Page 35 of You Chive Me Crazy
My side of the story would have to wait.
As much as I wanted to tell her the truth, I couldn't risk making her more anxious. The doctor had warned us she needed to avoid stress, and I wasn't about to mess that up. What if I made her worse with my confession?
Still, I couldn't help but feel like we had missed our chance for something special in our careers, something special in our lives. If only she had let me explain my side of the story all those years ago. Things could have been different between us. She needed to know.
That was when I decided to tell her everything, after breakfast, whether she wanted to hear it or not. And there were two things that could happen after as a result of my confession.
I was going to make it better.
Or I was going to make it much, much worse.
ChapterSeven
LUCAS
“Good morning, everyone!” Betsy said, with that same enthusiastic, inviting smile she had welcomed us with upon our arrival at the inn. She set a platter of freshly baked scones on the table next to the eggs, bacon, and ham, then beamed at Zoe. “I couldn’t resist baking these scones for you, although there are plenty for everyone else. And the first batch of blueberry pancakes will be coming out any minute. Marty put extra blueberries in some of them and called themZoeberries.”
Zoe placed her hand on her chest. “Awww, really? I’m so honored. Thank you for this.”
“And here they are!” Marty said, entering the dining room. “Bet you can’t eat just one.” He winked and set the pancakes on the table next to the scones.
“That is just so sweet of you,” Zoe said. “Thank you.”
“It certainly is our pleasure,” Betsy said. “You’ve got a big food festival to attend, and we want to do our part to help you get healthy! Now, don’t be shy. Pass the platters around. Let’s eat!”
She sat down at the table right next to Marty. Also at the table were Jeremy, Hank, Harmony, Kay, Damian, and Savannah.
The platters and coffee were passed around quickly, everyone diving into the food like we hadn’t eaten in a week.
Hank and Harmony looked adorable in their matching T-shirts, his with a picture of a cat, hers a ball of yarn.
As I ate, Damian glared at me from across the table, stabbing his ham, and slicing it like he wished it were my throat. It would be only a matter of time before he went back on the attack again. I was sure of it. I had never met a man with such a big chip on his shoulder.
As the conversation turned to the food truck festival, Marty and Betsy brought out another round of pancakes. The food and hospitality were outstanding. Maybe I would even write a review about the Serendipity Inn to go with the festival review.
“There was a BBQ truck last year that wasfab-u-lous,” Hank said, pulling out a map of the food festival and gesturing to a few points of interest. “We’re going to wait until the second day to hit them up this year, since day one this year is reserved for hamburgers and churros. Each day mapped out, along with everything we want to try. We will start early when they are open to eat, take a break and enjoy the entertainment in the middle of the day, then go back for more later. We need to pace ourselves.”
He sounded like a professional food festival hopper.
“They need more vegetarian options at the festival,” Damian said to nobody in particular. “Seriously, not everyone is a carnivore.” He shook his head in disgust as he jammed more meat into his hypocritical ham hole.
That was when I got the shock of a lifetime.
Alexa squawked. “Lucas is a douchebag.”
I glanced over at the parrot, wondering who Alexa had learned that from.
I got my answer when Damian started chuckling.
“You think that’s funny?” I asked.
He nodded and stabbed another piece of ham. “Actually, I do. Very.”
“Lucas is a douchebag,” Alexa repeated.
“Alexa, change the topic,” Betsy said. “Give me a movie quote.”
“Do you feel lucky, punk?” the parrot said.
