And now I saw the man who had betrayed me in the deepest way possible.
“I don’t know if you can fix this,” I said honestly. “I don’t know if I want you to fix it.”
Marlene, recovering some of her composure, tried a different approach. “Look, Helen, obviously there was a lack of communication. If you had just told us from the beginning that you were… that you had resources, none of this would have happened.”
“Exactly,” I said, pointing at her. “None of this would have happened if you’d known I have money. But it did happen because you thought I didn’t. And that tells you everything you need to know about yourself.”
Her face flushed. “You can’t just show up—”
“And show up,” I interrupted, my voice rising slightly, “this is my restaurant, Marlene. You are the one who showed up here. You are the one who sat at my table, ate my food, and used my establishment as a stage to humiliate me. And now you have the nerve to tell me I’m the one who’s out of line.”