Page 112 of Cooking Up My Comeback

“What?”

“This. Us.” She’s backing away from me like I’m suddenly dangerous. “If being with me means you get targeted, stalked, threatened... I won’t be the reason youget hurt.”

“Amber, no?—”

“Look at what’s happening, Brett. My ex-husband files fake complaints. Some creeper is following us around taking pictures.” Her voice starts to crack. “Your reputation, your business, everything you’ve built… it’s all at risk because of me.”

“I don’t care about any of?—”

“Well, I do!” The words come out fierce and broken. “I care about you too much to let my mess destroy your life.”

“This isn’t your fault?—”

“Isn’t it? Chad’s doing this because of me. Someone’s stalking us because of me. The health department shut us down because of me.” Tears start in her eyes, and each one feels like a knife to my chest. “Everything you touch gets poisoned when you’re with me.”

“Not true.”

“Look around, Brett. Look at what’s left of our beautiful day.” She gestures at the shut-down truck, the scattered supplies, the empty pavilion where an hour ago everything was perfect. “This is what being with me gets you.”

“Amber, please?—”

“I need to go.” She’s already walking toward the parking lot, and I can see her falling apart with every step. “Before I ruin anything else in your life.”

“Don’t do this. Don’t let them win.”

She pauses at her car, looking back at me with tearsstreaming down her face like something inside her breaks. “Maybe they already have.”

And then she’s gone, driving away and tossing my heart out the window.

Mom starts to say something, but I hold up a hand. I can’t handle well-meaning advice right now. Not when I watched the best thing in my life drive away because someone convinced her loving me makes me a target.

“Well,” Mom says finally, “could have gone better.”

“You think?”

“On the plus side, at least now you know exactly what you’re fighting for.”

I sink back onto the picnic table bench, staring at the empty parking space where Amber’s car was. “She thinks she’s protecting me.”

“She is protecting you. People do this when they love someone.” Mom starts packing up our unused supplies. “Question is, what are you going to do about it?”

“She said she needs space.”

“She said she needs to go before she ruins anything else. Not the same thing.” Mom gives me a look that could cut glass. “Your father tried this same nonsense when we were dating.”

“Dad?”

“Thought some guys from his past were causing me trouble. Decided the noble action was breaking up with me for my own safety.” She shakes her head. “Took meexactly one day to track him down and explain I don’t need a bodyguard. I need a partner.”

“One day?”

“Would’ve been sooner, but I had to work that morning.” She looks at me pointedly. “Sometimes loving a person means fighting for them, Brett. Even when they’re too scared to fight for themselves.”

The sun’s starting to set over the water, painting everything in shades of regret and missed opportunities. Our food truck sits silent, shut down by Chad’s vindictiveness. Our restaurant opening is in jeopardy. And the woman I love thinks she has to choose between her happiness and my safety.

“So what do I do?” I ask.

“You figure out who’s really behind this. You prove running away doesn’t solve anything. And you show her the two of you are stronger together than apart.”