Chapter 20
TWENTY
EMMA
MARCH
HARLAN
Best prison slop I ever had
EMMA
Only the finest prison slop for my athletes
Spray painted the lines on the steak just for you
HARLAN
There are other things in this world that taste better
EMMA
I’m sure I don’t know what you mean
HARLAN
How’s Liam
EMMA
I found his Rusties jersey in the trash
HARLAN
Ouch
“It was a full-blown ‘you’re not my real dad’ meltdown.”
Cindy whistled low. “That bad, huh?”
I found the edge of the chicken skin and rubbed the herb butter mixture underneath.
Half of Cindy’s restaurant crew had the flu and the Rusties were out of town, so I stepped in to help her prep for dinner service.
“I don’t get it. His dad got remarried without resistance from him, but I have one night with a guy, and suddenly I’m the villain. ”
“I don’t think things always make sense with teenagers. I remember such logic from when I was one. Plus, misogyny. The rules are always different for women and moms.”
I hummed and nodded. “But see, this is why I wanted to wait until he was away at school to start seeing people. I don’t need the judgment.”
“I think you’re missing the bigger headline. You got with a professional athlete ten years younger than you. How was it?”
“Twelve,” I groaned. “He’s twelve years younger than me. I looked it up.”
Cindy shrugged and gestured with her knife. “Ten cents one, half a dozen the other. Who cares? Did you get drilled into a wall or what?”
My mind tripped over her incorrect phrasing, but my cheeks burned nonetheless. “You know I don’t talk about stuff like that.”
Cindy scoffed. “Since when? I’m usually a passenger to your adventures, a fly on the wall who gets to throw dollar bills at the action.”
“Yes, well, usually I’m describing bad action that needs dollars of sympathy. Donations to the cause.”
She eyed me with her tongue in her cheek. “So, it wasn’t bad?”
I pinched my lips together and held my forearm over my eyes, not wanting to touch my face while working in the kitchen. “Not bad at all. He’s athletic and . . . decorated.”
“Decorated like tattoos?” I shook my head and she dropped her jaw. “Pierced? Nice work, Em!”
I lined up my next whole chicken to prep, filling the tray between us. “Well, don’t get too excited. It was a one-time thing. I doubt there will be a repeat when my son would probably set a booby trap if he came into our home again.”
“But you’re still teaching Royce at his house, right?”
I bobbed my head. “Allegedly, yeah. And whether he likes it or not, Liam needs that money.”
“Okay, well, Liam doesn’t need to know what happens when you’re at Royce’s.”
I puffed air out of my lips. “It’s just not worth the hassle. It was a fluke anyway. We still hate each other.”
I said that, but my whole body tingled at the memory of how he looked at me in the hot tub, at his warm touch in my bed, at his smile when I gave him his special meal. At his texts since then.
The things he called me.
My good girl.
Princess.
“Chef?”
Cindy’s staff manager came into the kitchen with a worried expression. “Chef?” she responded.
“Three more just called out.”
Cindy’s head sagged back onto her shoulders. “Fuck.”
“I can stay,” I offered.
“Will you?”
“As long as you don’t make me do front of house.”