Promises Forgotten
Chapter 39

***Evelyn’s POV***

Slamming the dough on the counter, I kneaded the bread and slammed it down again. After the third time, I cut pieces and started to shape them into their final loaves. Reaching for a baking sheet, I started to line up the loaves and place them back on the rack. It would be another half hour of rising before going into the oven.

“Hey, Ev! Do you think you can get your head out of the oven for a second?” Mike called back from the front, and I patted my apron.

Walking out from the swinging kitchen doors, I looked at him. He smiled as he looked me over. “I think you’re wearing more flour than you put into the bread.”

“What do you want, Mike? I swear if it was just to make fun of my floury self, then you don’t get to take any home tonight.

“Mija.”

My eyes widened and I turned to look at the voice. Ron was standing in the cafe, a huge smile on his face. Squealing, I ran over to him, throwing my arms around him.

“Sure, get flour all over me.”

“Better than that grease you coat yourself in on the truck.” I kissed his cheek and he hugged me tight.

He set me down. “I was in the area for some restaurant business and thought I would swing by.”

Pulling him into the kitchen, I pulled out a stool for him and I. He sat after inspecting all the different equipment. Getting out some fresh loaves, I made him a sandwich and grabbed some fresh lemonade I pulled together. Setting it down in front of the stool, I sat down.

“Are you looking into restaurants in LA now?”

Ron sat down as well and shook his head. “More of a consultation gig. There was a request at the chamber back home. One of the sons of…yada yada…he needed some help. They were willing to pay for the trip and the time, so who was I to say no.”

My eyes narrowed. “You always say no. You hate leaving Stella.”

“Sure. But she also was really mad and I think giving her some space was a good idea. I may have…done something…without her permission…”

“What did you do?”

Reaching out, Ron took the sandwich and had a bite. He m****d and quickly took another bite.

“¿Papá, qué hiciste?” [Dad, what did you do?]

“Me cortaron.” [They snipped me.]

My brows furrowed and I cocked my head to the side, trying to think what he meant. Suddenly, my brows shot up and I nearly fell out of my chair.

“¡Papá!”

“I know, I know. I just…we are good. We wanted a big familia and we have one. Seven, mija. Not including you. I love them with all my heart, but that woman said something the other day that scared me and I just don’t want to think about having a newborn at fifty.”

Shaking my head, I leaned back a little with my arms crossed over my chest. “She must have been so mad. I can’t even imagine Stella as mad as I think she would be.”

“So mad…” Ron chewed the sandwich and took a drink of lemonade. “You know, you could open a full restaurant. Not just a little cafe.”

Smiling, I sighed. “I love my cafe. It’s a dream that I am happy to realize and live out. Even if means I don’t get a chance at a star, I still take pride in all that I do. You, however, are going to be in the dog house so long, they are going to start charging you rent.”

“I know. I don’t mind, though. I have a wonderful family. I have eight wonderful kids and the eldest of them has made me so proud, that even if the rest of the seven are shitters, it makes it all worth it.”

I blushed and smiled. “You know you will always be my Papá. My Dad…I think he would have been proud. I hope he would be. Especially with Elliot. I miss him a lot sometimes. I feel like if he was here, he could have helped Elliot more than I ever could.”

“Mija, your dad is so f*****g proud of you. He was proud of you before he passed, and I know he is watching and is proud of you now. Look at what you have accomplished and being a single mother while doing it all? You have a strength that very few have. That little boy is the sweetest and kindest human. He’s smart, way too f*****g smart. You even have set a mountain of work ahead of you with how you teach him about his father. Ese bastardo.” [That bastard.]

“Papá.”

He waved me off. “ I know, I know. I warned him, though.” Ron’s words were laced with anger. “You should have never gone to New York alone, Evelyn. You should have taken Mike or me or even f*****g Lizzy. Anyone would have been better than going alone.”

“I’m fine. It’s done.”

“You’re not fine! Look at you. You’re wasting away. Do you even sleep anymore? ‘Cause those dark circles under your eyes say you don’t.”

Rolling my eyes, I took a glass out and pour some lemonade for myself. “It doesn’t matter. It’s done. It needed to happen. It happened. Now it’s done.”

“Your friends are worried about you.”

I regarded Ron with a questioning look. He was staring at me, and he looked mad. My jaw locks and I felt the anger bubble up as well. “Is this why you’re actually here? Why you took the consultation? To check in on me? Make sure I’m still here? Who called? Mike? Anne? Jacob?”

“All of them. All of them are worried about you. You’ve lost so much weight and you aren’t sleeping. They thought…”

Slamming my glass down on the counter, I growled. “I’m fine. I wish they would stop f*****g meddling and you would, too. I’m a grown a*s woman who has a son she needs to take care of. I don’t have time for not feeling okay. You should know better than that, Ron. How dare you.”

“I am here because my daughter is going through a divorce from a man she loved with all her heart.”

“Loves, Papá. Not loved. I love him. I love him with every f*****g fiber of my being. It only got worse when I couldn’t be angry at him. How can I be when it’s got nothing to do with him not wanting us or thinking we are good enough. He literally didn’t know!”

