Minka brushes the moisture from her cheeks, and the sight of it makes my nose sting with unspent tears.
Finally, she nods her head and chokes out her reply, “Yes. I’ll marry you.”
The entire restaurant, which I hadn’t even realized was watching us, breaks out in applause. Ester and I hug each other as Eric and Minka seem lost in their own embrace, oblivious to the joy they’ve brought so many here today.
If Eric had asked me how he should propose to Minka, this is probably not what I would have suggested. Which goes to show that Eric knows her better than I do.
This sparks a painful longing inside me, partly because I know I’ve lost a piece of my best friend to her new fiancé. But mostly because I desperately wish someone knew me that well.
Chapter 10
ETHAN
Opening night for Forked comes much faster than I anticipated. When I found out, a few months ago, that the previous owner of Forked was in bankruptcy and looking to sell the business to cover his debts, I jumped at the opportunity with sheer bravado. The previous owner had run out of funds halfway through the construction phase. My barrister negotiated with the court trustee who was handling his bankruptcy plan, and I was able to buy the restaurant at well below market value.
If I hadn’t been in New York helping with Edward’s restaurant opening, I wouldn’t have stumbled upon the acquisition opportunity. And it was definitely a fortuitous investment.
If we remain on target to reach the milestones set out in the business plan, we’re likely to make a lot of people very wealthy. And once the final funding phase is complete, I’ll be able to offer all my employees a collective stake in the company. This is what I’ve done with every restaurant I’ve opened in the UK, and, among other things, it’s one of my biggest secrets to success.
But the more I consider the serendipitous manner in which this project was dropped into my lap, the more I wonder if I truly stumbled upon it by accident.
With the proving cabinet situation sorted out and the construction punch-list being signed off on by Tino yesterday afternoon, the only thing that can go wrong tonight will come down to the human factor. Is the staff ready? Can I stop thinking about Alice long enough to focus on one of the most important nights of the year?
I have to arrive at the restaurant for opening night in less than an hour, but I have one other human factor that must be addressed before I can leave my apartment in Midtown.
Edward answers my phone call after three rings. “Hello.”
“I think you should skip tonight,” I say, cutting straight to the point.
“Mate, what are you talking about? I’m not leaving you hanging tonight.”
“Thank you, but we’ll be fine without you. Showing up on opening night, when everyone will already be stressed, won’t make anything easier.”
He chuckles. “Mate, you don’t have to say ‘everyone’ when you’re only referring to Alice.”
I take a deep breath to stifle the curse words on the tip of my tongue. “I don’t have the time to argue the point. I have to be at the restaurant in less than an hour. Do I have your word you won’t show up tonight? I can book you a reservation for a day she’s not on the schedule.”
“I’ve had this planned for months: dinner at my brother’s fantastic new restaurant, drinks with colleagues and the new girl, afterward. Sorry, mate. Rescheduling is not in the cards.”
I nod as I realize this is how he wants to play it. “Fine. But if you give any of my employees a difficult time—any of them—you will regret it, brother.”
He doesn’t say anything for a long while. “I don’t doubt you truly believe that. Want to know what I believe?”
“What do you believe?”
“I believe I called a few hotels near Henry’s Restaurant Supply the morning after we last spoke. And I believe the Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel regretfully informed me a Mr. Ethan Thorne and his lovely brunette companion had only just left.” He pauses for me to absorb this information before he continues. “Let’s not forget who brought the Forked acquisition to your attention. And if you want to talk about regret... Do you think Cristian would regret advocating for this deal if he knew you were going to use it to shag his daughter?”
“You’re really threatening me?” I say, incredulous at the lengths he’s willing to go to control me. “I thought you might be emotional last we spoke. You know, maybe a bit jealous of me for spending the night with Alice, but—”
“So, you admit you slept with her?”
“We shared a hotel room. I did not sleep with her,” I reply.
I’m fully cognizant of the semantics involved in this white lie. Alice and I technically slept in the same bed, but, unfortunately, we did not sleep together in the sense Edward is implying. But even if I had shagged Alice, I wouldn’t give a toss what Edward—or Cristian—have to say about it, because I’d be too bloody chuffed to care.
“I don’t think the specifics will matter to Cristian or Greenwood Capital,” Edward says, once again reminding me of the stakes.
I press my lips together, nodding as my mind scrambles for a graceful exit out of this conversation, but my mind is drawing a blank. And, quite frankly, I’m growing tired of Edward’s blackmail. I knew he wanted to turn our careers into a competition the moment he chose to attend a different culinary school than I did. But I never expected him to take our rivalry to this level.
“If you think you can control me by threatening to have my funding revoked, you’ve seriously overestimated how much I need Greenwood’s money.”
He cackles so loudly I have to hold my mobile a few inches away from my ear. “I know you didn’t need the funding when you invested. But now that you have it, it’s kind
