Just like me, she was ambitious too, and she was determined to make it big in her life. We were great together, and yet it had to come to an end.
“You okay, man?” Vince spoke up again. He must have noticed the faraway look in my eyes. I was barely even looking at him while he spoke.
“Yeah, I’ll be okay. I’m just a little dazed from seeing her again,” I replied.
“What do you mean she wasn’t happy to see you?” Vince asked.
“Exactly that. I wanted to talk to her, and catch up, but she refused to spend even a few minutes with me. She said we couldn’t pretend to be friends anymore,” I explained.
Vince was staring sympathetically towards me.
“Did you at least tell her why you broke up with her so suddenly?” he asked.
“No, I didn’t explain.”
“So, can you blame her for not wanting to talk to you or see your face?”
“No, I don’t blame her at all,” I replied.
Vince thumped my back again.
I didn’t even feel like being in this bar or drinking. I couldn’t stop thinking about Piper and what my life would have looked like if I hadn’t broken up with her.
“Then you should tell her, man,” Vince said.
“Tell her what?”
“Tell her how sorry you are. It’s fine if you can’t tell us the reason for breaking up with her, but she has the right to know,” he continued.
I shook my head at him.
“No, I can’t tell her, because it would hurt her even more. That’s the last thing I want.”
Chapter 7
Piper
Another day’s shift at the restaurant came to an end, and I was more exhausted than I’d been the previous day. Since I saw Cliff, I couldn’t think of anything other than him. It was exhausting. It was draining me of all my energy. I hadn’t slept a wink the previous night, and then I had to be at the restaurant again for the lunch shift.
Chef Morris had gotten even more sour towards me. He was yet to forget or forgive me for the drama from the previous day. He decided that the whole fiasco with the lamb was entirely my fault. Then I found out that he was spying on me while I was sitting at the table with Cliff and talking. He gave me another earful when I returned to the kitchen berating me for consorting with the guests.
I didn’t bother correcting him and telling him I actually knew Cliff.
The truth was that I didn’t know Cliff at all. Ten years ago, in those months that we were together, I believed, like a fool, that I did actually know him. I thought that I didn’t know anyone as well as I knew him, not even myself.
We only knew each other for six months, but I was in love with him. In fact, I fell in love with him at first sight.
Cliff had that bad-boy biker look going for him back then, with long dark ruffled hair and a leather jacket. I never knew I was into that kind of guy until I met Cliff. Then when I got to know him and got to know his friends too, I realized this biker thing was just a phase he was going through.
Either way, nothing could have acted as a deterrent for me against him. I had feelings for him. I gave my virginity to him.
Now that I thought about it again, in the solitude of my apartment, in the dead of night, I felt deep anger rising up in me.
How could I have been so foolish? How could I have believed that I had met the guy of my dreams at nineteen? Why had I given my virginity to someone I barely knew?
But I had. It felt right at the time. I was nervous, but for some reason, I felt safe with him. I've had sex with no other guy since then. No one had ever made me feel like I did when I was with him.
Then six months later, just a few days after I introduced him to the rest of my family for the first time, Cliff broke up with me.
I tried not to think about it, because just the thought alone made me sick to my gut. I could still remember the exact feeling I had in the pit of my stomach when the words came out of his mouth.
I didn’t know what he was saying, or what he could possibly mean by we can’t be together anymore. I thought he had feelings for me too. I had already invited him for Christmas dinner! Everything seemed to be going well. And then he was gone without barely an explanation. The only thing he told me was that breaking up was the right thing to do. He said that soon enough, I would find out that being with him was not to my benefit. I tried my best to not break down in tears when he told me, despite my feelings for him. At least I had my pride.
I demanded an explanation, but he refused to give me one. He kept repeating that we weren’t going to work out. The sooner we broke up, the better it would be for us both. I couldn’t see the logic.
Everything about us, about our relationship, pointed in the right direction. I was convinced that there could be no other guy apart from him.
When he walked away from me that day, I was so furious with him and so miserable that I was determined to find someone else just to make the pain go away. After Cliff left, I dated aggressively. Through the years I went to more blind dates and bars than I would have expected myself to. I wanted to find someone else who would be able to replace Cliff in my eyes.
But I never got that feeling with any other guy. No matter how hot or smart or successful the guy was, he was not Cliff. It was always going to be Cliff, and that was what made me want to hate him more.
And now, nearly ten years later, he turned up randomly at my place of work, and wanted to ‘catch up’.
Catch up with what?
Does he want to talk about how utterly miserable I have been since we broke up? Or, perhaps he wants to know that I was a loser enough to have still not gotten over a short-lived teenage romance?
I felt foolish even thinking about it. When was I going to move on with my life? It was time that I did. The restaurant and Chef Morris had kept me so busy lately, that I hoped now I would have the chance to distract myself from a long broken heart. This was supposed to be my opportunity to move on.
And yet, Cliff had to make an appearance and go and ruin that too!
He had shed that bad boy persona from a decade ago and adopted a successful, wealthy look. I noticed that he now wore a tailor-made suit and that power tie. The other man with him that night was clearly a business associate of some sort.
