A Woman Worth Fighting For

by Eunice Hart

  She left the duo and headed for the kitchen; certain she could feel Sheri’s eyes on her the whole time. When the swinging door closed behind her, she couldn’t help feeling a wave of relief. She ignored the few workers who paused to stare at her.

  But that soon turned to worry. What in the world was Josh Bromley doing here? Clearly, he hadn’t known she would be here, but still, she was already unsettled about Peter’s sudden silence and this guy’s appearance hadn’t exactly done anything to make her feel less uneasy. Adele had thought she was completely over everything that happened with him, but clearly, she wasn’t. She didn’t love him, but the sight of him had somehow managed to unsettle her.

  She could only imagine how oblivious his new girlfriend was. The poor woman clearly didn’t even know about his past with Adele and his other girlfriends. Was she even aware that he might have other women he’d simultaneously fooled into thinking they were his only girlfriends? Sheri was on a train heading for a cliff and she didn’t even know it. If she didn’t pull the brakes on her relationship before it was too late…well, Adele knew getting assaulted by Josh’s then girlfriend hadn’t been what hurt her most last year.

  There had been no one to warn Adele. This time, it was different. She was currently the only one who could warn Sheri before she got her heart ripped in half. She knew she should; she couldn’t just stand and watch another woman break because of some serial playboy. But how was she going to do that? Was she supposed to embarrass her customers in front of other customers? That would give the Tanaka restaurant chain a bad rep. Peter wouldn’t be very happy about that.

  “Well, Peter isn’t here,” she muttered. She looked up to see the workers still staring and shot them a dirty look. “What are you looking at? Get back to work.”

  She knew exactly what she had to do, and she needed to do it now, while she could.

  She made for the door and looked through the peephole at the booth Josh and Sheri had sat in and was surprised to see Sheri sitting alone. Josh was nowhere to be seen. Adele figured he must’ve gone to his car for something. Whatever it was, at least she wouldn’t have to cause a scene. She pushed the door open and made for the booth, where Sheri was smiling at something on her phone screen. She glanced up and her gaze landed on Adele, and the smile faded quickly.

  Adele ignored it. They needed to talk, sister to sister. It didn’t really matter if the other woman liked her or not.

  “Hello again, Sheri,” Adele said, taking her seat across the table from her. “Where’s Josh?”

  “He just went to the bathroom.” Sheri frowned. “I thought you said you were getting the waiter?”

  “Yes, well, he won’t be coming just yet. For now, I need to talk to you about something.”

  “I’m guessing it’s got something to do with Josh,” the other woman told her. “You guys dated, didn’t you?”

  Of course, she’d figured out that much already. Adele just didn’t like the hostility Sheri was suddenly oozing. She opened her mouth to reply but couldn’t seem to find the right words to say.

  “You don’t have to lie about it,” Sheri told her. “I know when someone’s making eyes at my boyfriend.”

  Adele nearly burst into laughter at that last statement. “Me? Making eyes at Josh?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  Adele sat up straighter in her seat. “Sheri, honey, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Sure, Josh and I used to date, but that’s exactly the reason why I will never consider dating him again for as long as I live. I have my eyes on someone else. And all that cheerfulness you saw back then? That was an act.”

  The woman frowned at her. “What on earth are you talking about?”

  “I wasn’t happy to see Josh in my restaurant,” she said. “He wasn’t, either. Look, Josh isn’t who you think he is. When we were dating, I thought he was perfect because of his great job and accent, but that’s all he really has to show off. His personality? Not a chance. Josh Bromley isn’t a good person. He’s a playboy.”

  “Are you accusing my boyfriend of cheating on me? Using me?” The malice was back in Sheri’s tone.

  “At some point, he was my boyfriend,” Adele pointed out. “Although I wasn’t the only one who thought that.” And she proceeded to tell Sheri how Josh had been simultaneously dating her and other women last year, and how she’d found out, how broken she’d been afterwards, how Josh had never even bothered to phone her back. Sheri’s face took on different expressions: surprise, disbelief, horror.

