Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Throwing Asha’s name at him was the equivalent of throwing a hand grenade and she knew it was overkill but it was the only thing she could think to do at the moment.
During their time in the kitchen together, she’d felt Myles begin to slip through her defenses again.
He was charming and funny. He’d always been those things.
And his smiles still managed to make parts of her all warm and fuzzy.
When she’d asked him to tell her his story about coming to work at The Mont she’d thought it would be a good reminder of why she had to keep her distance from him.
But instead of pushing him away, as she listened to him talk about the injury that had nearly taken his leg, after he’d shown her the scars, she’d felt herself softening towards him.
Then he’d gone and started talking about cooking the way she’d only ever heard her fellow chefs talk about it, as if it gave them something they’d been missing.
He’d said that Dave and learning to cook had saved his life and she’d wanted to cross the room and wrap her arms around him.
She’d had to shake the desire to be closer to him away and luckily, when he’d started pressing her about her own life, she’d come out of the daze long enough to know she needed to throw some barb wire between them.
Asha was certainly that.
She was the girl that Myles had chosen over her. The one who had ultimately broken them up and sent Lily fleeing town in a river of tears. She was the girl that Myles had ruined them for and the worst part was that he had known it would hurt her and done it anyway.
Because it had been common knowledge that Lily had never liked the girl when they’d been kids.
Asha Dutton had been a bully on the playground and a mean girl in the hallways.
Asha had picked on anyone outside her social circle and despite the fact Lily’s family owned the nicest restaurant in Compass Creek, she hadn’t measured up to Asha’s standards of friendship and instead ended up a target more often than not.
Myles had known what it would do to her to see him with Asha, of all people, but he’d done it anyway.
He’d purposefully hurt her and so now, she lashed out to hurt him in return.
Putting the ghost of Asha Dutton right between them in the middle of the kitchen and the little reunion they’d been having.
From the way Myles pursed his lips it was clear that he knew what she was up to.
She swore she saw disappointment in his eyes before he looked away and went back to what he was doing.
She blew out a breath and started to mash the potatoes she’d been peeling but a few seconds later his voice drew her attention again.
“Yeah. I see Asha around town.” He met her gaze when she glanced over, “She ended up marrying some guy she met in college. His name is Brad. They moved back here not long after college. She works in the Mayor’s office and he’s the local vet.
Nice guy. They have two kids and they come into The Mont every few weeks for family dinner. ”
“Oh…” Lily licked her suddenly dry lips, unsure how she was supposed to respond to all of that information.
“Not that you actually care.” He tipped up an eyebrow and she bristled.
“You’re right. I don’t. But it’s sweet you know so much about her. Does her husband know you two had a thing?”
Myles rolled his eyes, “We didn’t have a thing, Lil. It was one night and a huge mistake.”
“Well, at least we agree on something.” She sniffed before focusing on her peeler again.
They worked in silence again but this time, there wasn’t anything companionable about it.
It felt tense with things left unsaid. She wished she hadn’t brought up Asha in the first place because now it was all she could think about.
That night. Finding Myles with the girl she hated with every fiber of her being. The things he’d said to her after.
“I’m actually really curious about something…
” He broke the tense silence and Lily found herself holding her breath, unsure what he would ask of her this time.
She glanced over and he wasn’t even facing her.
He had turned and was pushing buttons on the large ovens built into the wall.
He glanced over his shoulder when he felt her watching him. “You and Kayla still talk right?”
Lily nodded, hesitant at the mention of her best friend.
“So, if you and Kay still talk, how is it that you had no idea I was working here?” He turned back to face her.
“That’s been bugging me all night because I knew you two must keep in touch and she’s in here with her family at least once a week so she’s well aware I’m back here. Did she seriously not warn you?”
She bit her lip and looked away, not wanting to answer him but unable to keep the truth inside after she’d pushed him on the Asha thing only moments before. She sighed. When she glanced back at him he was still standing there, waiting.
“I asked her a long time ago not to keep me in the loop on what you were doing.” She saw him wince as if her words were a slap in the face and she groaned, “Look I didn’t want to know who you were dating or running around with after I left town.
I was hurting and I wanted to pretend you didn’t exist. I made the request a long time ago but Kayla’s always honored it. ”
His lips twitched and she shot him an annoyed glare.
“Don’t overthink it. Like I said, it was a long time ago.”
Still, he grinned, obviously pleased that she’d still cared enough not to want to hear about his dating exploits even after what he’d done. She went back to her potatoes but she could still feel his eyes on her. She glared at him.
“What?”
“Just… for the record, there wouldn’t have been much for her to tell.” He gave a little lopsided shrug. “I dated a little when I was on the rig but once I was laid up at home there weren’t many women interested in visiting my sad little apartment and keeping a grumpy invalid company.”
“I really don’t care.” She huffed.
“Once I started cooking and got the job here, I poured all my free time into proving myself to Dave and to your dad.” He continued and she rolled her eyes skeptically.
“Are you honestly saying you haven’t dated anyone seriously in the past seven years, Myles?”
He shrugged, though the nonchalant gesture didn’t match his next words, “I never figured there was much point getting serious with someone when I knew she wasn’t the one.”
Lily’s jaw tensed at the way he looked at her, “Don’t.”
“What?”
“Don’t act like I’m the one that got away.
You have no right, not when you practically pushed me out the door.
” She saw his lips twitch and when he opened his mouth, no doubt to argue with her about more of their ancient history she cut him off with a sneer.
“Besides, I told you. I don’t care. It’s not likeI’ve been a nun since we parted ways. ”
He scowled at her, “I never said you…”
“I had boyfriends in college.” She continued before he could. “I spent several months with an Italian man on the Riviera while I was traveling. And for the record, I have someone waiting for me back in New Orleans.”
“You have a boyfriend?” His brows knit together and his eyes darted over her face, as if looking for the lie behind her words.
She held herself absolutely still, “We’ve been inseparable for nearly a year. He lives with me actually and he wasn’t happy about me packing up and leaving for the weekend.”
Myles looked physically ill but she stared him down until he finally gave a curt nod and turned away.
She breathed out a sigh of relief as quietly as she could.
She knew he thought he could read her like a book because he always had but she’d become a better liar than the girl he remembered had been.
And besides, she reminded herself as she listened to him bang around with the oven and pans, it wasn’t actually a lie.
There was someone who lived with her and he’d been very unhappy to see her go. If she’d misled Myles into believing it was a boyfriend then that was his problem. She’d never actually said the words and he didn’t need to know that she’d been talking about her giant orange rescue cat named Mango.
Her friend from across the hall was keeping him until Lily returned and the truth was, she missed the big lug already but she had no intentions of telling Myles the truth.
She hadn’t been in a serious relationship since their breakup.
It was his fault, after all, for making her distrust men, and her own instincts.
She had dated of course but she understood what he’d been saying better than she wanted to admit.
Because how could she commit to someone else when she still felt as if this man right here owned part of her heart?
A wave of loneliness crashed into her and she bit her lip to stifle the rush of need that followed it.
In that moment she wanted more than anything to tell him the truth.
She wanted to tell him that he had screwed her up, irrevocably, and even still no other man could take his place.
She wanted to throw herself into his arms and lose herself in him the way she’d been able to when they were kids with no idea what the future truly held for them.
But it had been seven years and they weren’t those teenagers with stars in their eyes and the whole world at their feet anymore.
So she turned her back to him and got back to work because she hadn’t come here tonight to spend time alone with Myles and rekindle old flames.
She was here to cook and to prove to her father that she could work with her ex-boyfriend if that was what he needed her to do. Nothing more and nothing less.