Tangled Up in Tinsel

by Candis Terry

  For Parker and the Kincades, the next two days were all about family. This was their time to celebrate life, and she would do nothing to detract from their moment in the sun. She loved Parker and she cared for him more deeply than she ever thought possible. She knew he cared about her too. They just had a few wrinkles they could—hopefully—smooth out. In her mind, they had the opportunity to share a lifetime together, so what would it hurt to wait another day or two to make that happen?

  Once she’d been given the green light to arrive at Parker’s restaurant by her secret agent spy who had a penchant for psychedelic clothes and fire orange hair, she jumped into action.

  As soon as she walked into the kitchen of Sunshine & Vine, it became painfully clear that Parker had experienced a long and difficult day trying to do meal prep and instruct the hired staff at the same time. At the last minute he’d called in his food truck staff to help him out. A wise decision on his part as they seemed to be the only ones who had a clue about what was going on.

  Gabi got a surprised look from the crew as she put on her chef’s coat, grabbed the checklist, and picked up where Parker had left off before he’d gone to the wedding rehearsal.

  The individual dishes were simple enough; they just had to be fresh and hot when the dinner guests arrived. Lucy had worked her magic with Jordan so instead of a stuffy affair, the dinner would be casual and fun. She hoped the live entertainment and the ice cream station with personalized dessert bowls and scoops would be a nice reference to Jordan’s time on the ice. And to incorporate Lucy’s teaching career, Gabi also added some chalkboards with cute sayings like Eat, Drink and Be Married, and You Will Forever Be My Always.

  Energized by Lucy and Jordan’s upcoming happily ever after, Gabi reached for her phone to call in the troops to help with her super secret surprise. She knew the hush-hush gesture would make Jordan happy because his bride would be delighted. However, Parker’s reaction to both the secret surprise and the surprise of her being there was a big unknown. And it was the only thing that made the butterflies in her stomach get up and dance.

  “If I ever get married,” Parker said to Ethan as he settled his hand on the doorknob of his restaurant, “remind me to go to Vegas and skip the dog and pony show so I don’t become like Groomzilla back there.”

  “I heard that.” Jordan teasingly whacked the back of Parker’s head.

  “You’ll be happy to become Groomzilla when you find the right girl,” Aunt Pippy piped up from the rear of the crowd.

  Parker pressed his lips together.

  He’d already found her. But right now she was currently one unhappy woman and wasn’t talking to him.

  As the wedding rehearsal had progressed, Parker had a difficult time paying attention. All he could think about was getting through the technicalities so he could find a way to make things right with Gabriella.

  Yeah, he’d had trust issues. And yeah, she might have stepped all over them by keeping secrets. But after meeting her father, he didn’t blame her. What a dick. The man definitely had a God complex, and in Parker’s mind, Gabriella would be better off without him. But he was her father, and Parker didn’t have a say in how she felt or what she did. All he wanted to do was protect her in the future from anyone who could hurt her.

  They had a hell of a lot in common, and distrust was a wall they needed to tear down. But he’d go to that battle with every weapon he had. Because he loved her.

  “Are you going to open the door or not?” Jordan asked with a poke in Parker’s back. “It’s cold as hell out here.”

  As if to verify the truth, fat, fluffy snowflakes floated down and glistened in the outdoor lights.

  “Brake your skates, bro.” With a pull of the handle Parker opened the door and stepped aside. Then he turned to Lucy, sweeping his hand toward the opening. “Brides first.”

  From where he stood holding the door open, Parker heard the oohs and aahs of approval as everyone poured into the restaurant.

  He wanted to rejoice. To let the sense of accomplishment flow over him. To lift a glass of champagne and enjoy every single second of the rest of the night. But he couldn’t. Because Gabriella wasn’t there to celebrate with him. There was no way in hell he could have done everything without her. There was no reason for him to celebrate without her either.

  Once everyone in the party had entered the building, Parker followed them in and stopped just inside the door. In the center of the room stood an enormous white Christmas tree all lit up with tiny white lights and silver ornaments. There were large chalkboard signs in cast-iron easels placed about the space with sweet, clever sayings on them. The tables that had been set up for the rehearsal dinner were decorated with winter white roses, mirrored ornaments, and silver chargers beneath the new white plates. Large mirrored balls and glittery white snowflakes were suspended from the exposed beams and reflected the warm candlelight spread about the room.

  It was stunning.

  And a total surprise.

  “Oh.” Lucy kissed his cheek. “It’s just beautiful.”

  Parker couldn’t take credit; he’d had nothing to do with the spectacular staging. Only one person could have had a hand in this.

  He tossed his gaze to the stainless door that led to the kitchen and a delicious shiver of anticipation slipped up his back.

  With any luck, he’d find that certain someone behind door number one.

  With the knife in her hand, Gabi absently chopped more chives for the spuds’ food station. The moment she’d heard the chatter and energy drift through the building, her heart raced up into her throat.

  He was here.

  The knowledge left her breathless, but the sting of the hurt she’d felt when he’d sent her away without giving her a chance to explain reared its ugly head.