  “And that’s just my story,” Adele finished. “Imagine how many other women have felt like crap because of this guy. Sheri, I’m not acting out of jealousy. I just can’t stand by and watch you get hurt like I did. I just want you to know whether the man who claims he loves you isn’t saying the same thing to three other women. Thank you for your time.”

  With that, she climbed to her feet. “I’ll see if I can get another waiter to get your order.”

  “No,” Sheri said, standing up too. “I seem to have lost my appetite. Thank you for telling me about Josh. I should’ve known.”

  Just then, her gaze fell on someone over her shoulder. Adele didn’t have to look behind her to see that it was Josh. She watched as Sheri grabbed her bag, shooting a glare at her boyfriend the whole time, and stormed towards the exit.

  “Hey, wait, Sheri!” Josh called. “Sheri!”

  But she was already gone. Josh took a few steps towards the doors, then stopped and rounded on the woman who’d ruined everything.

  “What the fuck did you do?” he growled, a look of annoyance in his eyes.

  People were starting to stare. Adele had to wrap this up quickly before it turned into something else.

  “I told her the truth,” she told him. “A girl’s got to know what kind of guy she’s dating. Since you wouldn’t tell her, I decided I would. Now, I’d like you to leave, please. You’re upsetting my customers.”

  A vein pulsed in Josh’s neck. “What if I don’t want to leave just yet?”

  “I wasn’t exactly asking. Leave before I have you removed.”

  There was a moment in which he looked like he might hit her, but Josh merely muttered something about her being a “crazy bitch” and marched out of the restaurant. Adele looked around at the other customers, many of whom had begun muttering to one another, and forced a smile.

  “Please bear with us,” she told them. “Don’t worry about that –”

  She was cut short by the sound of a man clearing his throat. She looked up just in time to see Peter Tanaka walk into the restaurant, dressed in white shirt and black pants. He must have left his jacket in the car. His face was serious, though not unpleasant. Looking at him, Adele’s heart gave a thump. She’d almost forgotten how she felt whenever she saw him.

  Peter made his way over to her and her chest fluttered in anticipation, but he didn’t greet her or kiss her. Even a hug would’ve sufficed. Instead, he said, “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing,” she told him a little too quickly. She bit her lip. “Well, we had a slight problem, but it’s been handled –”

  “I just saw two customers leave the restaurant like it was smellier than a sewer in here. That does not sound like a problem handled to me.”

  Adele picked at her locks. “Yeah…um, that was my ex and his girlfriend. Well, one of his girlfriends. I may have ruined his relationship by telling her the truth about him.”

  To her surprise, Peter seemed a bit relieved about that. “No wonder she looked so angry. Listen, I need to talk to you in your office.”

  It was Adele’s turn to look angry, and this time she didn’t cut back on the glares. “Are you kidding me, Peter? You don’t get to disappear for days without saying anything and then come back and hit me with a ‘I need to talk to you’.”

  He didn’t wither under her gaze, but merely said, “That’s what I need to talk to you about. And we might do a little more than talk. So, unless you’d like us to do the nasty in front of all
these people, I suggest we go to your office.”

  Just like that, her anger vanished. She tried to maintain her glare, but it didn’t work. Couldn’t. Not when he was saying things like that. How could this man have so much power over her emotions? She grabbed his arm and led him upstairs to her office. Once they were inside, she stopped and turned to face him.

  “You’ve got some explaining to do.”

  Peter raised his hands as if trying to placate her. “I know you’re probably mad at me, and you have every right to be, but I had to do what I did. I wanted to come and see you, Adele.” He pressed his lips together. “Fuck, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. But I knew my sister would suspect something was up, and I couldn’t afford that.”

  Adele shifted her weight. Of course, it had to be about Aneko. “So, you couldn’t at least call or something?”

  A sheepish look came over his face. “I guess that was stupid. It won’t happen again.”

