Page 35 of The Kitchen Contract

He snorts derisively. “You expect me to believe that?”

My face grows hot, and my chest tightens. This feels like culinary school all over again. The temptation to grab my bag and walk straight out that door without a backward glance is strong. But I’m not going down without a fight this time.

“It’s the truth, so yeah. You know what? I’ll prove it. You stand right there and just listen.” I pull out my cell phone and scroll through my contacts until I find Sammy’s number. I hit “call” and put it on speakerphone. The sound of ringing fills the awkward silence in the kitchen as Alex watches me.

“Hey Nora, what’s up?”

“Oh, not much, I just need your help with something.” I try to make my voice pleasant so Sammy doesn’t pick up on the fact that the tension in this room is so thick you could scoop it up with a ladle.

“Sure, name it.”

“I have you on speakerphone, and I was hoping you could tell my friend here what exactly happened while I was telling you goodbye at the restaurant the other day.”

“Um…okay. Are you talking about when that lady with the hat bumped into you and I almost chipped my tooth on yours? I told Jessica what happened, and she laughed for like twenty minutes. Said it was the kind of thing that could only happen to me.” Sammy chuckles.

I can barely see through the haze of smugness as Sammy confirms my story. Alex still looks upset, but his frown has started to slip.

“Jessica is his actual girlfriend,” I clarify.

Alex leans in close to my phone. “Hey man, can I get your name, just for the record?”

“I guess so? My name is Samuel Hanson. What’s going on, Nora? Are you in some kind of trouble?” His voice is taking on a note of concern.

I mute the phone. “What are you doing?” I hiss.

“Confirming that this guy really is Sammy.”

“Nora? Are you there?”

I tap the mic back on. “I’m fine, Sammy, just proving a point. Thanks for taking my call and humoring me.”

“Anytime. Talk to you later?”

“Talk to you later. Tell Jessica I said hi.” I tap end and face Alex. “So, what do you have to say about that?”

He has the decency to look chagrined. “I guess I was wrong.”

“You guess you were wrong. Is that all?”

He heaves a sigh. “No, it’s not. I’m sorry I accused you of lying. You’ve never given me any reason to believe you weren’t an honest person, and I should have believed you. Although you have to admit, bumping mouths with someone on accident sounds a little far-fetched.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, tell me about it. Imagine being the person it happened to.”

“I really am sorry. And not that it’s any excuse, but it might help if you know that I had a fiancée once who cheated on me. So I’m a little sensitive to anything that smells like infidelity or dishonesty.”

My wounded pride deflates slightly. “I’m sorry that happened to you. I guess it makes sense that you would be suspicious of what you saw, given your history.” It also makes me think of the secret I’ve been keeping from my family. A wave of guilt washes over me, and I feel the urge to spontaneously confess and clear my conscience, even though I didn’t do anything wrong. Other than the secret keeping, of course.

Alex runs his hand through his hair. “Thanks. So are we good? Friends again?”

I hesitate but then nod. Even though I’m still offended by not being believed, I don’t want to be the kind of person who holds a grudge, especially after what seemed like a sincere apology. “Friends.”

23

ALEX

The mood is subdued as we finish cleaning up. Somehow, I feel both better and worse than I did before we argued. I’m glad that she’s not seeing that Sammy guy romantically, but I feel terrible about not believing her. The look on her face when I called her a liar…it was like I’d plunged a dagger into her heart. I definitely felt like the big bad wolf at that moment.

Even though I apologized—and meant it—I still feel awful.

---