Page 20 of Sunset Cove
“Gah, I love it,” the waitress said, handing it back to Claire.
Claire shook her head. “No, you keep it.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, a look of surprise crossing her face.
Claire nodded. “Yes, please. I bought too many, as you can see.”
“Well, thank you!” The waitress beamed, slipping the bracelet onto her wrist. “I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you the special for today.”
Chip sat back, dazed by this interaction. Perhaps he had been outside of the feminine world for too long. It had been nearly two years since he broke up with his last girlfriend. Or rather, she had broken up with him.
Regardless, Claire’s generosity was still unusual to him. There was no way that his ex-girlfriend would have given away a bracelet like that.
Or given away anything, for that matter.
“Oh, that does sound good,” Claire said, looking at Chip.
He hadn’t been listening, so he had to respond with, “Should we order it?”
She shrugged. “Sure.”
They were treated to an appetizer of fresh clams, and at Claire’s insistence, Chip talked through the aspects of his report. She listened intently as he discussed profit margins, lead time trends, group allocation, and other general principles of hotel revenue management.
Surprisingly, Claire was able to follow most of it, asking appropriate questions and clarifying terms she didn’t know.
Chip could talk about this stuff all night, and forgetting himself, he practically did. Despite not wanting to bore her to death, he realized that the restaurant was closing as he was finishing the last few pages of the report.
“We should probably get going,” Claire said with a nervous smile. “But we need to meet again to go over the rest of your ideas.”
His face brightened. “That would be great.”
Great. Again. Did he not know any other words?
“I need to go back to my cabin and grab a few things, but after that I’ll be at the hotel. Maybe we can meet in the morning?”
He stood up, nodding. “Yes, sure.”
Chip drove back to the cabin and dropped her off. He couldn’t be sure if he was imagining it, but it seemed like she was in a rush to get out of the car.
He’d bored her enough for one night. She waved at him from the door and he took the hint, driving off and into the night.
