Chapter 189: Emergency Kitchen

She looked at herself in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were tired. She was no closer to solving her problem.

But she was still here, still trying.

"I have risen far above whatever it is that has been engineered to crush me."

"Is that so?" Camille replied.

Naomi could hear the smugness in her voice. "And you know what else I have that you don’t? I’ve got my husband, Dorian Heathcliffe. And you’ve got nothing on me." She ended the call and immediately started the vehicle.

Bitch thought she could crush her.

Yeah, right.

Naomi drove straight toward the Heathcliffe home.

Camille’s call still buzzed unpleasantly in the back of her mind, but Naomi refused to give it more space than it deserved. The woman could be plugged into every restaurant, event hall and gossip network in the city for all Naomi cared.

Naomi was still going to find a way to make Ginny’s wedding happen.

By the time she pulled into the Heathcliffe driveway, she had already started building another plan in her head.

It was desperate and would be logistically annoying.

Naomi parked and got out of the Range Rover.

The front door opened almost immediately.

Eleanor stood there. She had seen the car come in. "Naomi, dear..." she stepped aside and waved her in. "Come in. Come in."

Naomi managed a tired smile as she walked toward her. "I’m not staying very long, Eleanor. I came to ask a favour."

"Of course, dear. Anything." Eleanor’s eyes moved past her toward the driveway. "Where is Dorian?"

"He doesn’t know I’m here." Naomi entered the house. "I’ll tell him I stopped by once I’m home."

Eleanor shut the door behind her and immediately gave Naomi a closer look.

Naomi knew what she looked like. Tired and stressed didn’t even begin to cover it. She was one more inconvenience away from a burnout but no way in hell would she let that happen.

"What do you need?" Eleanor asked.

Naomi exhaled. "The kitchen I rented cancelled on me."

Eleanor’s brows shot up. "What?"

"I’ve been all over town trying to find another one, but nothing is available on such short notice."

"Oh my..." Eleanor brought a hand to her chest. "I knew things were moving too smoothly for a wedding. No way a wedding has no headaches along the way. Absolutely impossible. Something always goes wrong."

"I assure you, Eleanor, I do not intend to disappoint."

"Sweetheart, nobody thinks you will."

"I was wondering if you and Maurice would allow me to turn the back of your house into a makeshift kitchen." Naomi immediately started explaining. "I’ll need to rent equipment and probably put up temporary workstations. I’ll have to do a lot of back and forth between here and the house, and I know it’s not ideal, but I can make it work."

Eleanor opened her mouth to say something but Naomi kept going.

"I can set up prep tables outside, use part of the main kitchen for refrigeration if you’re comfortable with that, rent burners, warming cabinets, extra storage. I’ll keep everything organised, and I promise I won’t destroy the property."

"Naomi—"

"I know it’s a lot to ask, especially this close to the wedding, and I know everyone is already stressed, but I really don’t have anywhere else to go and—"

"Naomi." Eleanor stepped closer. "Say no more, darling. What do you need?"

Her insides gave way. She stepped forward and went straight into Eleanor’s arms.

Eleanor caught her immediately.

It felt like she needed the collapse.

Eleanor held Naomi tighter the moment she folded into her arms. "Aww, sweetheart," she murmured, rubbing a soothing hand down her back. "It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be alright."

Naomi squeezed her eyes shut. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much."

"Ssshhh. It’s alright."

Hearing those simple words nearly made her cry harder than the disaster itself.

Naomi pulled herself together after a few moments and stepped back, wiping beneath her eyes. "I’ll come start setting up tomorrow," she said, already mentally rearranging the space into stations. "I have a few helpers, which means there’ll be strangers coming in and out of here. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable with that."

Eleanor waved the concern away. "We need the distraction with everything going on."

"You’re sure?"

"Darling, I think we can survive. We’ll work around whatever you need. This is Ginny’s wedding."

Naomi opened her mouth, already preparing another thank-you. Her phone started vibrating. She pulled it from her pocket and looked at the screen. "It’s Dorian. Probably getting worried." She hugged Eleanor one more time, promised she would be back the following day and headed toward the door.

"I’ll see you tomorrow."

"Drive safely, dear."

Naomi answered the call as she walked toward her car. "Hey, love..."

Dorian’s voice came through immediately. "Just checking in. You good?"

"Yeah. Had a few hiccups, but I’m alright. Heading home now."

"Hiccups?"

"I’ll tell you when I get home."

"I’ll order in."

"Thank you. I’ll see you soon." She ended the call and climbed into the Range Rover.

As she drove away from the Heathcliffe home, her thoughts returned to Camille. That call had been deliberate.

Naomi knew it.

Camille had wanted her to know that she knew about the kitchen situation. Whether she had actually caused it or merely heard about it, Naomi couldn’t say yet, but the woman had clearly expected the news to shake her.

Maybe Camille thought losing one kitchen would send Naomi spiralling back into the terrified woman who had once been easily overwhelmed.

Did the woman really think childish tricks like these would give her the upper hand she needed to distract Naomi from Dorian?

Please.

Camille could think again.

Naomi knew what she had now.

And more importantly, she knew what she wanted.

Dorian was her husband.

They had chosen each other.

Now that she had finally stopped running from what she miraculously had, Camille would need considerably more than a few dirty tricks to scare her away.

Actually, if Camille wanted a fight, Naomi was beginning to think she might enjoy giving her one.

Camille could play whatever games she wanted.

Dorian was Naomi’s husband, and she was totally willing to fight dirty for him.

By the time Naomi arrived home, the exhaustion from the day had returned, but the hopelessness was gone.

She had a solution and she would make it work. She pulled into the garage, shut off the engine and opened the trunk.

Then she started offloading the stuff she had in the car.

Dorian came down to the garage when he realised Naomi had been home for several minutes and still hadn’t made it upstairs. "Naomi?" he called from behind her.