We're back from our weekend trip and I've had a chance to edit this chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 109.

We were finally seated half an hour after we arrived. Even Taub was there by then. I guess the amount of preparation he was willing to do for Rachel and the rugrat's arrival didn't take so long.

"Is this one of the restaurants providing food for your new company?" he asked Jess as we took our places around the large round table.

"No." She looked around. "Although maybe we'll add it in the future." The place looked very modern, with clean lines to the furnishings and walls painted a soft white. The lighting was hidden in the ceiling and the noise level less than in many other restaurants.

"Robert told me you've found office space." Ellie's interest was intense, understandable since she'd be working with the sisters.

"Yes. Wait until you see it!" Jess waved her hands as she described it. Very Italian. "There's a front office with room to do taste tests with clients and a full kitchen and storage areas. And it's located not too far from any of the restaurants we've contracted with."

"That's so exciting! I'm glad you and Nina will be able to pull it off."

"Well, that's yet to be seen, but we think we can. And we know you'll be a big help."

Ellie shrugged. "I'm only a waitress. You and Nina are doing all the work. Your father would be so proud of you."

"If he knew about it. Maybe." Jess shook her head. "None of us ever knew what he'd approve of and what he wouldn't. Ellie,you of all people know what kind of man he is."

"Yeah." Ellie grinned. "And we're all better off away from him."

Wouldn't you know it, just as she said that, who should appear as if on cue, but Mr. Peter Giordano Senior. Several mouths fell open including, I'm almost ashamed to admit, mine.

"Well, well, well. Isn't this an interesting group." His voice was so loud and the restaurant so quiet, the people at the nearby tables turned to look.

"Hello, Father." Jess regained her composure quickly. "I didn't know you were in Princeton."

"My children are all here, so I am too."

I had a sinking feeling and could only imagine how Jess felt. "Are you planning to stay?" I wasn't sure any of us was ready for the answer to that.

"Why, Dr. House? Did you have a reason I shouldn't?"

I could think of hundreds, but then I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of an honest answer from me. "How could Dorsey ever get along without you?"

He waved a hand. "It's not that far away. I can manage my businesses from here."

Jess looked at me with doom written across her face.

"Yes, well, I'm sure that'll keep you busy." And out of your daughters' hair and business, was left unsaid.

"I understand you've met my brother." Giordano dismissed me and focused on his daughter.

"He has a wonderful restaurant and we've eaten there a few times. The food is delicious."

"And he's taken you and your sister, maybe even your brother, under his wing. The benefactor, Giovanni Giordano. Willing to accept everyone but his brother."

Did he resent his brother more than we knew, especially Johnny's growing relationship with his daughters? How could we use that? My team was silently watching him. I knew none of them would tell him anything about Jess and Nina's plans for the future, but that didn't mean he wouldn't find out somehow.

"So, are you going to work for him?" Giordano asked.

"No, I'm not."

"Then how are you supporting yourself? Dr. House told me you want to be out from under my control, but what about my financial help? He convinced me to release your trust funds, so I know you could use the money, but it won't last forever."

"We'll manage. All of us." Jess grinned. "I told you before that we don't need you."

Our waiter came to take our orders and Senior walked off without saying goodbye.

Ellie leaned over the table toward Jess. "Did you have any idea he was in town?"

Jess shook her head. "I wish I knew how to force him to leave."

"Just ignore him," I advised. "He's not going to ruin your life or anyone else's."

"You told me he wants to make up for all he did in the past. So why didn't he just say that instead of challenging me?" Jess asked. She looked around to see where he sat. "Should I go talk to him?"

"I thought you said you want him to leave town. You can't have it both ways."

She grimaced.

"None of us are going to tell you what to do, Jess." Thirteen put a hand on hers.

"None of you except my boyfriend, you mean." She glared at me.

I shook my head. "It's your decision all the way. You'll just have to deal with any consequences."

"No pressure, huh?" She smirked.

Our food came and she busied herself with eating, but periodically she glanced toward the table near the door where her father sat alone. I wondered if she even tasted her food.

