Page 57 of What Comes After

With a slight nod, Theo answered, “Broiled salmon, lemon-roasted potatoes, and parmesan roasted asparagus.”

“It looks incredible. I didn’t know you could cook like this,” I replied.

Theo let out a laugh and advised, “Don’t get your hopes up. My skills are limited. I’m great at breakfast, awful at lunch, and have a few meals I’m capable of making for dinner that aren’t bad.”

Now that the food was sitting in front of me, I found my stomach was rumbling a bit. The aroma of Theo’s meal wafted into my nostrils, and my mouth was watering.

The two of us dove in, and after taking a bite of each item on the plate, I had no choice but to praise him. “Well, I’m happy to report it doesn’t just look good, Theo. It tastes excellent, too.”

“Thanks.”

We continued to eat, but I could see there was something working in his eyes. Theo had questions for me he wasn’t asking, and I couldn’t bring myself to ignore that look.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked him.

He was silent a moment as he finished chewing and assessed me. “A lot of reasons, I guess. Probably far too many to cover in one dinner conversation.”

Yep.

Just as I had suspected.

If nothing else, Theo’s words offered me a bit of comfort. Because even if I knew they meant we’d probably have to address all that we both had plaguing our minds and hearts, at least I wasn’t alone in feeling everything I was.

“So, pick something and share it,” I begged. “We can’t just keep dancing around whatever is on our minds.”

“You’ve got things on your mind?” he retorted.

“I always have things on my mind, Theo. Especially when I’m around you,” I confessed.

He eyed me curiously, but he didn’t push me to give him any additional explanations. Instead, he asked about something that was on his mind.

“I’ve been wondering about something for a long time,” he started.

“What is it?” I asked, bracing myself.

“I’ve always been curious why you never went to culinary school. I mean, I know you have your house cleaning business now, but I wanted to know why you never went to school.”

In an instant, I felt my blood run cold.

While I didn’t doubt that he had no clue just how bad my financial situation was, making going to school nearly impossible, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking the worst.

Theo must have thought my job was a crappy one.

Granted, it wasn’t what I had wanted to do with my life, but even if the job I was doing wasn’t my dream job, I was the owner of a business. An entrepreneur.

I thought that was something to feel proud of.

“Devyn?” he called when I took too long making assumptions about his reasons for taking the conversation in this direction.

“Yeah?”

“I can see there’s a lot going on in your mind, and that’s not good for two reasons. First, the doctor said you need to rest your mind. If I had thought a simple question would cause the response and reaction this one did, I wouldn’t have asked you. But beyond that, I can’t help myself from feeling like you’ve got the wrong impression in your mind about this.”

I shrugged my shoulders and pressed my lips together. “I’m not sure what you’re looking for me to say.”

“It was a simple question.”

Maybe to him, it was. To me, it was something else.

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