Kitchen Boss

“I’m sorry that I put you in such a terrible position,” Jackson says.

My eyebrows arch. “Terrible position?”

Sitting with your legs pinned under you for more than five minutes – that’s a terrible position. What Jackson did? I felt like I’d been dangled over the edge of a cliff.

“But to answer your question, I was thinking that it was best for everyone.”

“You asked me to lie for you.” I beat my hand against my chest as I stop in front of him. “And to the most terrifying woman I’ve ever met.”

For a moment there, I thought she was going to eat me alive.

“I know.”

“Tell me how that’s best for everyone?”

“I didn’t have a choice, Cathy.” Jackson lifts his head and looks into my eyes. “Betty saw us.”

“She saw nothing,” I tell him. “We weren’t doing anything. We were just playing with Maisie.”

“She knows you live here. If I hadn’t said we were engaged, she would have threatened to take Maisie away from me unless I threw you out. And trust me, Betty doesn’t make threats lightly. If she says she’ll do it, she’ll do it.”

I don’t doubt that, not after being on the receiving end of her icy gaze.

“I wasn’t going to let you get thrown out when I was the one who invited you to stay here,” Jackson goes on. “And I sure as hell wasn’t going to let Betty have my daughter.”

That I understand. What I don’t understand is why anyone would want to take a child away from a great father. I know Betty is Maisie’s grandmother, but surely she must know that a child should be with its parent.

“Why would Betty want to get Maisie?” I ask. “Can’t she see that Maisie’s happy here with you?”

“She sees only what she wants to see,” Jackson answers. “Like you said, some people are determined to see the worst in you, or to see only your failures. For her, I’ll never be good enough.”

“But you are. And others can see that. There’s no way a court would allow her to take Maisie from you.”

“Do you think I want this to go to court?”

The hurt look in Jackson’s eyes makes my chest tighten.

Of course he doesn’t. If I were in his position, I wouldn’t either. No parent should have to go to court just to keep their own child.

I look down at my hands. “You should have just told her I was leaving, then. I don’t belong here anyway.”

“Do you still think that even after spending time with Maisie? After hearing how much she adores you, how she can’t bear to see you go? Do you really want to leave her?”

“Of course not, but if it’s either her or me…”

“It’s not,” Jackson raises his voice a notch. “Neither of you is leaving this house.”

I sigh. Has he always been this stubborn?

“But now Betty thinks we’re engaged,” I tell him.

“And as long as she believes it, we’ll be fine.”

My eyebrows go up. “Are you saying that lying to her isn’t enough? Are you saying we have to pretend we are engaged as well?”

Jackson clasps his hands in front of his face. “Exactly. We’ll have to act like we’re engaged from now on.”

I shake my head in disbelief. How can he say that so calmly?

“No.” My fists clench at my sides as I bow my head. “I can’t do this.”

“Do you hate me so much that you can’t stand the thought of even pretending to be engaged to me?”

“It’s not that,” I answer. “I don’t like fooling other people.”

“You think I do?” Jackson asks me.

I say nothing.

He stands up. “I don’t like this, either, Cathy. Like I said, I don’t have a choice. But you do.”

He walks over to me.

“You can walk away from all this, but it will be a clean break. You’ll lose your internship. You’ll never see Maisie again. Or me.”

I frown at the thought of that.

“Or you can go along with this. You can pretend to be my fiancee for just a few months.”

“And after that?” I ask curiously.

“We’ll pretend to break it off. Maisie and I will leave. We have to leave eventually anyway. We’re only here because I’m opening a restaurant.”

I’d never thought of that, but now that Jackson has mentioned it, it does make sense. Of course he’d want to put up more restaurants, and of course he’ll have to be wherever they are. Why did I think he’d stay here forever?

“You can stay here and keep working at the restaurant,” Jackson goes on. “I’ll hire you as a management trainee.”

A trainee? Not just an intern?

“That means that once you’re done with training, you’ll be helping Ken manage the restaurant. And maybe someday, you’ll manage it on your own. I’ll be leaving it in your hands.”

So I’m guaranteed a job.

“And you can keep staying here at the house. After Maisie and I leave, we can keep renting it as a staff house. You can have the other employees stay with you so you’ll all be close to the restaurant.”