“Hmm,” Dom said consideringly. “That’s tasty. Anything else?”
“And he likes kittens,” Landon said, grabbing it out of nowhere. In fact, Carter was indifferent to animals. He didn’t mind one from a distance or cooked medium rare, but the idea of cohabitating with one was out of the question. “It’s practically a fetish. He has cat mugs, sheets, socks. You name it. It’s fucking weird.”
Dom was laughing now, so Landon stopped and waited to see if it had been enough. “That’s complete bullshit,” Dom said finally, “but I love it. Basil is on a Norwegian river cruise. He’s the celebrity chef for the next two months. My friend helped set him up with it when he wanted to get out of New York for a while after 1358 closed.”
“How long has he been on it?”
“Left last week. Why?”
“No reason.” Landon hung up with Dom and stared out at the sunset without seeing it. He wasn’t sure if the information was a relief or a disappointment. It would have been so easy if it had been Basil. Landon could have found him and destroyed him for good this time. The fact that it wasn’t him made the situation much more complicated. It forced him to consider something he hadn’t wanted to before.
It forced him to consider Martha.
Chapter Fifteen
Business at LeClarks dropped over the next few days, but the decline was only marginally larger than Gray and Kait had anticipated. Opening weeks gave false readings. The true test of whether a restaurant would make it came in the months that followed, as business leveled out.
And so far, Gray seemed optimistic that they would make it. “These are solid midweek numbers,” he said to Kaitlyn after they closed up on Wednesday night. “Monday and Tuesday were low, of course. We need to figure out some specials for those nights. Half-price bottles of wine or something.”
Kait nodded her agreement, but truthfully, her mind was on getting out of the restaurant. The rest of the staff had left, and it was just she and Gray in the brightly lit kitchen, surrounded by the darkened restaurant. Being there without the hustle and bustle made her skin crawl. Looking back, she couldn’t believe that she had once felt so safe that she’d eaten by candlelight, taken off her clothes—her face flushed with the memory of Landon beneath her, of the second orgasm that had left her boneless. Defenseless. She couldn’t imagine ever feeling that safe again, either in a building or with a man.
Kait had Thursday off completely, and she was looking forward to being away from LeClarks for a while. Though she wasn’t entirely sure what she would do with her free time. So far, she hadn’t exactly bonded with Ana. She had thought that, given enough time, they would become friends, but Ana had kept to herself so far.
The next morning, she had her morning coffee with Gray before he left for the restaurant, started laundry, updated her blog, and was bored out of her mind by noon. Her first instinct was to head to the restaurant—Thursday mornings weren’t exactly busy, but there was always something to be done. The only thing that stopped her was the fact that her LeClarks clothes were still in the wash. Kait watched them through the porthole window for a minute, then gave herself a mental shake. She was being ridiculous. There were plenty of things to do in New Canton if she could get over this trepidation about being seen around town like a fugitive returning to the scene of the crime.
Forcing herself not to think of the most recent spat of food poisonings, Kait pulled on jeans and a simple v-neck t-shirt and headed to the waterfront. She needed lunch, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten something that wasn’t from LeClarks.
Twenty minutes later, she was seated at a small outdoor table at a cafe at the end of the pier. The day was already warm, but the breeze off the ocean kept her cool. Behind her dark sunglasses, with her back to the smattering of other patrons, Kaitlyn felt refreshingly anonymous.
She closed her eyes, took a deep, calming breath of the salty air, and was instantly, jarringly, a child again. For a moment, it was pleasant. The heaviness floated off her shoulders, the resentment shifted off her heart. She was thirteen. Her biggest problem was her braces and her irritating older brother. She loved her parents, the restaurant, and the sense she had of being anchored to this place. LeClarks had been part of the bedrock of the community for generations. It was her destiny. She didn’t even mind that Landon treated her like a little sister because one day—
“Miss?”
Kait opened her eyes to see the waiter smiling down at her, his notepad at the ready. Instantly, jarringly, she was an adult again. Fifteen years ago, this spot had been a casual, order-at-the-counter joint. She and Gray had eaten french fries and hamburgers smothered in ketchup with their legs dangling off the side of the pier, throwing the leftover bits of buns to the wheeling seagulls. Now, the waiters wore ironed black pants and a collared shirt, and the menu offered fine wine and wild caught seafood.
She ordered a glass of white wine and a crab cake sandwich. She devoured the sandwich, but she sipped the wine slowly, not ready to leave quite yet. Gray wouldn’t be home until late, and while she’d kill an hour or two looking in the shops, she’d still have too much time in the apartment alone.
She ordered a second glass, wishing she’d brought her laptop so she could work on her blog. This wasn’t quite that kind of place, but considering how empty it was, Kait didn’t think they’d mind. When the second glass arrived, she scooted her chair forward, getting close enough