In the last ten years, while I was slogging away at kitchens around the country; Cliff had achieved more than I could hope to do in a lifetime. So, ultimately, he was right. We were never going to work out. I would have ended up slowing him down.
Chapter 8
Cliff
I spent three days moping over Piper. After my talk with Vince the other night, I tried to put an end to my unsocial behavior around people, but it didn’t work. She was all I thought about.
I didn’t know what I wanted from her. Forgiveness? Acceptance? Love?
I couldn’t expect any of those things. I didn’t deserve any of it.
As wretched as I knew I was in her eyes, I still wanted to see her again.
Deciding I had to take the leap at some point or regret it forever, I showed up at the restaurant again.
At the door, when I asked for a table, the hostess told me that I needed to make a booking at least a month in advance. Then I told her my name, and after she spoke to her manager, she led me to a single table at the back.
I followed her, and when I got to the table; I changed my mind.
I didn’t want to waste any more time. I needed to see Piper now!
While the hostess was telling me about the specials offered, I walked right past her and towards the kitchen doors.
“Sir! Excuse me, Sir!” I heard her call after me. I pushed the doors open and saw that it was a crowded, busy kitchen. Nobody had even looked up at me. People bursting in through these doors like this seemed to be quite an ordinary affair.
“Piper Cohen!” I shouted her name over the voices of people in the kitchen.
That caught their attention. I hadn’t noticed her yet. Was she not on shift today?
“What a
re you doing here? You need to go back to your table, Sir,” a voice said. It came from a big burly man in a Chef’s hat. I figured this was Piper’s boss.
“I need to talk to Piper,” I told him. Then he narrowed his eyes angrily at me.
“You again!” he growled, recognizing me from the other night. “You can’t come in here, demanding to speak to my staff. I’m trying to run a kitchen here!”
I pushed my hands into the pockets of my pants. The doors behind me burst open again. When I looked over, I saw two security guards stepping in.
“Mr. Evans, we’re here to escort you back to your table, or you may choose to leave the restaurant if you want,” one of them said.
“Where is Piper?” I turned to the chef again.
“Who the Hell are you?” he hissed.
“It’s okay. I know him!”
Her voice was like music to my ears. She’d emerged from the back doors all of a sudden. Apparently, she was on a break. She was rushing towards me now.
“Cohen, this is outrageous! You’re entertaining friends now during your shift?” the Chef was growling at her.
“I’ll only be a moment, Chef,” Piper said to him. She reached me, grabbed me by my arm and started pulling me in the direction of the back doors again.
“Have you completely lost your mind?” Piper’s shoulders were heaving as she stood glaring at me.
She pulled me out to the alleyway at the back of the restaurant.
“Is this where you come when you want to think?” I joked, looking around me in the dark.
Piper proceeded to fix her hands on her hips.
“What are you trying to do, Cliff?” she snapped and I looked back at her, my gaze drifting over her delicate frame in that uniform.
“I’m just trying to get you to talk to me,” I told her as she rolled her eyes.
“How many times do I have to tell you we have nothing to discuss! We’re not friends, Cliff,” she said, throwing glances over her shoulders at the door of the restaurant.
I stepped towards her, but I kept my distance. I was yearning to touch her, but I wouldn’t do anything to make her uncomfortable.
“Okay, I’m sorry I barged in like this. I just needed to see you. We have so much to catch up on,” I said to her. I hoped she would be able to see the earnestness in my eyes.
“Catch up? Are you kidding me? You’re forgetting what happened, Cliff. You dumped me. Out of the blue and refused to give me a reason, after I, after we…” and now she dropped her voice to a whisper. “After I gave you my virginity.”
I stared at her, hoping for forgiveness. I knew I did it in the wrong way, but if she knew the truth, she would know it had to be done.
“I’m sorry, Piper,” I whispered.
“I don’t care how sorry you are, I just want you gone from my life. I was fine. I was doing fine till you showed up,” she hissed.
“I know.”
“And now you’re going to get me fired. I am this close to losing my job, and now you do this!” She was holding two fingers close together to display how close she was to being fired.
“I’m not going to let that happen, Piper,” I insisted as she rolled her eyes again.
“And how are you going to stop that? Since when did you start running the world?” she snapped.
“Look, I just want us to sit down and talk in a civilized way. Just have one dinner with me, and then I’ll leave you alone,” I told her.
The back door of the kitchen burst open.
“Piper, Chef is going to burst a vein if you don’t come in right now,” one of her co-workers said.
“I’m coming,” she snapped at him and turned to me again.
“Promise me you won’t pull a stunt like this here again,” she said. Her voice was sizzling.
“And promise me you’ll have dinner with me, Piper.”
She sighed deeply and closed her eyes for a moment.
“Tomorrow night, I’m off so I can meet you at eight,” she said. I wanted to leap with joy!
“Okay, great. I’ll meet you at eight. At Aqua,” I told her.
She arched her eyebrows when she heard that, but didn’t say anything. Without another word between us, I watched as she turned and walked back into the restaurant.
