Chapter Forty-one

Chapter Forty-one

It was the grand reopening of Tita Rosie’s Kitchen, and I’d never seen the place so packed. Nothing like getting cleared of a double homicide for some free publicity.

On top of the usual suspects, I’d also extended invitations to all the restaurant owners who’d been burned by Derek but had helped me clear my name. Stan and Martha, George and Nettie, Elena and her mom, even the Satos were there, though they left after a brief appearance. I made a note to visit Yuki again soon—something told me she could really use a friend.

When Terrence and Janet arrived, I surprised everybody by running up to Janet and giving her a hug. She surprised everyone else by squeezing me back and giving a heartfelt thank-you. She’d woken up a few days after the incident with Kevin and was finally able to come clean about her involvement in the whole sordid mess.

Kevin had been telling the truth when he said Janet was one of Derek’s suppliers. But after Jo overdosed, both Janet and Derek realized the irreparable damage they had done and tried to get out. Derek was in too deep to make a clean break, which is why he started passing information to Detective Park. It was also why he started the restaurant con with Mr. Long and the health inspector—if he was going to stop dealing, he needed to come up with a scheme that’d replace that lost income. He’d been with that drug syndicate since his college days, and he couldn’t have them getting suspicious about why the money was drying up.

“He really was doing his best to try and go straight,” Janet had told me the day after she’d woken up. I’d come to visit her in the hospital at Terrence’s request—she was being kept in the hospital for observation, but was technically under police custody and facing some hefty charges. “He also tried to keep my name out of it. No one else knew I was involved and he wanted me to have a normal life with Terrence.” Her face crumpled. “I guess there’s no chance of that now. But it’s my own fault. I’m just getting what I deserve.”

Terrence had been at her side the whole time at the hospital and he was at her side now, but I could see the effort all of this was costing him. Amir had gotten Janet off on bail, but he’d warned them that even with a plea deal, she was going to have to serve time for her crimes. Terrence had vowed to stay by her side throughout the whole ordeal, but whether or not marriage was still in their future remained to be seen. He was another one I had to keep a close eye on. I couldn’t continue letting these important relationships slip through the cracks.

As for Kevin, he had yet to wake up from the coma I’d put him in but was also facing some serious charges. Not only did he admit to killing Derek, Craig Nelson had rolled on him after Janet admitted her part of the scheme. Mr. Nelson had been brought in for questioning after Janet woke up and he confessed to everything: the restaurant con, the countywide drug dealing, even the fact that Mr. Long had been poisoning Derek with arsenic for months since he’d suspected Derek had turned on them.

When Derek and Mr. Long had met for that fateful lunch, Mr. Long had planned on giving him a large enough dose to kill him and blame it on the restaurant, but couldn’t since Tita Rosie and I were so solicitous. Then when Derek passed out, he panicked and wanted to dump the evidence, so he put it in Derek’s dessert dishes. Mr. Long was also the one who destroyed our kitchen and tainted the rice to put the cops on our trail.

The only thing Mr. Nelson didn’t confess to was Mr. Long’s murder. He had an airtight alibi for the night his best friend was killed, but pointed the finger at Kevin. In their last conversation together, Mr. Long told Mr. Nelson he knew it was Kevin who killed Derek and wanted to figure out a way to work that knowledge in his favor.

Kevin was going to have a lot to deal with when he woke up.

If he woke up.

I knew that I’d acted in self-defense. I also knew that if I had the chance to do it again, and it came down to choosing between mine and Adeena’s lives or his, I’d make the same choice every time.

But knowing something logically doesn’t take away the guilt.

Which was something Detective Park, of all people, made sure to talk to me about when he found me at the restaurant. “You made the only choice you could, Lila. Maybe it doesn’t feel like a good choice. But it was the right one. I have no doubt in my mind he would’ve killed both you and Adeena to get away.”

He put his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye. “I also know that this is something that never really goes away. It gets easier. With time. And therapy. And the right people around you.”

He waved his hand around the restaurant, gesturing toward my aunt, grandmother, and the Calendar Crew circling the room to make sure everyone was being fed properly. Bernadette and Marcus laughing it up with Adeena and Elena. Amir and Jae working behind the buffet table, doling out food and chitchat with our patrons.

