My stomach clenched at the mention of his name.
“Worse than usual,” she added.
I took a sip of my coffee and purposely stared out at the street above Jo’s shoulder.
“You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
Fuck her prying.
I forced my gaze to her. “Jo, you and Julian are awesome. You both love each other and you never fight and you’re the cutest thing since sliced bread.”
“I don’t think that’s how the saying go—”
“I would love a relationship like you guys have, but unfortunately Dean and I will never be like that.”
“Why?”
I laughed. Where to begin?
“To start, I don’t think he and I have ever had a conversation without one of us yelling. He is rude and opinionated and a workaholic. He has the ego of Kayne West and I hate him.”
She ticked off the reasons on her fingers as I spoke. “That’s only six things! Pfft, you could totally work through that.”
I shook my head. “Add on the fact that he has yet to call or text me since we got back from Vegas.”
She frowned. “Have you tried to reach out to him?”
I shot her a ‘you’re insane’ glare.
She held up her hands in surrender. “Maybe you’re right. You two are so freaking stubborn.”
We were stubborn and I should have hated it, but I didn’t. I loved it. I craved a relationship with him. I could hardly wrap my head around what it would be like. Would Dean wake up and make us breakfast in the mornings? Would I pour him coffee? Never. He’d complain that I did it wrong and I’d probably end up pouring it out on his smug face. God, we’d end up pushing each other to the brink of insanity.
I knew that wasn’t healthy. I knew that a relationship shouldn’t be about two people trying to win the upper hand. Someone had to give. Right?
“What’s Vogue guy’s name?” I asked gently.
Jo peered at me from the top of her latte mug. “Carson.”
Carson. That’s not a bad name.
“Tell Carson I’m free next week if he wants to get like chicken nuggets or something.”
Her brows perked up. “Are you serious?”
I downed the rest of my coffee before answering. “I don’t kid about chicken nuggets.”
She grabbed my shoulders. “Not about the nuggets, you weirdo. I’m asking about the date!”
“Sure. Why not? After all, I am single.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Dean
After Vegas, I went two weeks before scheduling another team meeting. I focused on my other restaurants and worked in the back office of Provisions, telling myself it was necessary. I sent out work for Hunter, Zoe, and Lily in formal group emails.
From: Dean Harper
To: Lily Black, Julian Lefray, Zoe Davis, Hunter Smith
Subject: LVRW
Last week went well. I’m going to take the next few days to play catch-up with Provisions and Merchant. Zoe, I need you as floor manager for the next few nights—Provisions went to shit while we were gone.
Hunter, get in touch with Mark and have him start showing you listings for potential properties. We need to get the ball rolling. I want a list of properties by the end of the week.
D. Harper
From: Lily Black
To: Dean Harper
Subject: Re: LVRW
Just read your last email and you didn’t mention me. What would you like me to be working on? Menu? Drinks? Name? Branding?
-Lily
From: Dean Harper
To: Lily Black
Subject: Re: Re: LVRW
Start putting together a list of bloggers we need to invite to the grand opening.
D. Harper
From: Lily Black
To: Dean Harper
Subject: Re: Re: Re: LVRW
Don’t you think that’s a little premature? We haven’t even picked a location yet…
-Lily
From: Dean Harper
To: Lily Black
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: LVRW
See last email.
D. Harper
From: Lily Black
To: Dean Harper
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: LVRW
Fine, I’ll work on the list.
-Lily
…
I tricked myself into thinking that email communication with Lily was harmless, even though every time her name hit my inbox, I felt a familiar rush of adrenaline. Then, two weeks after returning to New York, Antonio Acosta sent me an email and I reluctantly scheduled a team meeting. I’d have to face her whether I wanted to or not.
As I rounded the corner into the employees-only hallway, I could hear the team chatting in the back office and my grip tightened around the papers in my hand at the sound of Lily’s voice.
“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” she said.
“I know. Anything new with you?” Zoe asked.
I rounded the corner of my office and stared at the back of Lily’s blonde hair. “Oh god, Jo set me up on a blind date for later this week. I need some advice—”
I stepped into the office and closed the door with a loud slam. Listening to Lily discuss a blind date was on par with getting a root canal. She twisted around to stare daggers at me, but I pretended not to notice. I went around the group and handed each of them a printout of the email I’d received from Antonio the night before. Once everyone had a copy, I took a seat on the edge of my desk and watched them read through it.
Julian finished first, his brows arched to his hairline.
“Wow. I wasn’t expecting this,” he said.
I nodded and purposely focused anywhere but Lily. I wasn’t good about acknowledging the error of my ways, and if I knew her as well as I thought I did, she wasn’t going to let the email slide without gloating.
“I’m sorry, maybe I’m confused,” she said, staring up at me. “Could you explain what this email means? Just in case I’m reading it wrong?”
Zoe laughed.
She wasn’t reading it wrong. She wanted to hear me explain it out loud because she was infuriating.
I crossed my arms and finally let myself look at her. Her full lips were twisted into a smirk and the glint in her eye proved she knew what she was doing. She was wearing a sleeveless blue dress that left her long legs on display. Her hair was pulled over her right shoulder so that I could admire the curve of her neck. She tapped her finger against the email impatiently. She was demanding and breathtaking.
I cleared my throat. “Antonio Acosta sent us a revised list of dishes for our menu. He apologized for his lack of preparedness in Vegas. I don’t think he gave a valid excuse as to why his original suggestions were shit. Regardless, the new dishes look great and we will definitely be flying him out soon for another tasting.”
Her smirk widened. “Just so we’re clear, Antonio sent us revised dishes for no reason whatsoever? Out of the kindness of his own heart?”
I gripped the edge of the desk and I shook my head. “You want me to commend your behavior in that meeting, Lily, but I won’t do it. You were rude and disrespectful. On any other day, a chef as hotheaded as Antonio would have smeared us in the press. We’re lucky he was feeling generous.”