dream! You had NO RIGHT to steal the spotlight like that!"
"I didn't do it on purpose," I cry. "But you know as well as I do that it would have been stupid not to put it on the menu. That soup has put ou- MY restaurant on the map!"
"Well people say that you're supposed to do stupid things when you're in love." He lowers his voice to nearly a whisper and looks at me sadly. "Did you just not love me?"
"Of course I loved you," I answer softly. "I loved you enough to not put our financial future at risk. I loved you enough to hire you even though you weren't the best chef in our class. I loved you so much that I spent my own money on a mortgage for a restaurant to show off your work. How can you even think, after everything I did for you, that I didn't love you?" I feel tears tremble in my eyes. "Did you not know me at all?"
"You could have done more."
"And what about you, Jeff? Did you really love me? If you could walk away so easily, was it really love?"
"Of course. I still love you," he insists, his eyes scanning me from head to toe and back. "You're the hottest girl I know." As if my question opens the doors, he steps closer and grabs my waist, pulling me against him.
I fight, but he only tightens his arms around me. "You used to enjoy this, Lacy. What happened?"
"I don't love you anymore!" I cry, pushing against his chest. Jeff isn't as big or muscular as Henry, but he's still strong enough to hold me. "Please let me go!"
"I wonder if we have the spark we used to. Aren't you curious? Don't you want to see?" His voice lowers to what he probably intends to be a seductive whisper. It makes my skin crawl and I fight harder.
"No! I'm not curious! Please stop!" I'm nearly shouting again.
"Just one taste," he says, leaning in and pushing my face up with his hand.
Before his lips meet mine, he's torn away and I stumble back, landing on the arm of the couch.
"The lady asked you to stop," a low growl says. I look up to find Henry holding a very nervous-looking Jeff a couple inches off the floor. Henry shakes my jerk of an ex a couple times, then drops him.
Jeff lands gracelessly on the floor and steps away from Henry. "Who are you?" he asks.
"I'm Lacy's boyfriend. And if you have any sense of self-preservation, you'll be out the door before I can count to three." Jeff moves to leave, but Henry puts out a hand to stop him. "And if you ever touch a lady against her will again, I can assure you, you'll end up behind bars. I've got my eyes on you, Mr. Hamilton."
"H-how do you know my name?" Jeff splutters.
"I make it my business to know all I can about Lacy. And I'm always on the lookout for scumbags to send to jail."
"You're dating a cop?" Jeff asks, looking at me in surprise.
"Private investigator," I answer.
"Oh. That's a relief."
"Don't be so sure," Henry breaks in. "I'm not on the government payroll, so I have a lot less oversight into my actions."
"Oh. R-r-right." Jeff gives a kind of half-bow to Henry, then makes for the door again, quickly letting himself out.
As soon as the door closes behind him, I break out into relieved laughter. Tears stream down my face as Henry gathers me into his arms for a soft hug.
"He looked like he was going to wet himself," I say with a smile. It quickly falls as I remember what he did. "I can't believe he would-"
Henry shakes his head. "I knew your ex was a jerk, but I had no idea he was that bad. You're definitely much better off without him."
I nod. "I just wish I'd realized that sooner. Could've saved myself a lot of heartache."
"You got there. That's all that matters." Henry gently walks me to one of the dining room chairs and sits me down. "Now, I'm not exactly an expert chef, but I've made poached eggs a time or two. How about you direct me from here and I'll make us some breakfast."
"That sounds really nice," I answer.
"Egg-selent."
"Oh, awful." I try to frown, but my lips quirk up, giving away my amusement.
"You know you love horrible puns," he answers, grabbing my pink, ruffled apron and slipping it over his head. "Now give me directions. I am yours to command."
I laugh, wiping away my tears, and start explaining what he needs to do. Soon, we're sitting together at the table with steaming plates of delicious food. Henry keeps the breakfast conversation light, telling me about his run-in with a small, energetic poodle last night during a reconnaissance mission.
"And then the floofy little fellow decided that we were best friends, so I'm trying to duck behind the hedgerow and he's furiously tunneling through the branches trying to reach me and suddenly the man I'm supposed to be looking for comes by, so I grab the dog and crouch down like I'm his owner and when the dude comes past, I 'accidentally' let my little friend go. He knew just what to do, too. Ran over and tangled himself up around the guy's legs, gave me plenty of time to ID him, then I whistled and the pooch came back. I think I might need to invest in a pupper to help me from now on."
"But would you be able to train just any dog to read your mind like that?"
"Fair point."
We finish eating and tidy up and Henry doesn't even bring up his family dinner until we're relaxing on the couch.
"I don't want to add to what has already been a stressful morning, but my family would really love to meet you. We'll be having a pretty low-key barbeque this weekend to celebrate my cousin's job offer and I'd really love to have you there."
I nod slowly. We've been seeing each other for long enough, it wouldn't really feel too awkward. "Yeah, I'd love to meet your family."
His smile lights up his face and he wraps his arms around me in a hug. "Thank you. It will be so good to finally introduce you to them!"
"It will be good to meet them!" I just hope they like me better than Jeff's family did.
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