Page 72 of Keeping Secrets

He stared at her for a beat, then quickly turned back to the stove and rescued a burger patty before it burned. Juan gave him a look of commiseration and took the spatula from his hand.

He turned back to Keely, bewildered.

“I was working.”

“Since when do you work in the kitchen?” Her anger had faded to a simmer. She wasn’t yelling anymore, at least. But the look that she was leveling at him was downright dangerous.

“We’re short-staffed today.” He kept his voice deliberately calm, which only seemed to anger her more. Her eyes narrowed to slits. He walked around the long counter so that he could speak to her without raising his voice enough for the whole kitchen to hear. “Keely, what’s going on?”

“That’s what I want to know!” All of the line cooks turned to look at her when she raised her voice again, and for the first time, she seemed to fully realize what a scene she was causing. Her cheeks blazed red, and she stormed back out through the swinging doors.

Travis exchanged a brief, bewildered look with Juan.

“Well?” Juan pointed the spatula he held at the doors, which were still swinging wildly in her wake. “Are you going after her or what?”

Travis jogged through to the restaurant, where he saw Keely headed for the front doors. He ran to catch up with her and said, “I don’t know what’s happening right now.”

“Who was that girl?” she spat as she spun to face him. Her expression was fierce, but he could see pain and uncertainty beneath her anger. He felt a spasm of pain in his chest at the thought that he had hurt her, even (maybe especially) if he didn’t know how.

“What girl?” His first thought was that she or someone else had seen him talking to some woman at the bar. Women flirted with him all night long, especially the ones who were a few drinks in. It was a part of the job. Travis was always kind to them, even charming, but it was a habit – just a part of the job.

Was that what Keely was freaking out about? Had she dropped by the night before and seen him talking to a customer? He wracked his brain, trying to remember if anyone had gotten out of line the night before, but he couldn’t think of a single thing that would make her act this way.

“I think you know” was all she said.

He took a breath, keenly aware of the eyes on them. “Would you come back to the office with me? I don’t understand what’s going on, but I’m sure we can sort things out.” He put a hand under her elbow to guide her back toward Scot’s office.

She wrenched her arm out of his grip, but when he walked back through the restaurant and to the open door of the office, she followed. Once the door was closed behind them, he reached out to her, trying to calm her.

She slapped his hand away.

“Keely, I don’t understand what’s happening.”

“I thought you really liked me.” All at once, her anger seemed to drain away and leave behind something sadder.

“I do,” he assured her.

“But not enough to stop seeing other girls.” Her voice was quiet, and she wrapped her arms around her chest like she was hugging herself.

“I’m not seeing any other girls. If you mean the women who come to the bar, we chat, that’s just part of the job. But I never–”

“I’m not talking about work,” she interrupted him.

“Then what are you talking about?” he asked, frustrated.

“I’m talking about the girl you met up with in Half Moon Bay!”

He froze in shock. Whatever Keely saw on his face, she seemed to take it as an admission of guilt.

“I know we’ve only been on a couple of dates, Travis, but come on. We’ve known each other forever. I thought… I don’t know, I thought that this meant something to you. It did to me.”

“It did mean something to me,” he said quickly. “It does.”

“If that were true, you wouldn’t be sneaking around with other girls!”

“I’m not sneaking around with other girls!” he exclaimed. But inwardly he recoiled with guilt – because really, wasn’t that exactly what he had been doing? Not in the way that she thought, of course. But he was hiding a much darker secret.

She was right to be angry. More than she knew.

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