I leaned forward and put my head in the crook of my arms, grabbing my hair. “The look on his face. It was so blank. There was nothing there. He didn’t even look at me like that when we first met. He wasn’t even half the man. I don’t know what to do. How do I keep going? How do I keep functioning?”

“You just take it a day at a time. One step, sometimes even one minute. I know my feelings about him only upset you, but you need to see what he’s doing to you. Elliot is going to start noticing.”

“He’s not doing anything! He doesn’t remember anything, Ron!”

Ron stood up suddenly and came over to me, towering over me. He was large, but rarely did he actually use his size. He did it twice when I was younger. Once when I told him I was giving up music and another time when I was losing myself to depression. My eyes widened as I looked up at him.

“You are letting him, Mija. You are letting him destroy your heart. Your heart has always dictated your life. Whether it was your father or it was that bastard. I will not stand by and watch you wither away. Si es necesario, lo destruiria.” [If necessary, I will destroy him.]

This time, I straightened my back. “No harás tal cosa. That man is Elliot’s father and the love of my life.” [You will do no such thing.]

“He broke you. He broke you and you f*****g let him.”

“You just finished saying how proud you were of me.” I scoffed.

He shook his head. “I am proud of you. I’m not proud of how you’re acting. I’ll be around for a few days. I want to take my grandson out and enjoy some time with him and you.”

“Enjoy? You mean hover.” I hissed at him and he stepped forward, keeping his voice low.

“If that’s what it takes, Evelyn, I will. You are my child, and I made your father a promise to take care of you. He never said I had to be nice about it. You may be in your twenties but apparently you still need to grow up.”

My anger snapped and hit me full force. This time I stepped up to him. Craning my neck, but not intimidated at all. “Grow up? How dare you after the shit I have been through. Grow up? I’m lucky to be alive. Everything I am is for that little boy. I am a f*****g parent. I am a business owner. I open my eyes every morning to take care of him while still managing to grasp my dream.”

“Your dream was never this place, Evelyn.”

My brow furrowed. “This place, the Book Nook, is absolutely…”

“Your life’s goal, sure. But the moment that man stepped into your path, he has been your dream. A dream you lost.”

My heart dropped and I balled up my fist. “I can’t lose something I never had in the first place.”

“Oh no, you had it. You had it the moment you stole his heart and he stole yours. Now you have no heart and no soul for anything other than Elliot.”

“The f**k does it matter then? So I lost it? What the hell does it matter?”

He sighed and backed down, grabbing the glass of lemonade and finishing it off. “Because if you have a dream, it can be altered or changed. It gives you hope for the future.” Ron looked at me and I saw the sadness in his eyes, and I immediately felt bad for snapping at him. “You lost your dream. You had it and you lost it. That kind of heartbreak changes a person, Mija. You need to find a new dream or you’re going to continue to wither away like you are now.”

I stared at the kitchen door that now swung shut after he left. Falling onto the stool, I buried my head in my hands. I hated he was right. I hated that he was only getting angry because he loved me. Sighing, I needed the divorce papers. After that, I would try and find a new dream. Elliot will always be my number one, but I needed something more.

“Hey, you okay? Sounded like it got a little heated.”

I looked up and saw Mike leaning in the kitchen door.

“Yeah. It’s fine.”

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, everything is fine.” Mike started to turn and I called out to him. He hummed and looked at me.

“When I get the papers for the divorce and it’s all official, do you…want to get married?”

Mike looked at me for a while before his eyes widened and his face went white. “You’re joking, right?”

I shook my head, grabbing my lemonade and taking a sip.

“We would murder each other.”

Chuckling, I shrugged. “Probably.”

“We would have to have s*x…”

Snorting, I coughed and laughed at the same time. “Wow, didn’t think I was that ugly.”

“You’re not, babe, but like…this is us…”

“It’s fine. I just…Elliot loves you and I think he needs a male role model in his life. I love you, not in the romantic way, but I love you, too. I have a feeling I’m going end up spending the rest of my life stuck with you anyways.” Smirking, I looked up at him.

Mike came over and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. He crushed me against him and I closed my eyes, feeling the comfortable embrace. Not saying anything for a while, we just stayed like this.

“I love you, too, Ev but let’s just focus on getting those papers first. Once that happens, let’s take it a day at a time.”

“Surprisingly not a no.”

He chuckled and slapped my arm. “It’s not a f*****g yes, either.” Letting me go, he headed back out of the kitchen. Turning, he winked. “And you are one hot momma. Anyone would be lucky to see you or touch you, me included.”

Blushing, I looked down at the rest of my lemonade. Maybe it wouldn’t be bad to have a best friend as a husband. It wasn’t a romantic love. It never could be. But love was love, right? He loved Elliot, too and Elliot loved him. They’d grown up together and Mike was always there when I needed him or even when I didn’t. Sighing, I stretched and rolled my sleeves back up to get back to work. I pushed everything that just happened to the back of my mind.