Page 50 of Finding Yesterday

He’s sitting in a quiet cozy corner with some woman in a suit—tall, blonde, very pretty.

And they are sitting close—too close.

Dinner is served on the table. Jack is having a Greek salad and she’s having the ravioli with sage and walnut butter, something I was excited to try.

I swallow back the acid rising from my gut. Suddenly, my appetite is gone.

I thought he was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open. I stand perfectly still, straining my ears to hear the conversation.

She says, “I’m heading back to San Francisco in the morning, so we can talk more there. When does your flight get in?”

“Tomorrow evening.”

Jack is flying back to San Francisco? Again? Already? He didn’t mention that. Andwhois this woman from there?

Does he have a girlfriend after all? Who’s never come up in conversation, not once?

I stand for a beat, listening to my heart crash around in my chest. This could be a benign meeting with someone, but then why didn’t Jack just tell me about it? Was the amazing kiss we just shared one big lie?

I glance at them again. I don’t hear what’s said, but she throws her head back in a fit of laughter, meeting Jack’s gaze with twinkling eyes. This is more than some simple meeting. My mind whirling, I rush away, up the elevator to my room. I know I shouldn’t care what Jack’s doing, but I do, and that’s a problem.

A huge problem.

I knew Jack had a past—who doesn’t—and he’s a hot, sought-after chef. Before last night, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had told me he had a lover in San Francisco.

But so much has happened since then. Although, in fairness, I didn’t ask him about his relationship status before I kissed him, and I’m the one reeling from an almost-wedding.

Still, seeing him there, enjoying himself with this woman just a mere hour after kissing me as if his life depended on it, is too much for me to handle after everything else I've been through in the last couple of months.

And if anyone should know better than to mix business and pleasure, it would be me.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Jack is the one giving me a head chef opportunity at The Fine Bone, a place I need to grow, learn, and prove myself in Blue Vine.

It has to work out there, which it won’t if we get romantically entangled. He’ll throw me to the curb, just like Hudson did, and everything I’ve worked for will be erased.

All over again.

What have I done? How could I let myself care about Jack, someone that I don’t even know—not really. I have no idea what Jack’s like when he’s in San Francisco, where he lives.

I only know him in Blue Vine, this temporary, small bubble of a world that doesn’t really exist.

I can’t stop moving, so I start throwing things into my suitcase. I want to call Emma or Charley, but I know they won’t answer—they’re both at Myrts watching my brother.

I get all the supplies in my room loaded into my car, ready to head back to Blue Vine. If I get to Myrts in an hour and a half, I can probably catch my brother’s last set before close.

Maybe being with my family can help me forget that my already broken heart is now shattered into a thousand pieces from doing something I should have never done in the first place.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I’M DOING WHATI do when I’m lost—cooking.

It’s early Monday morning, and I came to The Fine Bone while it’s closed so that I could use the kitchen, alone. I’m here to experiment—the restaurant has a vegetarian burger option, but the reviews aren’t great.

Jack hired me to step in, so that’s what I’m doing. Plus, I think I know how to fix it. It’s too dry, and it doesn’t have the right combination of flavors that works with a vegetarian burger. According to Jack, it’s based on a recipe Hannah had before she passed. She was ahead of her time, offering one at all, but veggie burgers have come a long way since then.

I made it just in time to see the end of Nate’s performance at Myrts on Saturday, glad I could be there. Jack is still in San Francisco, so we haven’t talked about anything that happened. He texted me, asking about why I left Buckhead early, and I told him it was to watch Nate play. Jack texted me again, asking me work-related questions and if he could call me, but I just responded with the answers to his questions.

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