Chapter 8 Opening Day
Chapter 8 Opening Day
TARA
O
0
+5 Free Coins
With my newly made resolution about my standing with Aidan, I found it easier to get out of my house to my diner the next day for opening. It was the first day of the week–long Multipack Moon Meet, and Vermont pack was filled to its brim.
I hoped that the crowds and business of the day would occupy my mind enough to not let it wander in the direction of a certain hot six–foot–four alpha, and luckily for me, it did.
“Nadia would be occupied till three PM, so that should give us enough time to sell most of these out,” I said to Jenna, grinning proudly from ear to ear. We were halfway there already.
As the guests settled in and took in the ceremonial decorations surrounding the pack, it led them straight to my diner just around the corner, as I had planned. The traffic was enough to get me, Jenna, and my single employee busy as bees from the whole of the morning till afternoon.
The tables inside were occupied by guests and a few pack members that I could recognize, and so were the five tables that I set up in front of the shop. Orders were finally starting to slow down a bit after a good run, so Jenna could now take a break.
Excitement pumped my muscles, so I had more than enough strength to stick around waiting for the next customer.
As the little bell jingled from the entrance, signaling the arrival of a new customer, a smile lit up my face. Before the customer could come into my view, I knew who it was. His scent flooded my nostrils from a stone’s throw away before my head snapped up to him.
I couldn’t ignore the way my heart skipped a beat, and I couldn’t tell for what exact reasons. I wasn’t going to linger on that thought, so I cleared my throat instead and studied him.
Aidan.
“Tara,” he called, exhaling a breath, and in doing so, stealing the limited one I seemed to have since he arrived from me. “Hey.”
Two words, and I may have forgotten my deal to stay away from him and make him history.
He had on a piece of suit just like he did the last time I saw him, a glistening watch, and loafers. In his thickly veined arms rested a large bouquet of white roses, filling the space with a heavenly scent.
I didn’t think they were for anyone else, so I went on to assume they were mine like a possessive hung–up she–wolf that I was.
My mind did a U–turn, and the last words I heard from Kayla, the woman who tried to end my life that day, resounded like an alarm, sending a wave of shivers down my body. “When you meet the moon goddess, can you ask her who gave me this knife and acid?”
I snapped out of whatever Aidan–induced haze that I was in, and back to reality.
“I asked you to stay away.” Those were the first words that came out of my mouth.
He looked pained, but I couldn’t allow myself to care. I had to protect myself because no one else would.
He spoke. “I know. But I asked around and found out today was your first day, so I wanted to come around and bring you these,” he said, gesturing around us and pushing the flowers out to me with a small, hopeful smile on his face.
I swallowed hard, shaking my head. “And that’s supposed to fix anything? It’s not even a start,” I gritted.
Realizing that I was beginning to raise my voice while he just watched, I scoffed.
“Look, Aidan, I don’t want to raise any bad dust for my business, so I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
He chose to nod in understanding. “Could you take these, then? I want you to have them. There’s one for her,” he said, separating the large bouquet to reveal a few stems wrapped up together to form a smaller bouquet. For Nadia.
Her name didn’t need to be mentioned for me to know that the flowers were hers, and I was barely able to contain the small
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12:38 PM ·
Chapter 8 Opening Day
+5 Free Coins
gasp from escaping my parted lips. My heart swelled around the same time that a scary thought crept into my mind, numbing me.
No matter what way I tried to paint it, Nadia was Aidan’s daughter, and even though he rejected her, he was a part of her life.
I cleared my throat and blinked rapidly to clear the fog from my eyes, and I wordlessly accepted the flowers from Aidan.
“I hope I can see you at the welcome party tonight, Tara,” Aidan said, taking a few steps backward, and because of the lump blocking my throat, I could not respond.
Before Aidan could fully turn to leave, or before I could process a fraction of what had just occurred, someone, who I hadn’t heard come in, breezed past Aidan, and stopped right in me with a demeaning look scrunching her face up. That look was pointed at me, and I couldn’t say I was so surprised.
She looked familiar, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where in the pack I had met her before now.
For
my
first few years in Vermont pack as a young adult with a toddler in her arms, I got several stares, side comments, and even more snarky comments to my face. They were mostly from women like me, and over the years, it had grown into a
reoccurrence.
Years of growing up so fast for my daughter had taught me a number, so I would mostly ignore them, except when Jenna was with me and she took it upon herself to see that no one messed with me.
Today was one of those days where I was just going to take this Karen’s order and go about my day, so I sighed before giving her a forced smile, making sure the bouquet was out of her way because who knew if that was going to annoy her more.
I spoke. “Welcome to Tara’s Diner. What would you like to order, ma’am?”
She returned an even deeper smile that had nothing but ill intent written all over it before she spoke. “Oh, nothing for me. I’d just like to know the number of pathetic things you did to get yourself this place.”
A pin could drop and everyone would hear how silent the place went.
I sighed heavily, looking around the diner, to the Karen, and to Aidan who was still very well in my diner.
Could this day get any worse?
