A Rainy Night Reunion at My Noodle Cart Chapter 01

A Rainy Night Reunion at My Noodle Cart Chapter 01

After the divorce got me thrown out by the Caldwell family, Cameron and I ran into each other again on a rainy-night street.

He stepped out of his Rolls-Royce in a perfectly tailored overcoat, umbrella in hand.

I stood in the downpour in a grease-stained apron, handing out flyers to drum up business.

Cameron looked me up and down with open contempt. “Without me, this is what you do now?”

I ignored the barb and forced a smile anyway. “We’ve got fried chicken and mac and cheese—both hot. Want a plate?”

He let out a short, cold laugh instead of answering. “Ava, this is what you get.”

“After all the disgusting things you’ve done, do you ever regret it?”

My fingers tightened around my hem, bitterness settling in my chest.

Of course I regretted it. What I regretted most was that, when I was young and stupid, I pestered both families’ elders until they locked me into an engagement with Cameron.

***

Later, inside the little place, Cameron ordered a plate of fried chicken and kept his dark, brooding eyes locked on me.

I acted like I didn’t notice as I wiped tables, swept the floor, and took out the trash with practiced ease.

It had been six years since the divorce, and I was no longer the Whitmans’ spoiled heiress. I definitely wasn’t the high-and-mighty Mrs. Caldwell anymore.

To make ends meet, I took the simplest work I could get.

“How much do you make here in a month?” he asked, frowning as the heat rose off the plate when my boss set it in front of him.

I straightened up and wiped my hands on my apron. “$2,500 a month, and two meals a day.”

After that, I looked around, took off my apron, and said goodbye to my boss.

With a warm grin, he handed me a bag of fresh vegetables. “Take these home and cook them for your little girl.”

I accepted them with gratitude and thanked him again and again.

Cameron’s fork clattered to the floor.

He stared at me like he couldn’t believe what he’d heard. “You got married? You even have a kid?”

Before I could answer, my boss jumped in. “She’s not Ava’s by blood. Ava took her in and raised her like her own.”

I nodded and didn’t explain further, then turned and walked out.

After three years of tearing each other apart, the doctors said it would be hard for me to get pregnant again.

That was why I’d softened and brought my daughter home, letting her become family even without blood between us.

The rain came down in sheets, and the last bus had already left.

I hesitated, then opened my umbrella and stepped into the storm.

I lived way out past the last bus line. There was no subway out there, and an Uber cost a fortune.

If I walked home, I could save a little more money and buy my daughter something good to eat.

A hand clamped around my wrist without warning.

“I’ll drive you,” Cameron said, his gaze still sharp with disgust.

I took two polite steps back and shook my head. “No, thank you.”

He didn’t respond. He just dragged me into the back seat of his Rolls-Royce.

He snapped my umbrella shut and threw it onto me.

The car pulled out fast.

I gave a humorless smile and told him my address.

A faint women’s perfume hung in the cabin, the exact scent my half-sister, Lila Hart, wore all the time.

She was Mrs. Caldwell now.

The front passenger seat had been carefully decorated, and a little placard read, “Reserved for Lila.”

Exhausted, I stared through the rain-smeared window and let my mind go blank.

Cameron broke the silence on his own. “Ava, seeing you like this makes me happy.”

There was undisguised hatred in his voice.

I turned my head and met his eyes in the rearview mirror.

Six years, and he still hated me.

I dropped my gaze, staring at my rough, red, swollen hands.

Cameron kept going. “Back then, you used dirty tricks to marry me. You nearly made Lila miscarry, and you tried to take my company down.”

“You schemed your way through it all, and this is where you ended up. You deserve it.”

A sudden flare of pain shot through my wrist and down my shin.

I couldn’t help it—I laughed.

I’d loved Cameron for more than twenty years.

And in the end, all he had for me was, “You deserve it.”