  “It better not,” snapped, trying to sound cool even though her heart was already melting at the sight of him. “And for the record, I think it would be nice if you could stand up to your sister.”

  His expression suddenly transformed, and he began trembling. For a second, Adele was worried something had happened to him. Then she realized he was laughing.

  “You think I can’t stand up to her?” he said, between laughs. “That’s not the problem. The problem is what happens after I stand up to Aneko. She doesn’t get to tell me what to do. But she’s…good at getting what she wants. Like when she got you fired. I can mostly undo what she does, but that doesn’t mean no damage has been done. That’s the last thing I want to happen with our relationship.”

  He’d said our relationship. Adele felt a surge of happiness right down to her toes.

  “So, we are together, right?” she asked, for clarity. “I’m your girlfriend?”

  “Yes,” Peter replied. “That is, unless you’d like otherwise.”

  Adele’s eyes widened with horror. “Of course not!”

  “Then I guess you are my girlfriend.” He pulled her to him and planted a kiss on her lips, sending a shiver racing through her body. “But we’re going to have to keep our relationship a secret from Aneko, or she’ll do whatever she can to see that it doesn’t last.”

  Her lips curved into a smile. “I guess I could try. Still, I doubt she could ruin what we have. I can be pretty stubborn.”

  “That I know all too well,” he replied, laughing. Then a thoughtful look crossed his face. “How would you like to grab dinner with me sometime? Maybe…next week?”

  Adele placed her hands on his chest. “I’d like that very much. Now, you did say we were going to do more than just talk, didn’t you?”

  Chapter 7

  Ruin My Date? Sure, Go Ahead!

  The next few days were nothing but blissful. Adele had almost forgotten what it felt like to wake up to messages from her lover. All through the day, she was all smiles, and it wasn’t long before people began to wonder what was going on with her. Even Betty was starting to wonder if her friend hadn’t gotten some screws loose or something.

  “If you keep this up, you’re going to have to make sure you find me a boyfriend as well, because you’re starting to make me jealous,” she told her over breakfast on Saturday morning. “Just make sure he isn’t hopelessly dumb. I’d hate for him to suddenly yell DUH while we’re having sex.”

  Adele gave a snort, slopping some coffee down her front. “How did I ever become best friends with a crazy girl like you?”

  Her friend smirked and bit into a waffle, wiping the corners of her lips. “I’m pretty likable. No one can hate me if I don’t want them to.”

  “Yeah, right.” Adele gave a roll of her eyes. “Try telling that to Aneko Tanaka.”

  Betty frowned. “That’s Peter’s sister, isn’t it? The one who bullied you on your first day of work?”

  “That’s the one.” Adele reached for a toast. “She still doesn’t know Peter and I are dating. I guess she suspects that we’re into each other, but that’s pretty much it. We decided to let it stay that way. The less she knows, the better.”

  The look her friend shot her was enough to make her wonder whether she hadn’t just said the stupidest thing ever. “Why are you both worried about her finding out about your relationship? What could she possibly do?”

  Adele threw up her hands. “That’s what I told Peter. But he seems pretty convinced she’s a danger to our relationship. If he’s so worried about her finding out, maybe there is a reason we should be worried.”

  Betty shook her head, then reached across the counter to touch her friend’s hand. “Adele, honey, that’s bullshit. True love isn’t about avoiding problems. That’s impossible. There will always be problems coming at you. It’s about facing these problems together when they surface, and weathering through them.”

  A single question hovered at the forefront of Adele’s mind. “Are you insinuating that what our love isn’t true love?”

  “I never said that, because I don’t know,” Betty told her. “You’ll know, when your love is put to a test. When the problems come. And trust me, they most certainly will.”

