Page 18 of Finding Amanda

Alan smiled. "I'm sure you don't, but I wouldn't mind the company."

Amanda pictured the paltry room service menu lying on her bed. She stifled the twinge of guilt. Mark wouldn't care, not really, and it's not like it was a date or anything. One meal to keep her from going stir-crazy.

"Why not? Let me get my shoes."

Seatedin the restaurant a few blocks from the hotel, Amanda looked out the window beside their booth, seeing little but her own reflection in the glass. She half-expected to see Gabriel walk in the door. She shivered, soggy from the drizzle, the huge puddle she'd inadvertently stepped in on the sidewalk, and the thought ofhimfinding heragain.

"Sorry about that." Alan slid into the booth across from her. He dropped his phone into the inside breast pocket of his suit jacket. "My office."

She turned to him and smiled. "No problem."

He took a sip of his red wine and set the glass back on the table. "Obviously the waitress came back. I should've given you my order."

"I'm in no hurry."

Dean Martin's voice filled the small space, likeningamoreto moons and pizza pies as Alan studied the menu. Beside their booth, a group of eight young adults had pushed together two tables. Their laughter occasionally drowned out the music and the other conversations going on around them. If only Alan would pick something. She stared at the candle flickering inside the red, round candle holder in the center of the table and folded and refolded her napkin. This wasn't a date. So why was she so nervous?

He set the menu on top of hers. "I'm getting spaghetti. What'd you decide on?"

"Same thing."

"Oh yeah? I figured you'd get something complex, more . . . professional, being a chef and all."

"I prefer simple dishes, and great restaurants can make the simplest dishes delicious."

"I agree. Their spaghetti's really good." He took a sip of his wine and swirled what was left of the contents in the glass. "This isn't how I thought I'd spend my evening."

"You probably had plans."

"I'd planned to pick up take-out and go home."

"You live in New York?"

"Most of my adult life. This is where the publishers are, you know."

"I guess this conference is convenient for a lot of people."

"I prefer out-of-town conferences. They make it a nice break from the city. Ah, here we are."

The waitress took their orders. Amanda watched her walk away before turning her attention back to Alan. "I'm surprised you didn't plan to have dinner with any of your clients tonight."

"I just moved to Martindale Books. I don't have a big list of clients yet, and none of them is here this weekend."

"I thought you worked at Mercury-Concord."

Alan tented his fingers. They were trembling slightly, long and slender, only marred by a slight scar that ran the length of the middle knuckle on his right hand. Amanda rubbed the scar on her own thumb, a physical reminder of a tragic car accident.

"I used to."

"Mercury-Concord is my publisher."

Alan snapped his fingers. "Of course. That's why your name is familiar. Is Tim your editor?"

"Uh-huh. What kinds of projects do you work on?"

"Mostly fiction. That's one of the reasons I left Mercury—they're moving away from fiction, finding more success in their other lines. I prefer fiction myself. I'm very good at seeing things that aren't real." He chuckled and continued. "You're one of their successes. How'd you get started writing cookbooks?"

Amanda settled back in her seat. She hadn't heard her publisher was moving away from fiction, but Alan would know more about that than she did. "It's just the one cookbook right now, but I'm working on a second." She sipped her wine. "After I married, we bought this old farmhouse, and my husband remodeled it. He built me a huge, professional kitchen, complete with enough room for ten barstools around my long bar—twenty if needed. I was working as a chef, which meant a lot of nights. After our first daughter was born, I quit my job and used my new kitchen to give cooking lessons in the evenings, when Markcould be home to help. That way I never had to put my babies in daycare."

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