Chapter 104
Abby

The tension in the room feels palpable, a thick curtain of unsaid words and unexplored emotions

hanging in the air between Karl and me. My grip tightens on the knife handle as I glance at the chaos of

ingredients strewn across the counter.

“Tell me first,” I blurt out, wanting to avoid the inevitable confrontation as long as possible. “What are

you doing here? The restaurant closed hours ago.”

Karl sighs and shakes his head, walking past me and over to the line. I watch as he bends down

behind the counter and disappears for a moment, muttering to himself, before he stands back up and

holds something up in the air: his wallet.

“Dropped this earlier,” he says, slipping it into his pocket. “Wanted to come back and make sure it was

here. Now it’s your turn. What are you doing here at…” He glances at his watch. “One o’clock in the

morning?”

I swallow, glancing around at the ingredients and half-cooked dishes all around the kitchen. The sink is

full of empty dishes from failed attempts, the trash can is practically overflowing with said failed

attempts, and the various successful attempts are lined up on the adjacent counter for pictures to keep

in mind for presentation ideas.

“I, um…” I find myself choking up slightly. “I’m just practicing,” I half-lie. “Wanted to test my skills.”

Karl raises an eyebrow. “And waste all these ingredients? You’re not that type of chef.”

I nearly curse out loud. Karl is right; I’ve never been the type to waste ingredients.

Even in the past, when I’ve gone on creative cooking sprees, I would never just throw things away

when the dishes don’t turn out perfectly. There’s a food pantry right down the street that I visit

and when I lived with Karl,

leftovers.

finally breaks the silence, his voice tinged

probably has been for some time. Probably since he found

something huge here

know. Why

meeting his. There’s no

I might as well rip off the band-aid now.

the finalists to compete

fraction of a second before his

right now. “That’s great, Abby. I’m proud

His voice lacks the warmth I had hoped for, and his smile isn’t quite reaching

I can sense what I feared all this time—that he’d prefer that I go to the

instead of catering it.

don’t sound like you mean it,” I pr od, my own

of you,” he retorts, clearly

tone says otherwise. What’s going

through his hair. “Look, I wanted to go to the Alpha

This whole catering thing sort of

sort of response from him, I’m still taken aback.

was a part of me that hoped that he really has changed, that he would be genuinely happy

making it

wanted to go to

not just any party, Abby. The Alpha party is a big deal. I thought it could be

shoots back, his eyes locked onto mine. “And besides, you

forget,” I say. “But this

It’s going to be on television and everything. I’m sorry, but I

I understand,” he says, turning away from me for a moment.

something to you too? I thought you wanted to go with

the empty kitchen.

no ‘us’, Karl,” I murmur. “I’ve told you countless times before that it’s not going to

between us.”

though?” His voice is low and strained, like

on a string this whole

let’s not forget what happened the other

at his words. The memory of our night right here in

to

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