Page 14 of Challenged by the Single Dad

It couldn’t just be because he didn’t trust anybody anymore after what happened with his staff that summer? There had to be more to it. Right?

Was he just a suspicious person by nature?

Wyatt and Jagger called him a control freak which was something she very much understood since she could be one herself. But the fact that the moment she arrived for her interview he hated her, meant there had to be something else to his disdain.

Recently, she’d started doing some research into reincarnation and past lives, and the more she fell down the rabbit hole, the more she believed that energy was everlasting. Once we were brought onto the earth, our energy never disappeared, it just changed form.

Had they met in a past life and were sworn enemies? Was he reacting to her in a way that not even he understood? Because she’d certainly felt drawn and repelled from people from the get-go without being able to explain why.

It had to be something like that.

She finished up in the washroom, then washed her hands just as the door to the women’s room opened and Penny walked in. “How are you doing?” Penny asked, checking her hair in the mirror.

“I like it here,” Chloe replied, being honest.

“It’s a great place to work. Head’s up though, the Sewing Circle just walked in.” She disappeared into a stall.

“And the ‘Sewing Circle’ is …?”

“Are we alone?”

Chloe checked for feet beneath the other three stalls. “Yep.”

“They’re a group of eight ladies between the ages of like fifty and eighty. Mostly, they’re wonderful and nice. But they’re stingy tippers, and Jolene Dandy is part of the group and she’s the Island Mouth. So as soon as she sees you, by midnight the whole island will know the pub has a pretty, new bartender.”

“The Island Mouth?”

“Gossipy woman. Don’t tell her anything you don’t want advertised to the world. Don’t even speculate with her.” Penny emerged from the stall and approached the sink to wash her hands, meeting Chloe’s gaze in the mirror. “They’ll all come up and introduce themselves. Ask you your life’s story and then make assumptions if you don’t fill in the blanks.” Her smile was crooked as she reached for a paper towel to dry her hands. “They also stay forhoursand order tea, salads, and fries. And they’re here every single day.” Her brows lifted, then she reached into the front pocket of her black jeans and pulled out a shiny, pink-hued lip gloss that she slathered on her lips. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Then she flashed Chloe a wink before disappearing back out the door.

Make assumptions if you don’t fill in the blanks.

Great! Just great.

Pulling in a deep breath and inflating her cheeks, Chloe blew out with exaggeration. She didn’t want anybody knowing her story. She didn’t want pity. She didn’t want apologies, or people talking about her or her family.

She came to the island searching for peace. To start over, and maybe set down some roots.Newroots.

After a few calming breaths, she left the bathroom but hung out in the back of the kitchen on her phone while Burke worked on her meal. Whatever he was making smelled incredible.

There were a few messages from her parents asking her to check in. So she sent them an update on her location and where she was working. Brenda and Mike Voss had long stopped trying to get her to return home to North Dakota. There were too many memories there. Too many reminders. She knew it hurt them that their only child had run away from the pain, but they also understood. They were also very different from her in their grief.

Elliott had been their only grandchild, and they adored him. But they also wanted to keep his memory alive by talking about him—constantly. And Chloe just couldn’t. It was too painful. Everywhere she turned, every corner of their acreage conjured a memory of her little boy, and she just couldn’t handle it. So she left. They honored her desire to stay on the move, but requested that she at least check in every other day with a text message to let them know she was safe and where she was working. She also acquiesced their request that she allow them to have her on the “find your friend” phone app.

She knew what it was like to have a parent’s worry. So she didn’t begrudge them theirs.

One day, hopefully, she’d be strong enough to return home—even just for a visit. She wasn’t there yet though. Not even close.

“Lunch is ready,” Burke called after a few more minutes of Chloe just scrolling Instagram mindlessly.

She tucked her phone in her back pocket, tossed on a smile, and reached for the plate he held out to her. “That is a spicy Asian cucumber salad with tuna loin and slaw, wrapped in nori. There’s pickled daikon, carrot, and onion in there too.” His smile was big, but there was apprehension in his eyes.

It looked absolutely delicious to her, and she picked it up right there and took a bite. Her eyes closed as she moaned. “Oh my god,” she mumbled with a full mouth, then opened her eyes. “Burke, this is incredible.”

He relaxed. Now his smile and eyes matched.

“And you just made this up on the fly?” She took an even bigger bite.

He shrugged. “Kind of. I mean, we have tuna loin on the menu, and we put the cucumber salad on top of our fried rice dish. Then we have an Indonesian fried rice dish that we put the pickled veg on top of. I like nori as a substitute for tortillas because they’re less filling and healthier. It just doesn’t work for all dishes.”

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