Page 6 of Love Among the Ruins
“I can get you anything you want on the house, sir.” The manager beamed a smile at him and looked ready to launch into a full-blown conversation.
“I’m fine. Please leave.” Like a Jedi mind trick, those words delivered curtly had the effect of making the man nod and disappear as quickly as he’d arrived.
“Thank you.” The waitress unfolded her arms.
“It was an accident, I suppose,” Dominic ground out, reluctantly.
“It took you a long time to realize that.” The words seemed to have tumbled out before she could stop herself. Her eyes widened, indicating her shock at what she’d said. She slowly started to back away.
“Stop.” Curiosity sparked his interest. “Do you do this often?”
“Do what, often?”
“Piss off the customers.” He could think of no other reason why her friend would plead for her job on her behalf.
“It depends.”
It depends?She couldn’t be a waitress. No way. Not withthatattitude. “You accept that you do actually piss people off?”
“As I said, it depends.”
He couldn’t believe his ears. “On?”
She eyed his watch, deepening his confusion; he had rarely met a waitress who was rude and unfriendly. He was used to these people—waitresses, and women in general, tripping over themselves to get to him. This woman had literally fallen over and landed on his chest, and now she was looking at him as if it were his fault.
Whatever her problem, whatever pissed her off, he no longer cared. “You know what? Leave it. I don’t want to know.” He stormed off. He had a goddamn party to attend later.
More drinks, more canapes, more banal conversations with imbeciles. He didn’t need to waste his time making small talk with someone like her.
He bumped into the waitress’s friend in his haste to leave. The man flashed him a too-wide smile and rushed after him. “Is everything okay, sir?”
“I’m as happy as can be,” he snarled. Then, recalling how this man had begged on behalf of the waitress, “We’re all after something, pal. We’re all hustling to make money. She needs the job, and I just wanted a cup of coffee.”
“Her boyfriend was killed not so long ago. It was a tragic accident in the sea. People on jet skis crashed into him and he was killed instantly. Eleni is heartbroken.”
Dominic’s jaw dropped. “That poor girl,” he managed to say, feeling as if he’d been punched in the stomach.
The server gave a slow nod. “She’s heartbroken and has taken it badly. She is still not over it.”
