I can tell her everything is fine and allow her to seat Edward and his party. Or I can let everyone know what an abusive bastard he is. But is this really the place to air our dirty laundry?
Finally, I turn to my slim, lavender-haired replacement. “It’s only a matter of time before he chews you up and spits you out, too,” I say, just as Ethan arrives at the reception desk with a mixture of anger and trepidation in his eyes. “I’m going on break,” I tell him.
Ethan and Lily exchange a look, then he follows after me.
“I’m fine. Go tend to your brother,” I say, pushing through the swinging door marked “Employees Only.”
The staff corridor leading to the break room and Ethan’s office is empty, and he uses the opportunity to grab my arm to stop me.
“What happened out there?” he asks, and I can’t tell if the anger in his face is directed at me or his brother
I shake my head. “Nothing. I just need a break. I’m fine.”
“You’re obviously not fine, Alice,” he says, letting go of my arm. “Talk to me.”
“No. You have to work. I don’t want to distract you with this. It’s stupid, petty ex-boyfriend stuff. That’s all.”
He shakes his head now. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what happened between you two. Ollie came in the kitchen a few minutes and told me it looked like you were about to faint when you saw Edward. That doesn’t sound like petty ex-boyfriend stuff to me.”
Warner bursts through the door and stops when he sees us. “I was just going to take a break. Should I leave?”
“Go to the break room,” Ethan says.
“Yes, Chef,” he replies as he squeezes by and disappears through the door just past us on our right.
“Let’s go to my office,” Ethan says.
I hesitate a moment, remembering what happened in Ethan’s domain earlier. But when he turns around, looking confused as to why I’m not following behind him, I realize I can’t keep this in any longer. He has to know what happened with Edward.
He closes the door when we’re in his office, but this time I take a couple steps backward, putting some distance between us.
“Should we be worried that Warner keeps seeing us together like this?” I ask, thinking about the promise I made to my father that I wouldn’t get involved with Ethan.
“Don’t worry about Warner,” he replies dismissively. “What happened with Edward? Tell—” He stops himself, and with a clenched jaw he seems to consider his words carefully. “Tell me everything.”
“Everything?”
He narrows his eyes at me as if I’m testing his patience. “Not the sex stuff. Just tell me everything that led to the breakup.”
His discomfort is charming, but my amusement fades quickly as I remember what he’s asking. “Are you sure you have time for this?”
His face relaxes as he considers his response. “I don’t have time for this, but I do have time for you.”
A surge of emotion rises inside me, making me feel warm and more complete than I have in months. I take a few deep breaths as I think of where I should begin.
“I think it all started when a local influencer came in to the restaurant and asked for me by name,” I begin, recalling how the attention from this internet celebrity seemed to grate on Edward’s nerves and caused a huge fight between us later that night.
“He was jealous they didn’t ask for him?” Ethan inquires.
I shrug. “Probably, but it wasn’t the first time that had happened. Maybe it was just one too many times for him. After that, he spent a couple weeks alternating between calling me his pretty little—” I stop as Ethan holds up a hand to keep me from continuing. “What?”
“I don’t want to know what nicknames he called you,” he says, with a visible shudder.
“Okay,” I say, trying not to laugh. “Um… Well, he spent a couple weeks alternating between being very nice to me and ghosting me. We went three days without a single word spoken between us. Not a single call or text exchanged. And when I would ask him what his problem was, he would say he was going through some stuff he couldn’t talk about. Or he was stressed. Or some other lame excuse.”
Ethan looks uncomfortable. “I’m getting major wanker vibes. Can we skip to the breakup? This is…too much for me.”
I press my lips together to suppress a smile. “Right. The breakup.” I take a deep breath and place one hand on the back of the chair next to me for support. “Obviously, you know how it works. We didn’t know the Michelin reviewer would be there. They’re supposed to be anonymous.”
“That’s what I don’t understand. I didn’t find out about my stars until after they were awarded.”
I purse my lips. “That’s one of the things that’s kept me up at night. Edward knowing about the anonymous reviewer should have tipped me off immediately,” I say with a soft sigh. “But I was so caught up in trying to make sure it was the best service of my life, the truth about what was going on didn’t dawn on me until he went out to chat with the reviewer after the first course.”
“What truth?”
I grip the chair tighter, and my stomach tenses at the memory. “I’m not sure if you’ve been to his restaurant in Tribeca, but it’s an open-concept kitchen theater, so I was able to watch him talking to the reviewer while I was basting her swordfish in butter. Let’s just say…they knew each other. And not just as friends.”
Ethan looks skeptical. “How do you know that?”
I pause for a moment, wondering if this is something Ethan wants to hear. “It was something he did when he walked away from her table, after he patted her on the shoulder.”
He looks confused as I pause. “Is that it? He patted her on the shoulder.”
“I wish. You see, her long hair was covering her shoulders. So, after he patted her shoulder, he…he sniffed his hand.”
Ethan’s eyebrows shoot up, but he doesn’t say anything.
“Yeah, it was the same thing he used to do to me when we first started dating. Sometimes, we’d go out behind the restaurant during our break and—” I stop short when Ethan shakes his head, signaling me to skip this part. “Anyway, when we were dating, I asked him why he did this, and he said the smell of my hair made him feel close to me, as if I was right there with him.”
Ethan looks like he’s ready to crawl out of his skin. “So, he was cheating on you? That’s why you broke up?”
I shake my head. “No. Even if I thought the hand-sniffing was suspicious, it wasn’t proof. It was what he said to me when I confronted him about it.”
Ethan stands up straighter, steeling himself as he seems to understand we’re getting to the bad part of the story.
I take a long, deep breath before I continue. “I told myself I wouldn’t say anything about the sniffing thing until after the reviewer left. No sense in making a scene and ruining his chance for another one or two stars based on my possibly shaky suspicions. But Edward walked in to the kitchen as I was plating her swordfish, and I got distracted for a second as I imagined them having sex… And I dropped her fish on the floor.”