Page 55 of The Sweet Spot

I handed her a salad bowl to dry. “I am pretty lucky.”

I washed, and she dried silently for a minute before she proceeded on.

“She looks great tonight. I’ve never seen her all dolled up like that in ages.”

“She was excited about today.”

Tangi cleared her throat, and I waited for the onslaught.

“She’s been my best friend for a long time. I want to see her happy. This isn’t some kind of game of yours, is it?”

I placed the platter I’d just washed into the dish rack and turned to face her. “Are you serious right now?” I hadn’t intended the hard edge in my voice to be so obvious, but she deserved it.

“She’s sweet, and she lets her heart rule her head. I just don’t want to see her get hurt.”

Fucking rich, coming from her.

“You’re right. She is sweet. Probably the sweetest, most genuine woman I’ve ever met. And I don’t deserve her. In fact,she’swaytoo good for me, and you don’t know how lucky I am to have her in my life.”

Tangi’s hazel eyes widened for a moment, but then she took a deep breath and exhaled. “She told you what I said.”

“I had to ask a few times. I noticed she was upset, but she wouldn’t tell me why. Mentioned that something happened between the two of you. Then I asked again, and she eventually told me. She tried to make you come out looking good, but I saw through it.”

Tangi flinched at the insult.

“I didn’t mean it the way it came out.”

“So she said.”

“My concern is that you’re with her to be near me.”

I laughed because it was my first reaction. “Do you think my life revolves around you? I’m not going to argue with you, but I will say this: Wolseley would never stab you in the back the way you’ve stabbed her. Moreover, I see you in a new light, and it’s not pretty. I can also finish the dishes by myself. I don’t need your help.”

You’d think I’d slapped her by the look on her face, but she deserved it. I couldn’t believe the Tangi I knew from two years ago could be such a jerk. To her credit, she put down the dishcloth and slowly slinked away, back to her friends. I didn’t expect her to tell anyone about our conversation, otherwise Ethan would have already tried to take a swing at me. And if she told Wolseley, I would own what I said because Tangi was a piece of work.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Wolseley

With the Kodiaks on another road trip, I had a week to not worry about food prep. I used the first day to clean Tangi and Ethan’s condo from top to bottom since I hadn’t been there much, and the dust bunnies were making homes in every corner. I also made sure all the road trip meals were accounted for.

Tangi had Saturday off, so she invited us over to hang out for a bit, followed by a get-together at the house of Olivia Schott, the wife of one of the Kodiaks. Now that I was dating Brandon, I’d been invited.

Before any of that, though, I got a call from Jan late Friday afternoon. As if the news that Daniel was backing off suing me wasn’t good enough, she had even more good news.

“I wanted to update you on the potential of lawsuits that could be brought against you for the bad-faith meals Daniel Parry served. I’d been hearing rumors that some customers were trying to put together a lawsuit, maybe get more people involved to make it a class-action suit, but seeing as your corporation is defunct, there isn’t much for them to go after. Theycould always go after you personally; that is a risk until the statute of limitations runs out, but I decided to mitigate your losses as much as I could.”

I sat down on the sofa in my living room, wondering where this was going. “Okay,” I said.

“I decided to dig a little deeper into Daniel’s past. Right back to his time in Chicago, where he used to live. It seems he’s gotten himself into trouble a few times. Suffice it to say, he has agreed to take responsibility for all his actions. Does that mean people still won’t sue you? Who knows, but it means they can go after him more easily. Now, he’s declared bankruptcy, so there is nothing to go after.”

The pit in my stomach wasn’t satisfied with this news. “Should I be worried about lawsuits?”

“My experience is that if people don’t file in the first six months to a year, they likely will never file a suit. In your case, they would have to show they were there and ate one of the meals in question. As more time passes, that gets harder to do. And what damages can they prove? How were they harmed? Like I said, I don’t think it will happen, but I can’t say that for certain.”

I was feeling better about it, but another thought occurred to me. “How long is the statute of limitations?”

“Two years, so you’re looking at about another year and a half.”

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