AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He blinked. Then blinked again, his mouth still feeling frozen in an “O” position.
She was going to move in with the dude?
That wasn’t Chi. She wasn’t like that. Of course, he knew that was typical. People did it all the time, but Chi was different. She had morals and values and standards, and she tried to live by them.
“When?”
“Today’s my last day.” She spoke simply, like she didn’t just explode his world with the other statement she made, and that she hadn’t totally taken his job. Usually there was at least a two-week notice.
Although, he knew there were times where owners just didn’t show up for work anymore, and a closed sign in the evening ended up being permanent.
But he never thought that would happen here.
“I was going to offer to sell this to you, but I guess if you’ve already bought the property at the end of the street, you won’t want this one. I’ll be putting it up for sale, so make sure you get any personal items out at the end of the day.”
Right. His personal items.
What about his heart? She didn’t understand that it was right here in the kitchen with them, in her possession. When she walked out, moving in with her high-dollar, fancy lawyer from Chicago, she’d be taking it with her. He wished he could stop her, but that wasn’t exactly something he had control over.
“Actually, if things slow down this afternoon, I’ll be closing early. So just wanted to let you know,” she said, and then she breezed out of the kitchen.
Griff stood silent, his chest heaving up and down. She was leaving. Closing the diner. Moving in with another man.
That was the thing.
Closing the diner, he could handle. He didn’t need this job.
Leaving might be a little harder, but if she were leaving to open a diner somewhere else or even get a job somewhere else, he could handle that as well.
But moving in with another man? And that slimy, big-city lawyer, who was a crook and a cheat if Griff had ever seen one. And he’d seen plenty.
But he couldn’t tell that to Chi. She wouldn’t listen. She wasn’t interested in his opinion on who she dated or...apparently who she moved in with.
He swallowed, wondering if there was any point in even walking over to the stove and getting started at the job he loved.
He loved it because of Chi. Although, he definitely found a solace and a certain type of relaxation and contentment in cooking. In feeding people. In making things that they loved and ate and enjoyed. Making people smile, but most of all Chi.
Griff stood staring at the door, discouraged and heartsick where he had spent the last few hours excited about the news he had, and now that it had been a letdown, he looked over where he’d stood for so many hours at the stove, working, because he enjoyed it, true, but mostly because of Chi.
He had one day left, but it didn’t matter. If she hadn’t noticed him all the other days that he’d been there, today wasn’t going to be any different. Why stay?
Because that’s what a man of character did.