I felt a strain in my soul to watch her walking away from me, but tonight I felt more content. I would be seeing her again, and that was all that mattered to me right now.
Chapter 9
Piper
I agreed to meet Cliff because it seemed like it was the only way I could get him away from the restaurant. If there was one thing I knew about him, it was that if he were determined about something, he would make sure to make it happen.
He suggested Aqua. It was a fancy rooftop bar in the heart of the city. It was the kind of place I wouldn’t be able to afford to go to. Now he had money, that much I knew too. So, was he trying to impress me or was that just his lifestyle now?
Either way, I had to dress for the occasion.
I put on my best cocktail dress. It was a short black dress with a flared skirt and noodle strap sleeves. It accentuated my cleavage and revealed my long slender legs. The little silver sequins along the edge of the skirt added a surprise glamor to the look.
I wore silver stilettos and dark smoky makeup. Was I going through all this effort to impress him too? This was certainly not my lifestyle.
Usually, on my nights off I stayed home and watched TV on the couch, or went to a bar with a few co-workers and got drunk and hoped I might run into a guy who was worth my while. I never did anything remotely as fancy as this.
I took a cab to the bar and got in the elevator that brought me to the roof.
From the moment I stepped into the space, I knew I was in the midst of Boston’s richest and most famous.
There was an infinity pool in the middle of the roof, and people in designer swimwear were in there, drinking. Around the pool, there were tables where others sat, and soothing lounge music played in the background. The bar was on the fiftieth floor of a building, which meant that it gave us a clear, impeccable view of the city’s skyline.
There was a breeze in the air, which ruffled my dress and hair a little as I walked towards Cliff. He was already sitting by the pool, with a glass of whiskey in his hand. He stood up as I approached him, and I tried not to stare.
He was in a casual navy suit, white shirt, and no tie. His long dark hair was slicked back and neat, his green eyes glowed in the dim lights of the bar. I could see the Rolex on his wrist, his patent leather shoes.
Cliff Evans was just as delicious as ever, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
“Thank you for agreeing to see me, Piper,” he said, holding a chair out for me. I tried not to imagine this as a romantic setting, but it was. It was utterly romantic. The lights were dim, and the music was soft. I could feel myself sinking as I took the seat.
“It’s not like I had much choice,” I told him.
Cliff smiled, and the dimples deepened on his cheeks. He was such a charming guy. He was wooing a woman who thought she couldn’t be wooed. Cliff had a boyish charm to him. Despite how fashionable and wealthy he had become, there was still a warmth and down-to-earth quality to him. I had no idea how he did it, or why it was so unique to him.
Maybe it was my fault. Perhaps it was because I had always thought of him as my soulmate.
“You look as beautiful as ever, Piper. This new hairstyle looks good on you,” he said.
“It’s not new. I’ve been wearing my hair like this for close to five years,” I replied, trying to keep the bitter tone from my voice.
Cliff clenched his jaws and nodded. Then he indicated for a waiter to come and take our orders. I ordered a Cosmopolitan, while he had more of the whiskey he was already drinking.
“So, what am I doing here, Cliff?” I asked after the drinks arrived. We made some small talk about how lovely the bar was, and how it was a surprising oasis of calm in the heart of the city. That was
enough small talk. It wasn’t why I was here. I just wanted to get it over with.
“Because it’s been ten years, and at one point we used to be an important part of each other’s lives,” Cliff replied.
I stared at him, at the shape of his sharp jaw and his even perfect nose. He had the most handsomely chiseled face I had ever encountered, and surprisingly, not much had changed in his looks since I last knew him.
“It was just four months, Cliff. It really wasn’t such a big deal,” I replied. I was lying because those four months had changed my life and my entire perspective on things. I spent the rest of my years searching for the kind of blissful happiness I had felt with Cliff.
“Is that why you hate me so much? Because it meant nothing to you?” he asked. But he wasn’t trying to interrogate me. He had a mocking smile dancing on his lips.
“I don’t hate you, Cliff. The reason why I didn’t want to speak with you is that at that time, I thought you were breaking my heart. I thought I would never recover from that heartbreak of getting dumped,” I answered.
“And did you?”
“Of course!” I exclaimed and scoffed. “It’s been ten years, Cliff. I got over all that a long time ago.”
I had to lie. I had no other choice. I couldn’t tell him the truth because that would be embarrassing.
Cliff nodded his head.
“Well then, I’m happy for you,” he said and raised his glass in the air. I didn’t cheer with him. Instead, I took a sip of my drink and allowed the alcohol to soothe my stomach.
Cliff and I had never been on a date like this before. Not that I was admitting this was a date. This was some sort of twisted apology on his behalf because he felt guilty about the way he treated me ten years ago.
Back then, our dates comprised of going to the diner and sharing milkshakes, or driving up to a drive-in movie and making out in the back of his father’s truck. My favorite was when he took me for a ride on his bike and then we would park at that spot, just at the edge of the woods and he kissed me all over my body.
Daddy CEO: A BILLIONAIRE SECOND CHANCE BABY ROMANCE Page 3
