Page 3 of Talk Turkey To Me
“Lily please, this isn’t going at all how I wanted it to.” Her father looked pained but considering this was his fault she didn’t feel guilty.
“Yeah, me either.” She huffed, tossing the napkin she’d put across her lap onto the table. “And I’ve lost my appetite so I think I’ll just head on over to the house and get some sleep, that is, if you haven’t also given away my old room.”
“Lily.” Her mother tried but she was already scooting her chair out to stand and she didn’t stop.
In her rush she didn’t look up and as soon as she was on her feet she turned and ran smack into someone. She cursed. He grunted. And the plate he’d been holding clattered to the ground, shattering just as her hopes had only minutes before. Lily whined when she felt something warm and gooey seeping through her shirt and she looked down to find she was covered in lemon tart, the signature dessert of The Mont.
“Sorry. I wasn’t looking…” She started but at the same time the person she’d run into spoke and the voice she would recognize even in her sleep pulled her up short.
“Sorry Lil. Wasn’t expecting you to jump up to greet me.”
She raised her eyes and her heart stuttered when the man’s face came into view. Short dark brown hair, a stubbled jawline that was sharp enough to cut glass, and the same piercing seaglass green eyes that had always been able to look right down into her soul. The only difference from the boy she remembered was the black framed glasses that sat atop his perfectly proportioned face and the apron that he wore over his t-shirt.
An apron. Her mind whirled and she felt sick as realization dawned. He had been holding a plate of lemon tarts, bringingthem to the table, but he wasn’t dressed in the black pants and shirt of the waiters. He was wearing an apron, achef'sapron.
“Myles?” She croaked his name in disbelief. “You’re the chef who stole my kitchen?”
His lips twisted, “I don’t think that’s…”
She spun back to her father, furious and even further confused, “You hired my ex-boyfriend? You have got to be kidding me!”
Chapter Two
As soon as she started yelling, a smile twitched across his lips. Myles Calhoun had known her for a very long time and he’d fully expected her to spin out when she saw him. That was part of the reason he’d decided to bring out the plate of lemon tarts himself. He’d always loved that feisty, fiery, temper of hers.
God she was still so beautiful when she was mad at him and he knew that shouldn’t make his heart race but it did. He was a total sucker for a redhead, at least that’s what he’d tried to convince himself of for the past seven years. But now, face to face with Lily Montcrief again, he knew that actually he was just a sucker for her.
She’d cut off the long, coppery locks he remembered and now sported a wavy shoulder length style that fit her well. Other than that, she looked mostly the same as he remembered. Her heart shaped face turned pink with her anger and those big, golden amber eyes of hers flashed with fury. She wore an oversized sweatshirt emblazoned with the University of Oklahoma logo and basic black leggings that showed off her long legs, though he doubted she’d considered the male gaze, let alone his, when she’d gotten dressed.
Despite the years that had passed since he’d last laid eyes on her, he felt the same old urge to pull her against him and taste her full, pink lips. He had to shake himself out of that fantasy and back into reality. A reality where he’d broken her heart and she’d sworn to hate him forever… and then he’d gone and given her even more reason to despise him by taking the job as chef at her family’s restaurant.
Because other than her parents, he knew better than anyone how she’d dreamed of taking over the kitchen at The Mont.
In elementary school when other kids were dreaming of being astronauts and cowboys, she’d told their teacher she was going to be a cook, just like her dad. He could still remember her all dressed up for career day in her little white chef's hat and apron with a much too large mixing bowl on her hip. In fact, there was a photo of her from that day on the wall of The Mont, over near the entrance to the kitchen and he’d caught himself staring at it more than once since he joined the staff.
When they’d been in high school, it was all she’d talked about. While their classmates plotted and planned for their higher education and the job offers that would come after, Lily had steadfastly held onto the idea that she would take over the restaurant her father had started.
She’d spent all her free time at The Mont, in the kitchen, soaking in every bit of wisdom the chefs would share. More than once, their date nights had turned into casual breaking and entering so that she could practice making the infamous lemon tart treats. He could still remember the way she’d looked with flour on her cheek and a sparkle in her eyes as she made him taste test for her, and then the way he’d also tasted her until her lips were swollen from his kisses.
There wasn’t a single inch of this place that didn’t hold a memory of Lily for him. He’d thought about her a lot over the last seven years and pretty much nonstop since he’d taken thejob working at The Mont. But he wasn’t delusional enough to believe Lily had given him even a moment’s consideration, not after what he’d done.
“Lily, please. Lower your voice. There are guests.” Her father stood and offered her his napkin to wipe herself off.
“Yeah, Lil. There are guests.” Myles smirked when her gaze whipped to him and she all but bared her teeth.
“Don’t call me that.” She snapped.
“What? Lil?” He raised an innocent eyebrow. “I always call you that.”
“Youusedto call me that.” She hissed and then held up a hand in a stop gesture. “No. You know what? I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to my father so you can shut up and walk away. You’re good at that last part from what I remember.”
“Lily.” Her mother put a warning in her tone but obviously her parents weren’t aware of what they were up against.
For them, Lily had always played the role of the perfect daughter. She’d been sunshine and rainbows. She’d been good grades and better manners. She’d only ever been a hothead with him… until now.
“Why are you both looking at me like I’m the problem here?” Lily scoffed as she looked between her parents and then threw her hands up to motion at him. “Clearly, this is the problem and don’t try to say you weren’t aware I’d have an issue with it because if that were true you’d have told me that he was working here.”
“We weren’t keeping it a secret from you. It just…” Her mother looked at her father and he shrugged. She turned back to Lily, “It never came up.”
