Chapter 7

Back when he hung up on Mandy, Joseph had reached up to rub his temples in frustration. Tessa cooed when she saw that, "Mr. Payne, did I cause you trouble by asking you to come cook for me?" "No." Joseph absentmindedly stared at the bubbling soup in the pot. Suddenly, he thought of me. In the early days of his law firm, when he was struggling to start up his career, he often went without clients. I was the one who accompanied him to one business after another, helping him connect with various clients. He would drink until he had stomach problems, and I would suffer right alongside him. But the next day, I still dragged myself out of bed to cook him a bowl of soup to soothe his stomach. He even got his cooking skills from me. Thinking of that, Joseph slowly stopped stirring the soup. A sudden wave of panic welled up inside him. It was like something was slipping completely out of his control. "Tessa, the soup's almost done. Turn off the stove in five minutes and have the soup y