Page 9 of Loving the CEO

As expected, Café Du Monde was packed when we arrived.

"Let's stand in the carryout line," she said.

"But it's longer than the one for sitting down," I pointed out.

"That's because the one for seating moves much slower. Most people lose patience and leave, whereas the carryout line moves very fast. They're extremely well organized."

"Carryout it is."

Five minutes later, it was almost our turn.

"I was ready to bet that we'd spend at least an hour in line."

She scoffed. "Why would you think I was wrong?"

"I've never seen a line move at this pace."

"Since Café Du Monde is open 24/7, they've had time to perfect their technique, I guess."

"You want us to take the beignets back to the hotel?" I asked her.

"I'm not going back to the hotel."

What did that mean?

I looked straight at her. She took in a deep breath, obviously upset.

"I can't marry Walter. He's cheating."

For a second, my vision turned completely black.Keep calm, Leo.I could never remember a time when I hadn't kept my cool. Even when we found out Dad had another family—specifically, thatwewere the other family—I’d been calm and kept everyone around me that way too. But right now, I was so fucking close to losing it.

"That's fucked-up. I'm sorry."

"I went to his room to talk to him about the rehearsal dinner," she said quickly, as if she wanted to get it all off her chest, "and he was on the phone with someone else." Her eyes darted away.

"What the hell did he even have to say for himself?"

"I didn't confront him. I don't even think he knows I was there. I just heard and left. But..." She shook her head. "There is no way I was wrong."

"I believe you."

The look of relief on her face astounded me. "You do?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know. I was afraid that you might tell me maybe I misunderstood or something."

"Fuck no. There's no way to misunderstand someone talking to their fucking mistress."

An odd gasp startled us. We both turned to look at the person standing behind us. A woman in her late fifties, I'd say, covered her mouth with her hand.

"I'm so sorry,” she told us. “I tried not to react, but that is awful. I'm sorry, darling. Know what? You're going to find someone better. Like this hunk here. I bet your fiancé has got nothing on him."

I felt my eyes bulge. My family sometimes pointed out that my humor was inappropriate, but this lady took the cake. The situation was so insane that I simply started to laugh. A second later, I realized Tory was laughing too. It started as a slow chuckle, then got stronger and stronger until it was a loud, ongoing guffaw.

"Oh, thank you," she said when she finally calmed down. "I really needed that."

The lady winked at us. "Figured you might, although I wasn't totally joking."

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