Page 71 of Forever Fighting
“Roman, it’s a six-month rental and those aren’t all that easy to come by, especially for the type of place you want. I know you’re in Mexico and working on stuff there, but we need to get these places figured out.”
My eyes close and I release a silent breath. I’m so fucking torn. How do I continue to plan the future I have set in place when the future I always dreamed of but never thought possible is now within my reach?
I have to go to Europe.
The restaurants I’m opening there aren’t like this or even the one in Vegas. They’re not part of some resort that takes care of the heavy lifting and I don’t have the same managerial and chef presence. They’re being built from the ground up, from scratch, and need my constant input and my fingerprint all over them. It’s exactly how I did it when I first moved back to Boston and opened Roundhouse and South Paw and then Uppercut after them.
But…
Braelyn doesn’t want to be with me. She wants her fun. Her fling. It’ll be five days of this and after we’ll go home and life will return to normal as she said. We’ll get a divorce and I’ll have to move on and leave because she won’t want me to stay. Friendship ruined. Heart TKOd.
Fuck.
The thought cuts the air from my lungs and has my insides seizing.
“I’ll take a look this evening and let you know.”
“Good.” Katie exhales a relieved breath. “Great. I’ll send you some Paris options as well. There isn’t much in London yet, but I’m keeping my eyes on it.”
“Sounds good, Katie. Thanks.”
“You got it. Let me know if you need anything else.”
We disconnect the call and I slide my phone into my pocket and put my hands on top of my head. I need to tell Braelyn about Europe. I didn’t want to put it on her before the wedding because she had enough on her plate, and I figured I’d tell her after it.
The day after Adam proposed, she came over and was so happy. She showed off her ring and asked if I’d be her maid of honor. Of course I said yes.
Even as I felt like I was dying.
The next day, I decided I couldn’t stick around after she was married. That I needed the distance to finally get over her. It was easy. A no-brainer. Setting up restaurants keeps me busy like nothing else, and I’d already thought about the type of places these would be.
I wanted five-star dining but at an affordable price.
I was tired of only serving to a particular clientele. When I mentioned this to Katie, she went running with it, and before I knew it, things were falling into place. Contracts were being signed. Now the wheels are in motion and can’t be stopped.
But if I tell Braelyn now, she’ll use it as her reason why we can’t be together for real. She’ll shut her mind down to the possibility.
I can’t have that.
All of this might be for naught, but I can’t go backward. I can’t have her like this and then pretend we’re only friends after. I can’t pretend that she’s not all I think about. All I dream about. All I want.
Except I might not have a choice.
I’m at her mercy with this.
My hand dives into my pocket and I finger the ring in there. I take it off whenever I come in here. I’m Chef Fritz in this building and a wedding band on my hand will garner questions. Questions my wife doesn’t want me to answer.
My wife.
I nearly laugh at that.
I’m married to the love of my life and to her it’s fake.
Then there’s the Adam factor, but right now, I don’t have it in me to care about his bullshit.
The fire alarm going off interrupts my thoughts. Only it’s not just the alarm. It’s lights flashing, things breaking, people screaming, and chaos.
Then there’s the smell of smoke.
