Page 48 of Forever Home

Wake up, bake, eat frozen TV dinners, take a hot bubble bath, watch my reruns, and then go to sleep.

Every day is the same thing. The only excitement I get is from my friends when they are here. But as soon as they leave, I’m once again left to the same old routine with nothing to really show for myself.

I never really considered it lonely before, but now…

An ache in my chest throbs with the thought of Jaxson. Part of me had hoped that maybe things would change between him and I. Hell, I’d sworn him off for years but then after all the time we spent when he was back, I thought maybe there could be something.

And it wasn’t. All it’s been is wasted time. Time I don’t have.

The moment I step into my apartment and kick my shoes off, a feeling of determination and anger washes over me. If I’m ever going to get what my friends have, I have to stop wasting time on people who don’t care about how I feel or what I want.

Pulling out my phone, I flip to the app store, searching through the various dating apps that big market companies have to offer these days. It was never something I considered before, but when in desperation… do as others do.

Because I’ll be damned if I’m the only one who isn’t going to have their happily ever after.

I’m a fucking princess too.

Chapter Nineteen: Jaxson

How is it that it only takes ONE person to royally fuck things up for everyone? Not even two weeks after getting home, the Chef from Charcuterie Bar and Grill calls me to tell me that Eric is nowhere to be seen. And he wasn’t answering his phone either. As much as I thought I could put my faith in Eric to take this business seriously, I should have known better. Yeah, he’s the waiter I met in France who originally got me a job with the chef who taught me everything I know today, but that doesn’t mean he was capable of running his own restaurant.

Which left trying to figure out what the hell he did and how to fix everything. And now two months being back, I still don’t feel like I’m anywhere close to being ready to head back to Willowcreek to start filming. Not with all this shit hanging over my head. I’d already known about him changing the menu, not fulfilling invoices, and causing a mess of the paperwork and payroll. But I never truly expected to step into theaccounts of the company to find large sums of money being shifted into international accounts, starting from just after the new year.

It started out small, only here and there. But the moment I left for Willowcreek, Eric got bold. He started to steal far more than I’d hoped and left me with a complete shit show that cost me more money than I really wanted to pay out. But there’s nothing I could have done about it, the fucking prick left the country back to France and hasn’t been heard from since.

And on top of all that, I’m trying to manage working with World of Foods. Preparing everything for when the show starts filming in the next two months.

I honestly don’t know if shit can get any more chaotic right now.

Glancing down at the invoices in my hands, I sigh. My head falls into my hands as I look back up at the computer screen, trying to account for everything. And trying to make sure people got paid.

“Some of these invoices date back months,” I say to Travis who's currently on speakerphone with me.

“Look, I can call our guy and talk to him about everything. He knows you’re good for it, Jaxson.” Since everything kicked off with Eric, Travis has let me vent to him more times than I can account for.

“I appreciate it, Travis. Things are slowly becoming steady again since I stepped in to fix everything, but it’s still a process.”

“I’m sure it is,” he replies. “You called your attorney about it all, didn’t you?”

Calling my attorney was the first thing I did when I realized what Eric had done. I didn’t want it to come to that path, but honestly, Eric didn’t leave me much room for anything else.

“Fuck yeah, I did. I’m working to see how I can get Eric out of our contract as soon as possible. I want to do a complete relaunch of the place and try to fix things with the customers.”

As much as Eric may not have cared about this place, I do. To me, failure isn’t an option. Regardless, if I was supposed to be a silent partner, my name is still attached to this place and therefore itwillbe a success. One way or another. I refuse to let it fail.

“Yeah,” Travis said with what almost sounded like pain in his voice. “Especially after what Phillip Turant left in New York Food Monthly.”

I stop in my tracks. My eyes instantly close as I drop my pen and pinch the bridge of my nose in an attempt to calm my anger. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh… so you haven’t seen,” he says with hesitation. “Honestly, it’s probably for the best.”

“Travis… tell me, please.” I really don’t want to know, because deep down I know it’s going to be fucking horrible. But Phillip Turant is one of New York's most famous food critics. So if Phillip wasn’t happy, Ineedto know.

“You want me to read it—”

“Yes!” I exclaim, clearing my throat. “Sorry… Yes, I want you to read it.”

My anger escapes me for a split second as I correct myself and take a deep breath before Travis unleashes the chaos upon me.

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