Blaze (Heat #3)(2)

"It's complicated. You know that it is." His lips twitch as he says the words.

"This is obviously personal," Tyler interjects in a harsh tone. "I appreciate the meal Sergio but it would be best if you and Cadence went somewhere else to discuss this."

The dejection in his face hits me hard. This was intended to be a celebratory dinner shared with his idol. Instead, it's turned into something else, something ugly and bitter. It's not right that he's been pulled into this.

"I'm the one who showed up uninvited," I say when I turn back to Sergio. "You should stay. There's nothing left for us to discuss."

"I disagree." He reaches for me but I sidestep his hand. "We need to fix this, Cady. I love you. You know that I do."

"I know you do," I say before I turn to walk back into the corridor and out of his life once again. "Sometimes love isn't enough, Dad. Sometimes it's just not enough."





CHAPTER 2


"I thought one of them would stop me before I reached the elevator," I confess as I pull the plastic comb through my damp hair. "When I turned back to look at the door of Tyler's apartment, it was closed."

"I'm sorry, Den," Sophia says. "I know that things between you and your dad haven't been good the past few years."

She only knows what I've told her. I was grateful that the name Sergio Firi meant nothing to her before I admitted, months ago, that he's my father. She'd sat on the edge of a chair with a glass of wine in her hand as I explained sparse details about the man who began a short, but intense, relationship with my mom when she worked as a server in a restaurant he managed.

I've never lied to Sophia so when she asked me on that Saturday afternoon, over lunch at a restaurant in Chelsea, whether I knew the celebrated chef who had appeared on the news the night before, I was honest. Chef Sergio Firi is my dad.

It's a role he embraced when I was a child even though he insisted I call him Sergio. I haven't always done that, craving the closeness that comes from acknowledging that he's my dad. Whenever I've intentionally called him "Dad, Daddy or Pops," he's never corrected me. He's never encouraged me to continue to do it either.

"I still feel like it was a dream." I look at her reflection in the bathroom mirror as I work on untangling a knot in my hair. "He was the last person I expected to see at Tyler's apartment."

Her voice is soft as she says, "I think you were expecting to find his ex-girlfriend there. Is that why you went over to his place?"

As grateful as I am that we've stopped talking about Sergio, I don't want to talk about why I went to Tyler's. I can convince Sophia, and even myself, that I went because I wanted to see Tyler before his birthday party at Maribel's apartment.

That's not the whole reason though. I panicked when Drea told me that he was having dinner with someone special. If it was his ex-girlfriend Neela, I wanted to be there to stop whatever plans she might have had.

"I didn't know what to expect," I say honestly as I put the comb back in the drawer of the vanity. "I do know that right now there's a party at Maribel's that I'm not going to and I don't work at Nova anymore."

She pauses as she rubs my shoulder. "You know that he fired you because he misunderstood what was happening between you and your dad, right?"

The realization that Tyler jumped to the wrong conclusion about me and Sergio didn't hit me until I was in an Uber headed home. It wasn't a stretch for him to think that. My dad has lied so much about his age that it's now a running joke in the culinary world. Only a few people know how old he really is.

He also had a penchant for younger women at one time. That's changed since he married Asta. She started working as a sous chef at Magari soon after she moved to New York from Stockholm. Sergio was smitten and since then, everything has changed.

"It doesn't matter, Soph." I brush past her so I can go to my room. "He fired me. I can take the job on the morning show now."

She tugs on my elbow to stop me when we walk into the hallway. "It's the best career move for you, Den but you still need to set Tyler straight. You should explain to him why you kept Sergio a secret."

I pull on the sash of my short robe, tightening it against the chill in the apartment. The air conditioning has been running on high all day. "I plan on talking to him. I just need a day or two to cool off before I do that."

"He'll understand, Den. Anyone would."

Tyler might understand. Sophia might too if I tell her the real reason that my dad and I stopped talking. She thinks it's because I didn't accept the gift he offered me on my twentieth birthday.

Sergio wanted me to go to Paris for culinary school. He'd made a few calls and pulled a string or two to get me enrolled in one of the most prestigious programs in the world. It wasn't because he wanted the best for me. He didn’t do it so I'd have every advantage once I graduated.

He did it because Asta wanted me out of his life and Asta always gets what she wants.





CHAPTER 3


"I'm going down to the television station to tell them I'm taking the job," I say to Sophia as soon as she walks into the kitchen. "I'm making breakfast for you."