Page 150 of The Promise Of You

And I’m thankful for what I have.

And I know I want more, and I’m going to go after it.

I look at Chloe.

And fuck me if that isn’t the moment the Sullivans walk into the restaurant.

forty-five

Chloe

“Chloe?” Shoshana says quietly behind me.

“Huh?” I turn around and focus my eyes on her. “What’s up?”

“Um… your-your parents are here?”

“My what? Who?” I look beyond her to the couple awkwardly standing near the entrance. Their eyes are darting between me and Justin, but weirdly it’s not on me they end up focusing their attention.

“Mom! Dad! What—Hello!” I manage to smile and peck Mom’s cheek, then side hug Dad.

Mom blinks and settles her gaze on me, seeming to shake some thoughts away. “Dawn told me, honey, and I said to Daddy, Honey, we have to go get Chloe. She cannot stay one more minute in such a dangerous place.”

I haven’t told my parents about buying the restaurant yet. I was going to keep that for later. Once it was, literally, a done deal. Less headache. I get that they’re not happy. But a dangerous place? “What are you talking about?”

Dad clears his throat. “Your mother heard about the unsavory incident with your chef.”

“Oh! Oh—that. Geez, guys, is that why you came?” It’s so sweet it’s not even annoying. “As you can see, I’m fine, and the good news is, the bad guys are behind bars and the mystery of why the restaurant was losing money is solved. And that is mainly thanks to Justin.” I gesture to him standing behind the bar, looking utterly confused, his jaw setting when his gaze meets our group. “Justin! Come meet my parents.” I beam proudly at him.

He walks straight up to me, laces his arm around my waist, lays a long, wet one on my mouth, then leaves me in an erotic daze in front of my parents and says, “Alan Sullivan, pleased to see you again. Miz Sullivan.”

They know each other?

Dad says nothing. He looks… shrunk. Chastised. Defeated. He finally breaks the silence. “Pleasure’s mine.” He doesn’t seem pleased. Not pissed either. Just utterly annoyed. Like he’d rather be a thousand miles away from here. “You seem well,” he adds.

I mean, what is going on?

Justin tugs me so close to him he turns my front to his side. My cheek is nearly squished and my mouth feels funny.

I press my free hand against his chest to right myself. “Um… do you know each other?” It’s obvious they do.

Justin’s arm clenches around me. Dad does his thing where he juts his chin out and stretches his lips to the sides. Then he plunges his fists into his pockets, rocks on the balls of his feet, and avoids looking at me at all costs.

First time I saw it was when I asked about Santa Claus. He just couldn’t deliver bad news to his little girl.

Now, not so cute.

Mom ventures, “We’ve um… we’ve met. Right, Alan?”

“Dad?”

Dad does his bullshit pose again.

“Justin?” I ask. “What’s going on?”

Justin looks on the verge of saying unpleasant things. A lot of things. He moves his chin to the couple who are holding their private dinner here. “A reunion of sorts?”

“No. We-we were here to see Chloe…” Mom’s eyes are full of tears, and her bottom lip trembles. “Such lovely people.”

---