  Adele gazed at her best friend until her vision started to blur, thoughts racing through her mind. As much as she hated to admit it, Betty was right as rain. Her relationship with Josh had definitely had problems, and the outcome had revealed the truth about the love they had for each other – well, the love Josh had claimed to have for her. Their relationship had ended catastrophically. Remembering that made Adele start to worry about her current relationship. What if the same happened to her and Peter? To be honest, Adele wasn’t sure he wouldn’t hurt her like Josh had. If her fears were right and he eventually did, would her love for him be powerful enough to keep her by his side when things went sideways?

  Stop eating yourself up, Adele, she told herself, biting into her toast. She and Peter had just started dating; they didn’t seem to have faced any problems just yet. Knowing they would eventually face problems didn’t mean they shouldn’t at least try to avoid hitting icebergs in the form of Aneko. There was nothing to worry about.

  But that was all for now. Soon, the problems would come.

  Adele just didn’t realize how soon that was.

  *****

  Adele wasn’t very sure if having dinner with her boyfriend in the same restaurant where she’d spotted him with another woman was such a great idea, but she didn’t complain when Peter suggested it. He picked her up that afternoon, coming up to her apartment and knocking on the door. Adele introduced him to Betty, who he had a short conversation with. Then they went downstairs and climbed into the silver Porsche that was parked right outside.

  When they walked into the restaurant, Adele realized why Peter had been so interested in bringing her here. The place was pretty cozy, the lights casting a multi-colored glow on her dark skin and Peter’s suit. As they made for their table, Adele caught sight of some of the other customers. They looked happy, peaceful.

  Maybe Betty was right, she thought, clutching her purse to the cream-colored gown she had on. She could learn a thing or two from other restaurant managers.

  “You look beautiful tonight?” Peter said, staring intently at her. “How are you?”

  His voice sounded so calm, so soothing, Adele was almost compelled to tell him how she truly felt, how worried she was that their relationship would hit an iceberg and go down like the Titanic, but she was also worried about ruining her first date with Peter Tanaka. So, she merely smiled back and said, “I’m doing okay. Are you?”

  “No,” he said, still staring at her. His gaze dropped suddenly, landing on her cleavage. “I’m torn between letting this pass as a normal date and bending you over wherever you’d like, even if it’s right here on this table.”

  Adele felt the heat rise immediately to her cheeks. “Wow. That escalated quickly. But there’s a difference between public displays of affection and outright pervert beha
vior, and I’m, not willing to get arrested tonight of all nights.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “So, you’d be game any other night?”

  She threw her head back and laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous, Peter. You know exactly what I meant.”

  The waiter came to take their orders. Adele selected for both of them, marveling at the prices of the meals. There was an order to this place that the Tanaka restaurant hadn’t quite achieved. And Adele had, to some extent, been right about everything, down to the side-dish issue. She would have to be more radical with her changes in the restaurant…later. For now, she had a date to enjoy.

  “You know, we’ve been dating for a while and I still don’t know that much about you,” he said suddenly. “I know you’re hopelessly stubborn, I know what you like to do when we’re alone. Tell me more about yourself. You know, your past.”

  Adele’s breath caught in her throat. Did he want to know everything? Including Josh and all the crap she’d gone through because of him?

  “You haven’t told me yours,” she managed to say.

  “Maybe I have nothing to say.”

  “Maybe you do.”

  “Maybe you do, too.”

  “I never said I didn’t.”

  “Neither did I. Spill.”

  Adele sucked in a deep breath and told him everything she could, her core likes and dislikes, about her life in college and then the days when she’d just met Betty. The waiter returned with their meals and she continued to speak as they dug in, nervously telling him about her love life. When she finally got to the part about Josh, Peter’s expression darkened, and she saw annoyance flash in his eyes.

  A second later, the look was gone. He nodded slowly. “I see. I’m sorry he hurt you. You didn’t deserve all that. And what you did to him was pretty wicked,” he added, laughing. “You should get a raise for that.”

  She rolled her eyes at him and lowered her gaze, picking at her food with her fork. “Don’t be ridiculous. I didn’t just do it to get back at him. I did it for Sheri. She didn’t deserve to be treated like I was.”