  As if her thoughts had conjured him, Parker pushed through the stainless steel door. Beneath his charcoal gray suit he wore a baby blue shirt that set off the color of his eyes. His hair had been cut and was combed back off his freshly shaven face. He looked more handsome than ever. Just the sight of him sent a jitter of nerves through her blood and brought tears to her eyes.

  She didn’t want to be nervous. She didn’t want to argue. She didn’t want him to send her away again. She’d made a promise to help and that’s what she planned to do—whether he liked it or not. Judging by the muscle twitching in his jaw, he didn’t like it at all.

  So much for offering an olive branch.

  To keep her emotions under control, she dropped her gaze back to the chopping motion of the blade.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked as he strode up to her prep table.

  “I may not have a formal culinary education, but it’s plain to see I’m cutting chives.”

  “I wasn’t referring to your lack of formal education and you know it.”

  “You’re wrong. I don’t know.” She looked up. “So why don’t you spell it out for me.”

  The hired kitchen staff stopped their work so they could watch the action. Apparently, keeping her personal matters private had become as impossible as walking to the moon. But if the moment and what remained of their relationship was about to explode, she’d rather rip off the bandage and get the pain over quickly than peel it away slowly and prolong the agony. She was still licking her wounds from yesterday, so if he wanted her gone—if they were truly over—she needed to know right now.

  His gaze traveled around the room where everyone was all eyes and ears. “Can we talk in my office?”

  “What’s the matter? It was okay to air our dirty laundry yesterday when I was so embarrassed I could barely breathe, but today you want to run and hide so you don’t have to deal with the same humiliation?”

  The muscle in his jaw twitched again, and though Gabi knew she should back down, she couldn’t. She was angry—at herself for wasting her life focusing her energy on the negative. Angry at Parker for pushing her away when she’d needed him. Angry he hadn’t given her a chance. Angry he hadn’t given them a
chance. Right now she had too much emotion bottled up inside to be agreeable. So in the land of irrationality where she currently resided, she was suddenly in the mood for a good old-fashioned take-it-to-the-mat argument to get it out of her system.

  “This is between you and me, Gabriella,” Parker calmly said. “And only you and me.”

  “Sure. You’re ready to talk now. Why couldn’t you have just given me five minutes of your time yesterday to explain that the situation had nothing to do with you? It would have saved us both a lot of time.”

  “Truth?” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Because I couldn’t handle it yesterday.”

  Tears burned her eyes but she refused to let them fall. “Then maybe you’re right. We should go into your office.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Believe me . . .” Gabi laid down her knife on the cutting board and headed toward the office near the back. “I’m not doing it for you.”

  “I wouldn’t expect that you were.”

  She stopped and turned so fast he almost ran into her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I don’t know, Gabriella.” His hands came up. “My fucking head is spinning and I don’t know which direction I’m supposed to go. Out there where my family’s waiting for me? Or in here arguing with you when that’s not what I want to be doing at all.”

  “That’s not what I want either.”

  “Then let’s go into my office where we can figure it out,” he said. “Because this is important. And whether you want to believe me or not, you’re important.”

  As he walked away, her heart ached. She’d never been in a situation like this before, and she hadn’t intended for it to happen this way. She’d never wanted it to come to this. She hadn’t meant to be deceitful about her father or her culinary training. She’d never expected to fall in love. And she’d certainly never dreamed of hurting the man who meant more to her than taking her next breath. All she’d ever wanted was a chance to prove herself.

  Now what?

  Would going into that office be the end of what really mattered? Or could they possibly find their way back into each other’s arms?

  Time to find out.

  No matter how damn scary it might be.

  Parker left the door open as he walked inside his office when he really wanted to slam the damn thing shut. Frustration balled up in the center of his chest.

  How the hell had things gotten so fucked up?

  She was pissed he hadn’t given her the courtesy of hearing her out. He was pissed because she hadn’t been honest at a time in his life where honesty meant everything.

  He didn’t expect her to follow him into the office. Any second he expected to hear the back door slam. And that would be that. She’d run like she had before, and he’d be devastated.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Relief flowed through his body as he looked up and found her standing in the doorway. “For what?”

  “For flying off the handle just now. I didn’t mean to,” she explained. “But at the same time, it felt really good. I’m not used to doing that. I’ve always kept my mouth shut. Even when someone was crushing me like a bug.”

  “I’m sorry that’s what your life has been like.” The sorrow darkening her already deep brown eyes jabbed a blade in his heart. “I mean that. And I’m sorry if I provoked you to lose your temper.”

  “Thank you.”

  “So where do we go from here?” he asked. “I don’t want to argue. I don’t want you to storm out the door and never see you again.”

  “Yesterday you asked me to leave.”

  “I didn’t mean forever, Gabriella.” He sighed. Ran a hand through his hair. “I was just taken aback. It bothered me to know you didn’t feel comfortable enough with me to share something personal. It just . . . it hit me hard.”