Mine was delicious, a juicy fillet mignon, baked potato topped with sour cream and chives, even the green beans almondine. I savored every bite. "You really should consider adding this restaurant," I told Jess.

"Hmmm?" She looked at me as if she hadn't heard a word.

"Jess, go talk to him," Ellie urged with a smile.

Jess looked at me, then everyone else at our table. She put her napkin on the table and stood. "I'll be right back."

"Should we call out the mounties if you aren't?"

She smiled at me briefly, then walked to her father's table.

I tried not to think about what they were saying while I ate the last of my food, but suddenly it didn't taste as good.

"She'll be OK." Chase took a dinner roll and buttered it. "She's handled her father before without your help."

Thirteen nodded. "With him here in town, she probably thinks she needs some sort of closure. Then she can move on to a different sort of relationship with him."

"A relationship of equals." That idea made me smile. "Yes, I believe that's what she wants."

Jess returned. She was neither smiling nor frowning. "Well, that was interesting. He seemed to have the impression that I probably got a job with an accounting firm in Princeton, and I didn't disabuse him of his belief."

"Isn't that what you would have done if you and Nina hadn't decided to start a new business?" Taub asked.

She smiled. "I guess so."

"So, what did you tell him?" Taub asked.

"That he should be proud that I could make it on my own."

I nodded. "He should."

"He said he was."

"But?"

"I got the sense he expects me to come running back to him when I fail, and that will happen within the next few months."

"Did you disabuse him of that too?"

"I tried, but he's always been pigheaded. I'll just have to prove myself." She swallowed. "You know, even if he's never proud of me, I'll be proud of myself, and isn't that more important?"

I kept quiet and let the others confirm what she said. She knew already how I felt, but it was important for her to hear it from someone else, especially so many someones.

"So what's your father going to do here in Princeton? He doesn't have any businesses here and much as he said he'll be managing his Dorsey businesses from here, I expect he'll be doing something else."

"I think he want's to go into competition with his brother. Guess he has the need to prove himself." Jess shrugged. "After all the years, as successful as he is, it still rankles that his family turned their backs on him."

"Doesn't he realize he'll be a small fish in this big pond?" Chase asked. "He should stay in Dorsey where he's the big Kahuna."

"You'd think! Guess it wasn't enough for him." I took Jess' hand. "So he's going into the restaurant business?"

She suddenly started to laugh. "Yes, and nothing, but nothing, will get me and Nina to work with him, no matter what kind of restaurant or how successful it is."

"Do you think he has a chance to be successful?" Taub asked.

"He's always succeeded, whatever he tried," she replied.

Ellie nodded. "He owns half the businesses in Dorsey."

"But if his sole aim is to beat Johnny in the restaurant business, he have a rough time of it."

Jess nodded. "That's what I'm afraid of."

"Jess, don't feel obligated to help him if he stumbles," Ellie said.

"Oh, I won't. I might occasionally worry about how he'll take it, but that doesn't mean I feel any obligation toward him."

"You're assuming he'll fail, or at least have a hard time of it, but with his experiences, I think he'll do just fine."

"Maybe not as fine as Uncle Johnny, though." Jess shrugged. "Talking about this won't change anything."

"And now that that's settled, let's get back to this celebration. How about some dessert?"

Ellie and Foreman begged off, patting their bellies and claiming they were too full, but the rest of us finished off our meal with an assortment of rich treats. I ate all of my cheesecake, including the strawberry topping, and finished Jess' lava cake.

Senior was gone by the time we left the restaurant. I knew he'd be at the back of Jess' mind, but she had other things to concentrate on.

"I hope we hear from Collins tomorrow," Jess said as we got into the car in the restaurant parking lot. "We need to move on to our next steps."

"Which are?"

"Arranging insurance, buying equipment, hiring staff besides Ellie and Petey, advertising and lining up customers, and so much more." She ticked them off on her fingers.

"I knew you thought this through." I smiled at her, then concentrated on driving home.