Mustart and Love 11

The next morning in her kitchen at work, Isabella couldn’t concentrate. She kept seeing Fernando’s face, older and more drawn, his brown eyes beseeching her to believe him. But how could she? His story was just too far-fetched. Getting kidnapped and being kept a prisoner for two years was unbelievable. Why didn’t he go to the police the moment he was free? He brought Brett into this story because he was simply jealous. He must have reconsidered having left her. Maybe he had grown up and decided that he did want a family, after all. He must have seen her talking to Brett and made up that ridiculous story, hoping she’d believe him and take him back.

Isabella put the last touches on a spiced apple betty and put it into the oven. The customers would get a treat today! She checked out the ingredients for her next project, which Serena had laid out. Marinated pork with rosemary, another dish she knew just how to spice right.

Daphne burst into the kitchen. “The store is full today. Do you have the next set of samples ready?”

Serena grabbed the tray that held ten small dishes, each filled with a generous sample of the spinach-fruit salad Isabella had created earlier. “Here they are.”

Her high voice still made Isabella suppress a wince.

Serena smiled at Isabella. “I’ll take them out while you get the pork ready.”

Isabella nodded.

Somehow, the pleasure she usually felt in creating and serving her dishes had left her. She got the marinated pork from the refrigerator, trying to focus on what she was doing.

After all this time she should have been over him. She should just forget that he ever came to her door yesterday. She all but threw him out. He surely won’t ever return. And she didn’t love him anymore. How could she after what he’d done to her and their child? She was glad to see Serena return with the empty tray.

“Isabella,” Serena shrieked. “That gorgeous Brett Doukas is out there again. He asked me if you were there.”

Isabella shrugged. “I guess you told him I was.”

“I did. He was wondering if you could come out for a moment.”

Isabella was just about to tell Serena that she was too busy, but stopped. Why not? She was free, he was a very nice, handsome guy, and Fernando had betrayed her. And maybe, just maybe, she could find out something from Brett, something that might prove Fernando’s story. “Okay,” she said. “Can you cut the pork up the way I showed you yesterday? I’ll go and talk to him. We don’t want such an important customer to be unhappy.”