  “It’s not that I don’t feel comfortable with you. And it’s not that I wanted to keep anything from you. But now that you’ve met my father, maybe you can understand why I’ve kept him a secret.”

  “Yeah. He’s . . .”

  “An asshole?”

  “Yeah.” Bewildered, he leaned back on the edge of his desk and folded his arms even though what he really wanted to do was wrap them around her. He couldn’t imagine growing up with a father like hers, and he was sad that she’d had to.

  “So you weren’t taken aback because my father is a famous chef?” she asked.

  “Hell no. I was completely thrown because of the way he talked to you. I wanted to punch him in the face.”

  A small smile tipped the corners of her mouth. “I’d like to have seen that.”

  “I’d like to have felt that.” He shook his head. “Look. I don’t know everything that’s happened in your life, but I have a sense that it’s been really ugly for you for a long time.”

  “Because I let it be.” She came further into the room and closed the door behind her. “My father was everything to my mother. She quit her own career because he wanted her to stay home and take care of the family. She took care of his every need, even when he never returned the favor. She went so far as to meet him at the door when he came home and remove his shoes. She gave up her close friends because he didn’t approve of the amount of time they took her away from what he wanted her to do. Her entire world revolved around him. She loved him and she chose to be blind to the way he treated her.”

  Parker could see the story unfold, and somewhere in the mix were two hurt and confused children. One the father abandoned and belittled. The other the father coddled and praised. Parker’s heart sank a little deeper.

  “Two months before my father’s affair was broadcast across the world, my mother discovered she had breast cancer.”

  Parker breathed in the news, fearing what she’d tell him next.

  “The diagnosis wasn’t good and she didn’t have many options. She feared the treatment would make her too sick to take care of our father. She didn’t worry about me. She didn’t worry about my brother. Yes, I was in high school at the time and could basically take care of myself, and my brother was in college. But in all her conversations about the path she would take, she only considered my father.”

  When she paused, her shoulders lifted on a sigh.

  “She also worried that if she had a mastectomy, she’d be disfigured and he wouldn’t love her.”

  Parker couldn’t imagine a man who wouldn’t love his wife because she’d had a surgery to save her life. It didn’t make sense. But lately, a lot of things didn’t.

  “And he didn’t,” Gabriella said. “He had an affair while she was going through chemo, and he divorced her. His leaving her at all, let alone after she’d had the mastectomy, completely leveled her. I never really had a very good relationship with her because she was more into being my father’s wife than a mother, but what little we did have disintegrated after the divorce. And even though I worry constantly that her health will once again spiral downward, we really don’t talk anymore. I’ve tried but . . .” She glanced away.

  “I know it sounds ridiculous, but I’m so sorry,” he said, trying to make sense of the whole thing. “I really am.”

  “It’s not ridiculous. And I thank you for saying it.”

  “So what happened then?”

  “I needed to make something of myself all on my own,” she said passionately. “I never wanted my father’s brand of success. I never wanted to own a chain of restaurants with my name plastered all over them. I just wanted to show him that I could cook. And that people would come to wherever I worked just so they could eat the meals that I prepared. That’s why I came to you. I’d hoped your new restaurant could be a way to get my foot in the door so I could prove myself.”

  “You’ve proven yourself. You’re an amazing chef.”

  She shook her head. “I can cook, but my father’s right. I don’t have the formal training to succeed.”

  “That’s bullshit,” he said. “You have the talent and creativity that will take you farther than
any conventional method.”

  “It doesn’t matter now.” She shrugged. “Not that I don’t love to cook, I just realized that I let all the need to get back at my father get twisted up in the wrong way. But in the past weeks with you, I’ve felt more alive than ever before. Everything became about us. Not about me. I wanted to be there with you. For you. I loved seeing and being a part of the process of your dream becoming a reality. And I honestly stopped thinking about my father. You made that happen by believing in me. Even though it’s not easy, you’ve inspired me to be more open. And for the first time I realize there’s more to life than trying to force someone to believe in you.”

  “I believe in you, Gabriella. You’re an incredible woman who can also cook like a rock star. Your culinary skills are what you do, but they’re not what make you special. That comes from your heart.”

  She looked away like she didn’t believe him.

  “That’s the truth,” he insisted.

  Those beautiful dark eyes came back around to meet his. “The first day I came into your restaurant, I didn’t expect to fall in love with you,” she confessed. “But I did.”

  Her simple yet meaningful words warmed him from the inside. Even though there was still so much to say, for the first time in the past twenty-four hours he felt like they might be back on track.

  It took everything not to just wrap her up in his arms. But if they were to ever have a chance at making it together, the air needed to be completely cleared. They needed to trust each other, and she needed to know she could count on him in any situation, at any time.

  “Is it okay if we come back to that?” he asked.

  “We don’t have to.” She glanced away. “I know you’re busy and—”

  “Just give me a minute. As long as it’s confession time, I have something too.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’m sorry about yesterday,” he said. “If I could take back the way I handled it, I would. I don’t know anything about being in a relationship. I’m new at this. Right now I wish I could wave a magic wand and make everything better. But I know life doesn’t work that way.”