Page 57 of The Promise Of You

Is it even possible she doesn’t know anything?

Does it matter?

“Justin?” Emma snaps me back into the present. “I’d be happy to act as an intermediary between Chloe and you, but you need to tell me what you want.”

Fuck if I know.

“Do you want to try and get the back rent now? Do you want to give them a chance to make some money over foliage?” she asks, using our term for the fall season, when leaf-peepers flock to Vermont. “How quickly do you want to act? You could probably get a court order and have a new tenant in place come September.”

Until Chloe rolled into town, I would have said yes to everything. The sooner the better. Now, I don’t know.

I want her here.

I want her gone.

I wish I’d never met her.

I wish we’d never left that hotel room for the rest of our lives.

In the elevator, the weight of her body on mine grounded me, gave me a purpose, a reason for being. Her. She was my reason. Clover was all I needed.

Forget whose daughter she is. I’m over that.

The truth is, in the real world, I know I’ll never be enough for her. I can’t have someone in my life. Everything meaningful that I touch, I break. The most I can handle is my dog to care for.

Who am I kidding? He’s the one taking care of me.

“Let’s table that for after the fair,” I tell Emma.

I can’t even make a freaking business decision anymore.

That afternoon we’re all gathered on The Green for a merchants’ meeting called by Cassandra. The order of the day is coordinating the summer fair taking place next week. With Christopher winning the TV competition, we’re expecting more visitors than we usually get, so there’s a little added pressure. The good news is, he’s back on his game, his girlfriend, Alex, is back, and we can put all their drama behind us.

Cassandra is standing on a bench and waves at us to get closer so she doesn’t need to shout. Millie from Easy Monday is there, and Kiara in her capacity as pastry chef who works for Chris and for the resort. Christopher’s half brothers, Ryan and Trevor, are standing in for him since he and Alex drove down to Maine to pick up Skye at his parents’. Ryan is ready to take notes on his phone while Trevor flirts with a recent high school graduate. The food group automatically stands together at these meetings, because some level of coordination will be required of us.

Kevin Murphy’s restaurant is not represented. Did someone even think of telling Chloe? At dinner the other night, Cassandra mentioned the restaurant participating in the fair, but I felt she said that as a save. She read Chloe’s confusion and my embarrassment at Mom putting her on the spot.

“For the most part, we want variety,” Cassandra is saying to the shop owners, artists, and makers. “So we’ve assigned you booths to make the guest experience varied and interesting.” She goes on and I tune out.

I glance toward the restaurant. No sign of movement. But her car was there earlier.

“Food providers, listen up!” Cassandra scans the crowd. “I don’t see anyone from the restaurant,” she says, looking toward Kevin’s place. The door and window are shipshape clean now, with a fresh coat of paint and window boxes filled with colorful flowers and even tables and chairs.

“Last I heard, Chef had her cornered in the cooler, bitching about something or other again,” Trevor says matter-of-factly. He’s been working part-time for Chloe.

My blood runs cold. Chloe locked in the cooler?

“She can’t stand that,” I say.

“Say what?” Trevor asks.

“Closed spaces. She’s gonna pass out.” My eyes dart to the restaurant. Please let her come out, now.

“I’m not going in there,” Trevor says. “They were going at it pretty bad. He has a way of twirling his knife… not for me, dude.”

I elbow my way out of the crowd and run across The Green, nearly tear the door to the restaurant open, and jog into the kitchen.

“The fuck are you talking about?” Samuel’s yelling comes out muffled.

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