Those last two caught me looking at them and broke into goofy grins and waved at me. I waved back, knowing sooner or later I’d have to deal with them. But not today. Or anytime soon, really. I’d come back to this town to nurse a broken heart and had immediately jumped back into a relationship with my ex, as if I were in a 90s rom-com and that was the solution to my problems. Maybe it was time to focus on the relationships I’d let fall by the wayside, like my family and Adeena and Terrence.

And I knew exactly how my new start would begin.

Earlier that morning, when my aunt and grandmother were already at the restaurant preparing for the reopening, Mrs. Long and Cate had called me into the dining room. Their bags were packed in Cate’s car and ready to go. I handed Mrs. Long a loaf of fresh-baked, salabat-spiced banana bread. She handed me a manila envelope.

“This is my way of thanking you. Don’t worry, it’s not money,” she said, sensing my protest. “I just want to make sure you’re taken care of. You’ve done so much for me, and . . .”

She trailed off, searching my face. “You know, don’t you? What I did?”

I nodded. I didn’t have to say anything else. We all knew. I guess it was finally time to have it out.

She nodded. “Of course you do. You were always so smart.” She started wringing her hands. “I never would’ve let your aunt get taken away. And I swear I wasn’t trying to pin the blame on your family. It’s just that Rosie had left the knife there the last time she made dinner for me, and it was so sharp and Ed . . . I overheard him talking to Craig about what he did to my son. What he was trying to do to you and your family. And I just couldn’t let him ruin anymore lives. So I confronted him. And he, he grabbed me and—”

She started crying and Cate put her arm around Mrs. Long. “We know, Nancy. Ed was a brute and a greedy, selfish bastard. I just wish I had come sooner. That I could’ve saved you from all this.”

Cate glanced at me. “What are you going to do with this information? You know Nancy would never survive prison.”

I scrutinized them, noting Cate’s protective stance. This was a chance for Mrs. Long to start over. Get away from this town that held nothing but sadness for her. I glanced down at the envelope in my hand. If it was what I thought it was, it was a chance for a new beginning for all of us.

“I’m going to do nothing,” I said, looking at them carefully to make sure they understood. “I came home after the restaurant reopening and the two of you were already gone. Waiting for me on the table was this envelope and nothing else because you hate goodbyes. By then, the two of you were long gone from Shady Palms and had left no trace of your whereabouts. Do you understand me?”

They looked at each other and nodded. “Understood. And, Lila, thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. I’m just doing what I think is right. Justice isn’t always so clear-cut,” I added.

I put the envelope on the table and gathered my things to join my aunt and grandmother at the restaurant. Mrs. Long gave me a big hug.

“Do great things. You hear me? Live the life Derek never could. The life I was always too afraid to live.” And with one last squeeze of my hand, she and Cate were gone.

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•   •   •It worked out exactly as I’d predicted. Tita Rosie, Lola Flor, and I all came home to find the envelope on the table. Adeena and Elena were there, too, because I’d asked them to sleep over, saying we had a lot to discuss about the future.

Inside was the deed to Tita Rosie’s Kitchen, which I had expected. What I hadn’t expected was the addition of the deed to Java Jo’s. She’d signed over full ownership to me and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I looked over at Adeena and Elena, who were screaming over this revelation. “Well, ladies, what do you think? With my baked goods, Adeena’s drinks, and Elena’s herbal remedies and beauty products, I think we’d have one magical shop.”

Elena clapped her hands. “Yes! And I have the perfect name for us. The Brew-ha Cafe!”

Adeena looked confused, so I explained, “Bruha means ‘witch’ in Tagalog and Spanish. It’s a pun.”

Adeena groaned. “That’s not how you say ‘witch’ in Urdu, and you know how I feel about puns, but I’ll let it go. All I really want to know is, does this mean you’re staying? Are you staying here with us in Shady Palms?”

I looked around the room. At my family, who’d been watching us silently, at my best friend and her new girlfriend, and I knew this was where I belonged. Forever? Maybe not. But for right now . . .

“Yes, Adeena. You’re all here, which means Shady Palms is my home. And there’s nowhere I’d rather be.”