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“So you’ve been doing great without me?”
“Well, yes, hon. We’re even making more of a profit, so I repaid some of the debt. Bankruptcy isn’t such an immediate threat anymore.”
Kate nodded. “That’s great, Mandy!”
Mandy’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, hon. Please don’t tell me you want to change everything back to the way it was before.”
“No, no. Of course not. If the new menu has been working, we should keep it.”
Mandy smiled, clenching her hands. Kate looked around awkwardly.
“What about Logan Robertson?” Mandy asked. “When are they coming?”
“I have some bad news. Logan Robertson isn’t coming. I’m afraid I screwed up the program, and I’m out.”
Mandy frowned. “Oh no! What happened?”
I traveled back in time, lost my memory, and met the love of my life.
“Well, he hit on me, and I stopped him.”
“Oh my gosh…are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. But unfortunately, the whole TV show thing isn’t happening.”
Mandy sighed. “Oh. Darn.”
“Are you mad?”
Mandy looked around the restaurant. Every single table was occupied. Clanks of cutlery, chatter, and occasional laughter filled the room.
“No,” Mandy said and hugged Kate around the shoulders with one arm. “Screw him if he wanted to do anything to you. And look, we don’t even need him.”
Kate’s eyes blurred with tears. “You’re right. We don’t.”
“But tell me one thing. If you weren’t preparing for the show, where have you been then all this time?”
Ugh. Kate hated lying. What could she say that would be true without going into specifics? “I stayed to learn from the locals. I met someone who knows how to cook Crazy Mary.”
“Excuse me!” Through the serving hatch, Kate saw one of the customers she didn’t recognize wave his hand at Mandy.
“I better go,” Mandy said. “You go upstairs and have a rest after your long journey, okay? I know you want to work, but don’t.”
She squeezed Kate’s shoulder. “Rob and I got this, sis, really. Don’t worry.”
Kate nodded, feeling like a third wheel.
“I was expecting you’d need me to start cooking right away—but okay.”
“No, no.” Mandy laughed, kissed Kate, and went to see what the customer needed.
Kate hesitated a moment more, then walked out of the kitchen. She picked up her luggage and went upstairs. Even the apartment looked tidier and fresher. She went into Jax’s room and kissed the top of his head. He was a handsome and a smart boy with his mom’s blond hair and his dad’s brown eyes.
“You grew,” Kate said through tears, looking at his suddenly so-grown-up face. “You’re such a big boy.”
Or was she tearing up because he also didn’t need her anymore?
“Aunt Kate!” He giggled, evading her embrace in that shy, boyish way.
