“Just some grease,” Edouard said, fanning the air. “It’s out now.”
The printer kicked to life, spitting out several more orders.
“Can we get back to business?” she asked. “Is it manageable or do I need to kick someone’s ass?”
“We’re good,” Edouard said.
Cal’s cell phone rang. He flipped it open and said, “Hello.”
Penny went around the counter to deal with the residual cleanup from the fire. One of their pans was misshapen and two dinners had been ruined, but the flames were out and the vent system made short work of the smoke.
“Are these dinners at different tables?”
They would be. That was always the way, but a girl could hope.
Naomi confirmed the bad news.
“Get them up and cooking,” Penny called. “These are our priority, people.” She turned to say something to Edouard when she noticed Cal hanging up.
“What happened?” she asked as she took in his worried expression. “Is Lindsey okay?”
“What? Oh, she’s fine. That was Dani. She needs me to come by after work. Something happened. She sounded upset, but she won’t say what.”
One of the servers came into the kitchen. “Um, Penny? Your family is leaving. They’d like a chance to say goodbye.”
Cal touched her arm. “There’s nothing we can do now. I’ll come get you before I leave, then we’ll go over to your place together.”
“No. I think this is a family matter. I’ll stay here until you’ve talked to her. Then you can call and give me the all clear.”
“It’s not that big a deal.”
“You don’t know that, Cal. If Dani had wanted me there, she would have asked. I’ll stay here.”
While part of her brain processed details like the number of customers and orders yet to be filled, the rest of her mind turned over the problem of Cal.
Had she left their marriage too soon? If she’d stayed, could they have learned their lessons-him to give with his whole heart, her to believe he wanted her to succeed? They’d come a long way. If only he would love her-really love her.
Was it possible, or was she just wishing for the moon?
CAL PARKED behind Reid’s car and an unfamiliar truck he figured had to belong to Walker. Which meant Dani had called a family meeting. Maybe Penny had been right-this looked serious.
As he climbed out of the car, he wondered if Hugh had dropped another bombshell. If so, wheelchair or not, Cal was going to have to beat the crap out of the man.
He walked up to Penny’s front door, which opened before he could knock.
Reid greeted him. “Good. She wouldn’t say anything until we were all together. Why do I know Hugh just won bastard of the year?”
“That’s what I’m thinking, too. If so, we’ll take care of it.”
“You got that right.”
They walked into the living room, where Walker sat on the sofa. Dani stood by the small fireplace. She had a drink in her hand and a look of stark pain in her eyes.
He crossed to her. “Dani, what’s wrong?”
When he went to hold her, she sidestepped his embrace.
“Get yourself something to drink and have a seat,” she said.
“Dani?”
She shook her head. “You can’t fix this with a hug, Cal. Just get a drink. Please.”
Reid walked into the living room and handed him a beer. The two of them joined Walker on the sofa.
Dani faced them. “I went to see Gloria. I wanted to talk to her about my career with the company. I told her I was done with Burger Heaven and either she moved me up the food chain or I was quitting.”
Cal was getting a bad feeling in his gut. Nothing good could have come from the conversation.
“She’s a bitch, Dani,” Reid said. “Consider the source.”
His sister clutched her glass in both hands. She looked each of them in the face, then spoke. “She told me I would never move up in the company. When I pointed out that I had the most education in the business of any of her grandchildren and that I wanted it more, she explained why neither of those things was an issue. Can you guess why?”
Cal kept his gaze firmly locked on Dani. He watched pain fill her eyes and then he knew Gloria had finally made good on her threat to tell Dani about her father.
He stood. “Dani, it’s not-”
She turned on him. “Don’t you
She glared at him as she spoke, then she set her glass down on the mantel and folded her arms over her chest.
“Oh, God. You know.”
He didn’t know what to say or do. Penny had warned him to come clean with Dani more than once. She’d said it would be a disaster if Dani found out on her own and she’d been right.
Walker and Reid stood. They looked at each other, then at Dani.
“Listen,” Reid began.
“No!” Dani took two steps back.
Cal moved toward her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I thought the worst of it was finding out I wasn’t who I thought I was. I thought the worst was knowing I wasn’t really one of you, but that’s not the worst, is it?”
“You’re one of us,” Cal told her. “You’re my baby sister. I love you, Dani.”
“How long?” she demanded. “How long have you known?”
Walker looked at him, then turned to Dani. “Since high school. That’s when Gloria told me. She said that she would tell you the truth if I went into the marines. I talked to Cal and Reid and found out she’d threatened them, as well. It was information she used to keep us in line. But I knew that if she hadn’t already told you the truth, for some reason she didn’t want to.”
Cal hadn’t thought of the situation that way, but Walker was right. Gloria had used whatever threat she thought would work best. He’d never considered that it was all just a game to her. He’d always been willing to do anything to protect Dani.
“I love you so much,” he told her. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
She dismissed his statement with a frown. “Oh, please. You’ve been keeping secrets from me all my life.”
A single tear rolled down her cheek. She brushed it away impatiently. “What else did you know? What else did you keep from me? Hugh’s affair? Did he tell you all about it?”
Reid grabbed her by the upper arms, and stared into her face. “Dammit, Dani, stop it. I’m sorry. We’re all sorry. No, we didn’t know about your bastard husband. Yes, we’ve kept secrets, but only because we didn’t want to hurt you.”
“Don’t you think it hurts to never fit in? Don’t you think it hurts to not be one of the guys? To know you three have a bond I’ll never have?”
Cal reached for her. She jerked away from him, but he pulled her close and held her against him.
“You mean the world to us.”
“Bullshit. You treat me like a child. Do you know what it was like to keep trying and trying? Year after year I worked my butt off trying to please Gloria and no matter what I did it wasn’t enough. You all stood there, watching me fail and you never once thought to tell me why? To spare me that?”
She was right, he thought. This time when she tried to pull away, he let her.
She glared at them. “This was not your decision to make.”
Reid shook his head. “How do you say something like that to your only sister?”
“You find the words and if they don’t come easily, you keep looking for them. And I’m not your sister.”
