Page 16 of Silent Partner (Pine Falls 3)

I hustled toward the employee entrance, thinking about names for the cat I was planning on adopting. I was thinking of a female cat. I was so over males. All of them. Well, except my nephew, Grandpa, and my brothers-in-law. Other than that, all males were on my no-fly list. I was going to be a lone traveler, whether on foot, by sea, or in the air.

As I was contemplating names for my cat like Eleanor, Bella, and Chloe, I realized those were all names I loved for a daughter. How depressing. More depressing was the sight of Giselle and Carter spilling out of the employee entrance laughing and kissing each other, until they saw me.

They both cleared their throats while Giselle narrowed her eyes at me, and Carter did his best to avoid any eye contact. I should have recognized what a weasel he was back in culinary school when he would speak pretty words to me and steal kisses, all without ever really wanting a relationship. I had complained to Giselle, and she’d laughed and said to just enjoy it, that it was Carter’s way. Then she added that she couldn’t understand his appeal, but it was fine if I liked him. That had all changed a couple of years ago. Suddenly she found him very appealing. And even though I didn’t harbor those kinds of feelings for Carter anymore, she had deemed me her enemy. And the gorgeous Giselle—with legs for days, silky brunette hair, and eyes made of jade—had a way with men. What she wanted, she got. What she wanted now was to punish me because, once upon a time, Carter had professed himself smitten with me. And I had been enamored with his sandy curly hair, baby face, and playfulness.

No more, though. I was never going to be taken in by another man again. No more pretty words, sweet kisses, butterflies, or longing glances. I would be curling up with good books and cats from now on.

Giselle gave me the faux smile she had perfected over the years. “Have a good weekend. We need to have an owners’ meeting on Monday when you get back from your little birthday thing with . . . what’s his name?”

Oh please, like she didn’t know it was Tristan. She had totally come on to him when he had come to visit me over the summer. To Tristan’s credit, he hadn’t given her the time of day. In fact, he’d slighted her by telling her he preferred blondes. I supposed he was probably with some other blonde tonight. I grabbed my stomach, sick at the thought and worried about why Giselle was calling an owners’ meeting. It never meant good things for me.

I didn’t give her the satisfaction of saying Tristan’s name or that we had broken up. “What do we need to discuss on Monday?” I wanted to be prepared.

She patted my head like I was a child, though we were the same age. “Don’t you worry. You have a good birthday.” She and Carter jetted off without another word.

Sadly, not all that long ago, they would have been invited to the big birthday bash my family was throwing for Gemma and me. Honestly, I wished I could uninvite myself. It was going to be so embarrassing showing up alone. But I had to be there for Gemma. Plus, I was making her the unicorn cake she had requested.

I stared at Giselle and Carter as they got into Carter’s Mercedes SUV, worried about what torture they had in store for me. I couldn’t wait to hear what they thought I was doing wrong now. It could be anything. Maybe it was the way I organized our walk-in freezer, or perhaps I had spoken too kindly to a member of our waitstaff. Who knew? Maybe I should charge the heck out of my credit card and run away to . . . well . . . based on how much I could charge, it would have to be, like, Oklahoma. Ugh.

Once the lovebirds left, I opened the door and walked into the employee break room. It was empty. No surprise there—our employees were too afraid to take breaks around Giselle and Carter. Honestly, I’m surprised no one had filed a lawsuit against us for unfair work practices.

I headed to the office I shared with Giselle and Carter to grab my chef’s coat and to see what notes they’d left for me. I was sure they hadn’t completed any of their assigned tasks for their shift and had left them for me to do, especially since I was taking the next three days off. You know, to spend with my nonexistent boyfriend. Happy birthday to me. I held back the tears, vowing not to waste any more on Tristan. I said that now, but I was sure more would come eventually.

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