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“Surely you don’t believe that! I thought you cared about that restaurant.”
“I do, but isn’t that what you’ve wanted all along, to drive me out of
business?” she asked, unable to keep a trace of bitterness out of her voice.
“No. I wanted answers. I wanted Rinaldi to pay.”
“And me,” she reminded him.
“Only if you were involved.”
“Well, involved or not, it’s my neck that’s in the noose. Bobby’s not here to
take his share of the heat.”
“Dammit, Hazel, we’re going to find him. You just have to help me out.
Don’t give up now.” He studied her intently. “What’s happened to you? I thought
you were a fighter.”
“I was,” she agreed, then added sadly, “butso was Caleb. Look where that
got him.”
“You can’t compare the two situations at all,” Mr. Lee insisted.
“Can’t I? An uphill battle is an uphill battle, whether it’s a ranch or a
restaurant that’s under siege.”
Mr. Lee slammed hisfist on the table. “I won’t let you do this. I won’t let
youjust walk away.”
Now that she’d actually gotten the word bankruptcy past her lips, it wasn’t
nearly as scary as she’d imagined. At least then all of this would be over. Mr.
Lee would go away. She could put her life back together again.
“You can’t stop me,” she told him flatly.
He stared at her with an obvious mix of frustration and concern. “Don’t do
this. Don’t give up.”
“I’m not giving up. I’m merely accepting the inevitable,” she said, just as
Emma walked in.
Mr. Lee regarded Emma with relief. “Thank God. Maybe you can talk some
sense into her. I’m not having any luck.”
Emma frowned, looking from Mr. Lee to Hazel and back again. “What’sthis
allabout?”
Mr. Lee tossed his napkin on the table and stood up, gesturing for Emma to
takehis place. “She’ll explain,” he said, then added with a shrug, “or not.”
Hazel stared after him, startled by the depth of his apparent disappointment in
her.
“Okay, start talking,” Emma ordered. “And thistime I want to know
everything. I can’t help you if you hold out on me.”
Hazel shook her head. She couldn’t go through this again this morning. She
felt too raw, too vulnerable. Again she saw the disappointment in Mr. Lee’s
eyes, and shuddered.
I hadn’t had that much faith in her to begin with. What did that say about her? She
wasletting other people control her life, and that had to stop. She needed to take
charge again, and the first step was talking to Tony. She might not know yet
what she could do—or even what she wanted to do—about Café Tuscany, but
she did know that she needed to stay right here in Winding River until Karen’s
life was more settled.
“Not now,” she told Emma. “There’ssomething I need to do.”
“And it can’t wait ten minutes?”
“No, it can’t,” Hazel said.
“If that man has upset you in some way, I’ll make him regret it,” Emma
promised.
“No, actually, that man has made me see things clearly for the first time in
weeks.”
She might find Mr. Lee O’Donnell annoying and pushy and arrogant, but he
was right about one thing: she was a fighter. It was past time she started acting
like one and seized control of her life again, even if no one else agreed with what
she was about to do.
After leaving Hazel, Mr. Lee was more determined than ever to track down
Bobby Rinaldi and make him pay for his crimes. It was no longer just about the
money. Unjust or not, most of the investors, Mr. Lee’s mother included, could
afford to taketheir losses. Now, though, his concern extended to Hazel, who was
clearly payinga far higher toll than mere dollars.
The bleak, defeated look on Hazel’s face the day before would haunt him
forever. He blamed himself for that, and for somehow leading her to the
conclusion that the only way out wasto declare bankruptcy and come home to
Wyoming. That wasthe last thing he’d intended when he’d started all this.
He muttered a harsh expletive and faced facts. That was exactly what he’d
hoped for when he’d come charging out here on his white horse determined to
save the day for his clients. But that was before he’d known anything at all about
Hazel Petrillo and the kind of warm, decent, caring woman she was. For once
inhis life, he should have paid attention to his secretary. Not that he’d ever
admitthat to Lydia. There were some things best left unsaid to a woman who
tended togloat.
Without pausing to consider what he was about to do, he headed straight for
Tony’s and pounded on the front door until Tony came out of the kitchen and
opened it.
“There’s no need to break the door down,” the man chided.
“Sorry. I should have realized you’d be in the kitchen and come around
back.”
“Or waited until the restaurant was open,” Tony suggested mildly, though he
stepped aside to allow Mr. Lee to enter.
“This couldn’t wait,” Mr. Lee said.
Worry immediately creased Tony’s forehead. “It’s about our Hazel?”
Mr. Lee nodded. “Yes. And she doesn’t know I’m here. It’s better if it stays
thatway.”
“I imagine she would not approve,” Tony guessed. “So, why did you come?
I am her friend, not yours.”
“That’s precisely why I came,” Mr. Lee said. “I think she’s about to do something she’s going to regret and only you can stop her.”
“Then we must talk.” Tony beckoned him toward the back. “However, you
will have to explain while I work. I am making pasta and I cannot stop without
ruining it.”
In the kitchen Mr. Lee drew in a deep breath, savoring the aromas of garlic
and tomatoes, oregano and basil, flour and eggs. He also took in the aging but
spotless appliances, the floor that looked asif it had just been mopped to a shine.
If this was where Hazel had learned the basics of the restaurant business, she had
learned from a man who obviously took pride in his work. The room was both
cozy and efficient.
“Sit,” Tony said, gesturing toward a stool. “If you would like coffee, you
will have to pour it yourself,” he added, already working with the dough again,
stretching it with nimble fingers, then putting it through a pasta machine to form
perfect fettuccine noodles.
“No coffee, but thanks.”
Tony glanced at him. “What is wrong with our Hazel?”
“She said she had told you about her business difficulties,” Mr. Lee began
cautiously, in case she hadn’t been astotally forthright with Tony as he had been
led to believe.
Anger brought bright patches of color to Tony’s cheeks. Mr. Lee couldn’t
translate the word he uttered, but it was evidently not complimentary toward
Bobby.
“If he were here, I would toss him in a pot of boiling water myself,” Tony
said with a huff.
“Join the club,” Mr. Lee said.
Tony seemed taken aback by the ferocity of hisresponse. “I was under the
impression that you thought our Hazel shared the blame.”
“I wassuspicious of her, yes,” Mr. Lee
admitted.“And now?”
“I’m all but convinced that she had nothing to do with anything that
happened.”
“But not totally convinced?” Tony asked, scowling at him. “Then you can
go. I have nothing to say to you, and you have nothing to say that I wish to
hear.”
Mr. Lee smiled. “But that’s why you must listen, because you believe in
Hazelunconditionally, because you will want what is best for her.”
“Of course,” Tony said at once. “But how? What help can I give her? She
would never take money from me, even if I had enough to fix the problem
Bobby has created.”