“Jack, how long is the break?”
“Fifteen minutes. The smokers are headed outside,” Jack said.
“I’m going to take Staci up to the atrium for a chat,” Remy said. “Is that okay?”
“Yes, be back on time,” Jack warned.
“We will be.”
“Who will be, what?” Staci asked coming up behind him.
“You and me back on time,” Remy said, taking her hand in his and leading her away from the kitchen.
“We’ve got fifteen minutes, cupcake girl, and I want some answers,” he said.
“Answers to what?” she asked. “I think I’ve done enough explaining about my past for the day. To be honest I’m ready to really put it behind me. I can’t believe Chef Renard is going to be here all week.”
Remy waited until they were alone on the escalator heading to the atrium. “Exactly what happened when you and Renard broke up?”
“Why does that matter?” she asked as he led the way to a padded bench hidden in a private alcove.
“I think he regrets it. Were you the one who ended things?” he asked as they were seated. He couldn’t stand the thought that she might have ended it and now Renard might try to win her back.
She nibbled on her lower lip and looked up at him with an inscrutable gaze. She had her chef’s coat on and because of the TV cameras she had on stage make-up, but underneath all that was the woman he knew very well. And he hated to see her looking so unsure.
“Why does that matter?” she asked.
“It matters because...,” He hated this feeling, these emotions that made him feel vulnerable and ache inside. He wanted to just take her in his arms and never have to let her go. “Staci, he was looking at you like he was interested in rekindling your romance. So I want to know if that’s a possibility?”
“No, Remy,” she said. “There isn’t a chance of that happening.”
“Why not?” he asked. “If I lost you...well I’d always try to get you back.”
“Really?” she asked, looking up at him this time with a very caring expression and he wondered if she had fallen for him too. He knew that she cared about him. She admitted that in spite of her fear of being lied to, she had started to believe in him.
“Yes,” he said. “Did you really doubt it?”
“All I know is what I’m feeling,” she said. “I know that you called us a couple, but I’m still not sure of myself to believe that this can last. So when you say things like that I’m a bit surprised.”
“Why? You have to know what a lovely woman you are. Haven’t I done enough to show you that?”
“You’ve done more than that, but it’s my issue,” she said. There was a wariness in her tone that told him she was exhausted from her past and how heavy a burden it must be for her to keep carrying it around. He wanted to take it from her but he wondered if he were really the man who could.
A part of him felt like she used the past as a wedge to keep him from getting too close and to keep her from really falling for him.
“Maybe it’s time you let it go. Just because you’ve had a few bad relationships?—”
“It’s more than that, Remy. You asked me what happened with Jean-Luc and the truth is he moved on to another woman. I came into work one day and caught them together. That was it, he never said a word to me other than to say chefs had big appetites. I gave my notice and left.”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“It’s not your fault,” she said, reminding him.
But he knew Staci. Proud, tough, confidentStaci who had been hurt by that one incident. She’d been telling him all along that trust was going to come hard for her, but until now he hadn’t realized just how hard. He had thought that he could just fix her hurt for her by showing her that a real man was tender and caring. But he saw now that the kind of betrayal she experienced, well...
Her past and his lie were pretty much kindred spirits and he knew, even though he’d been reluctant to admit it, that when the truth came out—and it would—Staci was going to walk away from him as surely as she’d left Jean-Luc Renard and Paris all those years ago.
STACI WON THE QUICK COOK,which made her feel satisfied. She knew she’d cooked well but more than that she was happy to know that Jean-Luc’s praise meant nothing to her. It wasn’t like the painful time when they’d been lovers and she’d waited and waited for some words of praise from him.
