“Not bad.”
Nevertheless, he preferred Liberty’s cooking. He was impressed by the taste made with the simplest ingredients.
Liberty’s food brought Duncan back to his youthful days of strolling the streets with his boys. He had the pleasure of sampling a lot of street food that he would never taste as the son of the Lewis family.
While those years gave him great pain, they also brought him down to earth.
Even when he became a CEO, he remained unassuming.
He was no different than any ordinary folk except for being in the higher bracket of income.
Lily said with a smile, “All that matters is that the food is delicious to you.”
She glanced at the time before clearing the food containers. She reminded Duncan, “Your meeting is starting, Duncan. I’m going to report to Mrs. Lewis on the mission accomplished. By the way, Mrs. Lewis hopes you can be home for lunch. If you can’t make it home, she said there’s an event in a few days. She hopes you’ll attend it with her.”
Lily was going with Mrs. Lewis too.
Mrs. Lewis intended to introduce the ladies of the higher society in Wiltspoon to her.
Serena would probably be attending the event with Mrs. Stone.
Mrs. Lewis mentioned that Mrs. Stone had been active within the circle lately. She would reply favorably to any social invitations.
She must be trying to bring Serena into the exclusive circle.
No one would want to get on Mrs. Stone’s bad side as she was the lady of the Stone household.
Besides, Mrs. Stone was once a business heavyweight before she retired from the corporate world.
Furrowing his brows, Duncan uttered, “Why does she want me to attend with her? Can I trouble you to go with my mom if my mom if you have time? I can’t be bothered with social gatherings.”
Lily knew Duncan would say that.
She uttered with a smile, “Duncan, Mrs. Lewis wants you to go with her. I can’t replace you. I’m only the daughter of Mrs. Lewis’s friend anyway. I’m not family.
“I’m not keen on social events either, but we don’t have a choice most of the time. We have to fulfill our obligations.”
Duncan had attended plenty of business parties to talk business. Before Lewis & Co. took off, he had to attend business engagements to drum in partnerships.
Lewis and Co. was now a well–known company in Wiltspoon. Duncan would only discuss big contracts with other CEOS while the trades on a smaller scale were left to his management team.
He started to attend fewer of these gatherings unless his two best friends were going.
With company around, Duncan would turn up briefly.
However, more often than not, Zack would not show up. Hence, it fueled Duncan’s lack of presence at social events.
“Who is the organizer? Where’s the party?” Duncan asked.
Lily replied, “Mrs. Lewis said it was Old Mr. Dawson. It’s going to be held at Wiltspoon Hotel.”
Hearing that it was Old Mr. Dawson, Duncan had nothing more to say.
The Dawsons were not as wealthy as the Yorks, but they were among the top ten richest families in Wiltspoon. Old Mr. Dawson was a personable man, and the Dawson family kept a low profile in Wiltspoon.
The movers and shakers of Wiltspoon’s corporate world would give Aaron Dawson respect by showing up to any one of his parties. Even Zack could be seen at the old man’s event.
The Dawsons and the Yorks were on friendly terms. Zack showed up at Old Mr. Dawson’s business gathering last year. It was the same event at Wiltspoon Hotel that Serena attended with Jasmine and Mrs. Lowe when Zack and Serena first got married.
Zack’s appearance stirred a huge commotion. Jasmine went to see what the hubbub was all about but failed to squeeze her way into the crowd. Serena, on the other hand, was hiding in a corner stuffing her face with food.
“Go on to your meeting, Duncan. I’ll clean the food containers and leave.”
Lily reminded Duncan about his meeting.
“Sure.” Still, Duncan waited until Lily was done washing the containers before walking out of the office with her.
With the secretary seeing Lily off at the lift, Duncan turned on his heel and took strides into the meeting room near his office.
After leaving Lewis & Co., Lily suddenly hit the brakes when driving past All You Can Eat. She stopped the car by the street and got out to ask someone in the shop next to the diner.
“Do you know who’s the owner of this breakfast diner?” Lily tenderly asked.
The person replied, “Do you mean Liberty? She needs to take care of personal matters in her hometown today, so she’s not open for business. You have to come tomorrow if you want to try her breakfast. Her food is great, and the cleanliness of her place is top–notch. It explains why her business is doing well.”
The neighbors of All You Can Eat had often come for a meal since the diner opened.
Liberty owned the breakfast diner.
Despite her shock, Lily did not show the expression on her face. She thanked the person, returned to her car, and drove away.
She drove straight to the Lewises‘ residence instead of heading elsewhere.
Instead of going out, Mrs. Lewis stayed at home and waited for Lily’s return. She wanted to know if Duncan ate the breakfast Lily delivered.
Picking up on the sound of an approaching vehicle, Mrs. Lewis walked out of the house.
“Mrs. Lewis.”
Lily got out of the car and approached Mrs. Lewis with empty food containers.
Judging by the smile on Lily’s smile, Mrs. Lewis could tell that her son ate Lily’s homemade breakfast.
The pair strolled back into the house in talk and laughter.
Handing the food containers to the maid, Lily helped Mrs. Lewis to sit on the sofa.
“Why didn’t you stay longer at Duncan’s office?”
“Duncan has a meeting coming up. I didn’t want to take up too much of his time. Mrs. Lewis, I told Duncan that you told me to deliver the breakfast, and he ate it all up. He even asked me if you have a new chef. He thinks well of my cooking.”
Mrs. Lewis was all smiles as if Lily was about to become her daughter–in–law.
“You should deliver Duncan packed breakfast more often. See if he needs anything else. With all that you do for him, he’ll be smitten with you in no time. You can do it, Lily. I can’t wait for you to be part of the family.”
Pulling out her phone, Lily tapped into her photo album and pointed at Jessica before asking, “Who is this woman, Mrs. Lewis? Do you know her? She seems to know Duncan. I saw them talking.
“All You Can Eat diner is owned by Liberty. Duncan was going to have his breakfast there, but Liberty was away for personal reasons. Her diner was closed today. He only ate my breakfast because he went to work on an empty stomach.”
Otherwise, Duncan would not have eaten her food.
Lily was confident at first and did not see Liberty as a threat.
Mrs. Lewis had warned her that the person to watch was Liberty. Lily thought Duncan would be blind to fall for a fat divorcee with extra baggage like Liberty.
Now, she believed Mrs. Lewis had a point.
Duncan enjoyed having breakfast at Liberty’s diner. Something might develop between the two as time went by.
“I don’t know this woman. I’ve never seen her before. I’ll have her looked up–who she is and how she came to know Duncan. She seemed to be leaving in a fluster. Duncan must have called her out on something. I wouldn’t be worried about this woman if I were you.”
Mrs. Lewis was old and a mother to Duncan. She was a better judge of people than Lily. It did not take long for Mrs. Lewis to observe Jessica in the photo before eliminating her.
“Is this the street Duncan drives by to the office? If my guess is right, Duncan owns half the street. He bought the commercial spaces there and left the management in the hands of his butler. The butler collects the rent.
“Liberty once worked at Duncan’s company. She quit when she divorced her husband. I didn’t pay attention to what she was doing after that. I can’t believe she rented a commercial space from Duncan to set up an eatery.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.