Eve brought the food back to the service counter and mumbled an apology.
“That’s the fourth table, Eve,” the chef, Andy, said with a frown as he pulled the plates towards him to throw the food away.
He looked pissed off, and he was right to be. She’d wasted his time and the restaurant’s money and she was only just starting the teatime rush.
“I’m sorry,” she said again. “I’ll pay for it.”
She couldn’t afford to pay for the wasted meals from all those tables, especially when she needed money to cover the shift her mother had lost, but she didn’t want to risk her job.
“Maybe take a break instead. Have a coffee or something to wake yourself up,” Andy said gruffly.
“Thanks,” she whispered gratefully before she walked to the back staff room.
She didn’t like this job, she would have much rather have been doing her nursing, but she still took pride in everything she did. She had never taken food to the wrong tables before.
It was Roman’s fault. She couldn’t concentrate and kept looking at the clock. Maybe she should have asked a lawyer to come anyway and used some of Roman’s money to pay for it. She felt it in her gut that something was going to go wrong even if Roman hadn’t done or said anything to indicate that.
But he hadn’t done anything wrong the night he’d made her sign the contract in the first place. He’d done everything right. So right.
Her body started to tingle as she remembered how he’d made love to her that night. How he’d kissed her. How he’d touched her. How he had given her everything she’d wanted.
She shoved those thoughts out of her head and rushed to the staff toilets. Even splashing her face with cold water did nothing to cool her down.
There was something wrong with her head, really fucked up, if she was still thinking of him like this. He’d taken another woman out with complete disregard of her feelings. His current girlfriend, according to the trashy magazines she had been hoarding. And then he’d taken the house that would have given her parents security. He was the cause of her father’s depression.
She looked in the mirror at her pale face.
No. No, she was the cause of her father’s depression. She would never do anything to disappoint or hurt him again.
And that meant putting Roman out of her life and mind for good because he had never been good for her.
The sex didn’t matter. The fact that he’d shoved her heart back in her face didn’t matter. Roman had been truthful from the beginning so she had to take the responsibility for this.
After tonight, when all was said and done, she would get some closure and move on. Roman was who he was, capable of turning people’s lives upside down without a thought. He was capable of hurting her in ways that she had never known were possible before she’d met him. She had to remember that.
She dried her face and walked back to the staff room for a drink of water.
Then she took a deep breath and put him out of her mind. This was her livelihood, she would not let him fuck up her life again.
She was more composed when she went back to the service counter to collect the corrected orders.
And then she went back to work with a smile on her face. She was in charge of her destiny here. Not Roman. She was nobody’s whore.
By the time her shift finished, she had looked at the clock a hundred times but had not messed up her orders again. But the dread in her stomach had increased with every minute.
When she changed out of her uniform and put her jeans and coat on, she looked at her reflection. She hadn’t worn any make-up since she’d left him and she’d had the same coat for years. She could bet a million pounds that Vivian Cartwright would never be caught dead in public looking like this. Vivian would never go to meet Roman dressed like this.
Finally, she took a breath and pulled her phone from her bag. Her hand was already shaking as she unlocked it and looked at the messages, despite her pep talk.
Roman was already outside. Her heart hammered and she forced it to calm down. This would be a quick meeting. They would finalise the details of their parting and he could go back to his stolen house.
She put the smile back on her face as she walked out of the staff room and waved at Andy and Pam. Then the moment she was out in the cold, the smile dropped. It took her a moment, but she easily spotted the flashy car that had to belong to Roman even before he flashed his headlights.
Her knees started to shake as she crossed the car park to the back row. When she saw Phillip getting out to open the door for her, she slowed down.
She hadn’t thought things through. Meeting in the restaurant would have been better. Safer. If she got into the car, they would go wherever Roman wanted them to go. She would be at his mercy.
It would be like the last two times she had been taken back to Roman’s house against her will.
When she didn’t get any closer, Roman got out of the car. Her breath caught as it always did when he straightened his tall frame and stood in front of her. Dressed in a suit as usual, and an expensive-looking coat on top, he made her feel more inadequate.
“Is everything okay, Evelyn?” he asked.
She shook herself out of it and looked around the car park. It was late and this part of the neighbourhood didn’t get much traffic at this time. She had parked her car on a different street so she wouldn’t have to pay for parking.
This was such a bad idea.
“Phillip, will you wait in the car, please?” Roman said. “It won’t take long.”
She felt a little better when she heard that. Only a little. Maybe Roman was ready to put this shit behind him as well so he could get back to his real life.
But she was still wary because he had tricked her before.
He stepped away from his car to walk towards a better-lit part of the car park as if he knew what she was feeling apprehensive about. She followed slowly and stopped a little distance from him.
“You can come closer, I won’t bite,” he said with an amused smile. “Well, not unless you ask me to.”
Her stomach clenched. How could he think sexual innuendo was a good idea right now? Unless he truly was over this and she was overthinking things?
Still, her body reacted as it always did. She cursed herself for being so weak and ignored what he said.
“What are we going to do about this, then?” she asked. “Did your lawyers draw up something for me to sign?”
“If we agree to the termination terms they’ll draw it up by tomorrow.”
Of course. There had to be a catch somewhere.
“And which terms am I supposed to agree to?” she asked bitterly.
“You’ll keep all the money and you’ll go back to university.”
She wasn’t going anywhere where he could take control of her.
“As long as I move back into that house, right?” she snorted.
“No. That’s it. No hidden terms. You can live wherever you want, free of me.”
That sounded too good to be true. Their last weekend together he had said he couldn’t let her go. Now this was it? She would believe it when she read the legal papers. And she would read every word this time.
“Okay. Tell me where to meet when you have the paperwork.”
“There is one other thing.”
She looked up at his face and shivered. It wasn’t the cold that caused that, it was the way he looked at her. Like before. Like she was everything. The heat in his eyes made her take a step back.
“I would like to kiss you one last time, Evelyn.”