Chasing His Kickass Luna Back novel Chapter 24

Abby

He doesn’t respond for a moment, and I hold my breath. Is he angry? Hurt? Annoyed? It’s impossible to read the expression on his face.

“Oh,” he finally says, leaning back in his seat. “Just helping out?”

I nod. “He insisted on helping, so I put him in the back. Tonight, he was doing dishes.” The memory of it almost makes me smile, but I stop myself at the last minute. The last thing that will help this situation is me grinning like an idiot.

Adam’s eyebrows go up. “That must have been a sight.”

I finally let the smile slip free. “Oh, it was.”

“Well, that’s good.” He takes a sip of his wine. “You need whatever help you can get. Though I imagine he must be a pretty difficult employee.” He has no idea.

“So, it doesn’t bother you?”

He shakes his head. “No, I trust you.”

“Oh, good. Well, you have nothing to worry about, anyway.”

He nods and smiles. “I was thinking of stopping by tomorrow night. I have a meeting late, but I was going to come straight after.”

“Okay.”

I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, some sign of anger or even jealousy, but nothing. I know it would annoy Karl if it were the reverse. He is my ex-husband, after all, and he’s made it pretty clear he wants me back. Shouldn’t it bother Adam? Isn’t he even a little worried Karl might steal me away?

Sure, I have no interest in getting back together with Karl, but do I want to be with someone who doesn’t even care enough to be jealous? I could be reading too much into it, but it hardly seems like a good sign.

I’ll have to ask Chloe and Leah what they think. They always know what to do in these kinds of situations. At least they’ll be able to tell me if it should bother me, or if I’m just overthinking everything.

“So, we’re good?” I ask, glancing up at Adam one last time.

He stands up, his wine glass in hand, and leans down to kiss me on the cheek. “We’re good.”

I watch him wander into the living room and collapse on the sofa. Well, I guess that’s the end of it. I didn’t have anything to worry about. He doesn’t care.

So why do I feel so disappointed?

…

Karl’s at the restaurant already when I arrive, holding another tray of coffees for Ethan and me. I take my coffee without comment and unlock the front door. He trails in after me, wearing a t-shirt and plain black jeans. At least he’s got the memo that he doesn’t need to show up in a full suit every day. Even if he does look pretty sexy in it.

“Back for more torture?” I ask.

The rest of my employees trickle in an hour later. I meet them in the kitchen, ready to give some sort of pep talk before we get going. There are a few things we need to iron out after last night. It mostly went smoothly, but it always takes time to get in the groove with new kitchen staff. Especially because all of them are new. Even if they have previous experience, every restaurant is different in how it does things.

“So, we’ve got another busy night ahead,” I start.

They all stare at me, and I swallow hard. I can hear Olivia’s words in my mind, telling me she thought I was a terrible employer. What if I mess it all up again?

I meet Karl’s gaze, and he gives me a reassuring smile. He stands apart from the group, like him and the others all know he doesn’t really belong here. It’s clear they don’t know what to make of him. I don’t think they know he’s an Alpha. At least I haven’t heard anyone whispering about it yet. I dread the day that information gets out. But it’s clear to everyone he has no idea what he’s doing. I don’t think it makes sense to any of them why I ‘hired’ him.

“We need to make sure people aren’t waiting too long for their meals. I know it’s hard with so few of us, but our customers expect timeliness and quality. This is a high-end spot, and we need to provide impeccable service.”

My waiters nod along. I’m sure they’ve heard this all before, but there’s no harm in repeating myself.

“Tonight’s specials are a honey roast duck with spring vegetables, and a cedar plank salmon with scalloped potatoes and asparagus.”

The restaurant doors behind me swing open, and I spin around. Last I checked everyone who should be here is already.Chloe strides in, her heels clicking on the tile. “Abby!” she exclaims, kissing me on the cheek. “Chloe.” I look at the others. “Finish getting ready. We open in ten minutes.”

They nod and disperse. Only Karl remains, looking at me expectantly. I still need to tell him where he’s supposed to go tonight. I turn to tell Chloe to give me a moment, but she’s looking at Karl with shock.

“Um,” she says. “Why is your ex-husband here?”