“I thought you’d turn down the job.”

Would she have? She wasn’t sure. Not that she would let him know she wasn’t sure.

She laughed. “Gee, Cal, I thought your brother was the one with the big ego. Now I see it runs in the family.”

He didn’t even look uncomfortable, which was just like him. Instead he stared at her.

“Given our past, it was a reasonable assumption. Working together under any circumstances could be challenging, but in a restaurant…” His voice trailed off.

She turned away. Her point exactly. “I don’t care who I work with as long as he or she is good at the job. So show up, give a hundred and fifty percent, and we’ll be fine.”

“Penny?”

She breathed deeply, not wanting to give in to the anger inside of her. Deep, buried anger that made her want to lash out. It was the past, she told herself. It was long over. She had to remember that.

But her list of grievances-his wrongs-wouldn’t go away. She wanted to scream them all and demand explanations. Talk about unreasonable.

Still, she couldn’t help venting about at least one of them. An easy one that didn’t really matter anymore.

She turned back to him and put her hands on her hips. “What the hell was wrong with you?” she demanded. “I was your wife. It was a dumb entry-level job. Salads, Cal. Just salads. Why couldn’t you pick up the phone and put in a good word for me? Was it because you thought I couldn’t handle it?”

That’s what she’d always wondered, but hadn’t been able to ask. That he hadn’t believed in her. Because what else could it be? But she hadn’t been sure, and now she wanted to know.

He took a step toward her, then stopped and shook his head. “You make me crazy. It’s been what, four years since that job interview? Does it really matter?”

“Yes. It does.”

He shifted. “You won’t believe me.”

“Try me.”

“It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in you. Never that. You were great. The best. It was about my family.”