Page 117 of Until August

Fuck me. I was in half a mind to track down Kessler and ask him to rescind those final remarks. But I knew he wouldn’t. I just couldn’t figure out why he needed to include them.

By the time Nicola returned with our breakfast and a smile, I’d prepared a little speech in my head. Unfortunately, as soon as she served our food and took a seat across from me, my damn phone started ringing again. I’d turned it to silent, but it was vibrating on the table, practically jumping off the metal surface. I stared at it for a second like a bomb about to detonate before snatching it up and checking the screen.Luca.

Had Ari alerted the entire staff?

“Okay,” Nic said, crossing her arms over her chest. “What’s going on? I know you’re hiding something from me.”

Somehow, I’d managed to make everything worse, first by lying and trying to cover my lies. And now, by hiding something from her when she had every right to know. It was her damn restaurant. I was only the sous chef.

Fucking Kessler.

I rejected Luca’s call and pocketed my phone, giving Nicola my full attention. “You’re right. I lied to you. It wasn’t a telemarketer. It was Ari.” I winced, thinking about the hole I’d have to dig myself out of.

“Are you… oh, my God.” Her eyes widened, and then her face fell, which was when it hit me that she’d gotten the wrong idea. “Are you and Ari—”

“What the hell? No.” I almost laughed at the insinuation, but her eyes were narrowed in accusation, and I didn’t think she’d appreciate the joke. “It’s nothing like that. You really think I’d hook up with Ari when I’m with you?”

“No.” Her eyes lowered to her plate, and she fiddled with her fork while our breakfast got cold. “I mean, I don’t know.”

Did she really think so little of me? I’d been with my share of girls before I met Sasha, but I’d never been a player. And even though Nic and I were just hooking up, I would never cheat on her with her cousin. I might be an asshole, but notthatkind of an asshole. “You don’t know?”

She sighed, and her shoulders sagged. “I know you wouldn’t do that. I know she wouldn’t do it, either. It’s just that Ari is young and single and…” Her gaze drifted to the parking lot. “Things would be a lot easier for you.”

Couldn’t deny that. But I wasn’t attracted to Ari. We were friends, nothing more. “I don’t want Ari. I don’t want any other woman. I’m with you. Got that?”

She bit her lip and nodded. “Yeah, I got that. So why don’t you just tell me what’s going on.”

No sense in putting it off. I pulled up the review and offered her my phone. She looked at it for a minute without taking it. “What do you want me to do? Check your text messages?” she said with a little laugh.

“I don’t give a shit if you read all my text messages and check my phone log. I have nothing to hide.”

Her big brown eyes met mine, and they softened as if she felt guilty for ever thinking I’d cheat on her. “I know. I trust you. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be. I was being stupid. Take the phone, Nic.” I forced it into her hand. “Jonathan Kessler’s review is on there.”

She looked at me across the table before reading it. “Oh, my God,” she breathed. “That’s what you were hiding?”

I nodded.

“Am I going to be upset?” She squared her shoulders, her body rigid as if trying to mentally prepare herself for the bad news.

“I hope not,” I said honestly. Everything would be hunky-dory until she got to the final paragraph. “At the risk of spoiling it, he gave you an amazing review.”

She tilted her head, studying my face. “So why are you acting so weird?”

I sighed. “Just read it.”

She took a few deep breaths as if she wasn’t sure what to believe and needed to psyche herself up. Her hand was shaking. So she set the phone on the table, tucked her hands under her thighs, and bent her head over the screen. A curtain of hair fell around her face and prevented me from studying it closely, so I sat in silence and waited.

When she finished reading, she handed me my phone. I couldn’t tell if she was ecstatic or upset or a mixture of both. Which was weird. Nicola usually wore her emotions on her face but not this time.

She left me hanging for a few seconds before jumping out of her seat, rounding the table, and practically knocking me out of my chair with excitement. “We did it!” She grabbed my face and gave me a big kiss. Her smile was so big when she pulled back that I knew I’d worried for nothing.

And just like that, she took a seat across from me, picked up her fork, and pointed it at my plate. “Now eat your damn breakfast. Even culinary geniuses need to eat,” she said with a smirk.

“He’s on drugs if he thinks I’m a culinary genius.”

“I’m happy he recognizes something I’ve known all along.”