Chapter 10 Madelina #2
“Excuse me, ma’am,” Elliot interjects as Georgina raises her brows, clearly offended by his authoritative tone. “I won’t tolerate disrespect toward my employees. Either treat Madelina with the respect she deserves, or you can leave. Your choice.”
“And exactly who are you?” she scoffs, dismissing him with a wave of her hand, her arrogance palpable.
“I’m her boss, and I reserve the right to remove any patron from these premises if necessary. Do you understand?” His voice is steady, a shield against her toxicity.
Georgina’s expression shifts. She finally turns her piercing stare away from me, relinquishing her hold for the moment. Nosy customers sit at the edge of their seats. All they’re missing is a bucket of popcorn. I bet it won’t take long before news spreads across town.
“I’m done here,” she declares, her voice cold.
The unwanted audience only makes this more humiliating. I never expected our encounter to play out in public. It’s like being a student, called out in the classroom and scolded for bad behavior.
Georgina strides out of the café, every step clipped and deliberate, anger simmering beneath her polished exterior.
I flee to the kitchen, the weight of humiliation crashing over me like a tidal wave. I force out the breath I’d been holding through the entire exchange, my chest rising and falling as I fight to steady myself.
Inside the sanctuary of the kitchen, Billie rushes to my side, quick to rub the small of my back to calm me down.
“She’s just a bitter old woman. Don’t let her get to you,” Billie comforts me, her voice a soothing balm against my frayed nerves. “And you know the truth. Don’t feed into her narcissistic gaslighting.”
My chest aches, the rhythm of my heart still erratic, rendering me unable to utter a word. I crouch down, burying my head in my hands, trying to shield myself from the world.
This was ten times worse than I ever imagined. A nightmare come to life. I always knew it wouldn’t be easy to face his family, but this? This was downright awful.
“I need to take care of customers’ payments. Don’t move,” Billie instructs, hurrying to the register.
My moment of solitude is short-lived as Elliot leans against the kitchen door, his expression softening as he watches me take shaky breaths.
“Let me guess,” he begins, his voice calm. “The jilted mother-in-law?”
I nod, keeping my gaze downcast. “I always knew coming back wouldn’t be easy, though a foolish part of me hoped maybe everyone would understand, but now…” I trail off.
Elliot crosses his arms, his expression thoughtful as he absorbs my words. “You didn’t love him.”
“Not enough to give him forever,” I respond swiftly, almost defensively. “But apparently, I should have lied to everyone and pretended.”
No matter what choices I make, I can never escape opinions from others.
So, if people are going to cast their own judgments, why bother worrying about them when the one person I should prioritize is myself?
I exhale deeply, longing for a future in which Myles has found happiness with someone else, and where Georgina joyfully embraces her new daughter-in-law, and I am simply a thing of the past.
“All right, we’re doing margarita night,” Elliot announces decisively, raising his brows and pointing his finger at me with a steady gaze. “And don’t even think about bailing on me, or I’ll look like a loser with girly drinks. Which won’t help me add to the body count you think I’m keeping.”
I glance up, disbelief etched on my face, but a smile tugs at my lips. “You? Organizing margarita night? Is this some kind of prank?”
“No, this is someone who recognizes that a good night out is exactly what you need. What else is there to do on a Tuesday night in Cinnamon Springs, anyway?”
“The drive-in movies?”
“Hey, if you want to have sex with me, just ask, okay?” Elliot teases.
Laughter barrels through me, and it’s exactly what I need to calm myself down.
Billie enters the kitchen, balancing an empty tray in her hands. She places it in the sink before shifting her focus to me again.
“Billie, are you in?” I ask, finally standing tall again, regaining my composure.
“Sex at the drive-in?” she questions with a raised brow, only to break out into a smile. “Sorry, I’m not an outdoorsy type of person.”
“Margarita night,” I tell her.
Billie pouts, her brows knitting together in disappointment.
“I’d love to, but my aunt is in town, and I promised to take her to dinner and a movie.
But you two go ahead and have fun without me.
I’ll be here listening to tales of all the men my auntie ‘swiped right’ on Tinder, all of whom are trying to scam her out of money. ”
“Is this your Aunt Yvonne?” I ask, trying to hold back my laughter. “She really needs to learn how to say no.”
“You’re telling me! I won’t be surprised if she insists she’s marrying some prince and has already wired him money because his email claimed he was about to inherit a billion dollars.”
Elliot suppresses a grin, but I can’t help but chuckle at her misfortune. “And he just needs a bank account to transfer the money into?”
“Bingo,” Billie replies, shaking her head in disappointment.
We share a laugh, and I can’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for her aunt. She is so vulnerable in her pursuit of love, and Billie will surely need her own margaritas to cope with her aunt’s escapades.
Turning to Elliot, I meet his gaze with newfound warmth. “Looks like it’s just you and me, nipple lover.”
Elliot rolls his eyes dramatically, tossing a dishrag over his shoulder. “Fantastic.”
“We’re two margaritas deep,” I declare, pointing my finger squarely at Elliot like an archer taking aim. “It’s time you opened up.”
He leans back in his chair with a smug expression, fingers tracing the rim of his glass. “This night is about you, Madelina.”
“You can call me Maddy,” I tell him.
His eyes narrow slightly. “I’m not your best friend.”
“Sure, but it feels so formal. My dad and brother call me Madelina,” I counter, letting the name roll off my tongue.
“Yes, so it seems all the men around you prefer the name you were born with.”
I roll my eyes, bored by his stubbornness. “You’re impossibly annoying.”
Elliot raises the glass to his lips and drains his drink quickly. “What’s so exciting about my life that you need to squirrel it away in your mind?”
My gaze is steady and unwavering. Then, I say with confidence, “Nicole.”
At the sound of her name, Elliot’s jaw clenches. He toys distractedly with the empty glass in front of him. “Off-limits. Ask something else,” he snaps.
“Wow, with that reaction, it’s like dangling a carrot in front of a rabbit,” I tease, leaning forward with curiosity.
“Well, think of something else, Bugs Bunny.”
As silence drapes over our table, I watch Elliot, who seems lost in a trance as he stares into his empty glass.
Eva had shared little about Nicole, just enough to reveal that Elliot was in a relationship and that it surprised her, considering Elliot’s reputation.
He enjoys sleeping around, like every typical single guy out there.
The fact that they’d been together for months and were supposedly living together made Eva even more curious about her brother’s change of heart.
But since then, the subject of Nicole has vanished from Elliot’s lips, and now, with him thousands of miles away from her, I can’t shake the feeling that something must have gone very wrong. Whatever it was, it isn’t up for discussion.
“Fine, let’s try something else,” I insist with a forced smile, desperate to break this unwarranted tension. “So… it’s been quite hot lately.”
Elliot chuckles. “Weather talk? Come on, you can do better than that, Bugs.”
“All right, let’s talk about Billie. She’s single, you’re single, so maybe…
” My words trail off into a dead silence.
I catch sight of a man standing at the bar, and something ignites inside of me.
An unsettling tremor shoots through my hands, and my breath turns shallow and panicked.
I fixate on the figure, fear coursing through me, even as Elliot rambles on about me minding my own business or something equally annoying.
Beneath the table, my feet bounce nervously, the rhythm betraying my mounting anxiety as the man slowly shifts to reveal his face.
Our eyes lock, and in that instant, my entire body freezes.
Fuck!
It can’t be.
Myles.