Page 11 of The Disputed Legacy
She groaned. “You haven’t even met him or given him a chance yet!”
I cringed and shook my head more. “I don’t want to. Seriously, Irene. I’m not looking for anyone.”
“Okay. Then don’t go out looking for anyone.” She walked behind me to propel me toward table five. “You don’t need to look. He’s already right there. Just sit with him and see how it feels for him to be looking atyoufor a while. What’s the harm in trying, huh?”
I really didn’t want to, but I had a hunch Irene wouldn’t let this go. Even thoughnoshould always meanno, Irene could be pushy when she had her mind set to something. I wasn’t the only one she'd tried to hook people up with, either. Maybe she was just one of those people who had to try to force love where it wouldn’t be happening.
A glance around the diner showed that it was almost dead. No new customers were coming in and the people who were seated were content with finishing what they had on their tables. Nobody needed as much as a top off of coffee, so I couldn’t use the excuse of being unable to go sit and talk to her friend’s friend.
Oscar was still happily chatting with Raul.
Oh, what the hell.It wasn’t like I’d be committing to anything. No harm, no foul. And if I went over there and engaged in the bare minimum of small talk, it would get Irene off my case and she’d leave me alone.
“Fine.” I huffed and smoothed my hand over the front of my uniform. I sure wasn’t dressed to impress, but there was no helping that. My uniform would have to do. It wasn’t like I cared about this stranger wanting to see me again.
“Hi,” I said, smiling as I reached him.
“Hi, Willa,” he greeted, waving at Irene behind me.
“It’s Willow, actually.”
“Ah. Close enough, right?” he said, laughing lightly as he gestured for me to sit with him.
No, jerk. Not close enough. How hard is it to say the right name?
“Have a seat,” he suggested.
I slid into the vinyl booth across from him, glancing again at Oscar to make sure he was all right. He was preoccupied with Raul. No managers were on the clock, so if I ever wanted to slack off and sit with a customer, now would be the time to do it and not get in trouble.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
Oh, boy. We’re doing the bare basics of small talk, then, huh?
“Oh, it’s going. Just the usual with work and whatnot. How about you?”
He nodded and smiled. “Oh, it’s going good. I just got promoted at my workplace. I’m a supervisor now.”
After a spell of bragging, he continued to talk about himself. No other questions came for me, so within a few minutes, I realized that even if I wanted to have any hope with this setup that had come out of the blue, it wouldn’t work anyway. I didn’t mind when other people dominated conversations. Sometimes, it was nice to just sit and listen. But there was a fine line between someone being outgoing and chatty and someone who clearly just loved to listen to themselves talk.
Not even ten minutes into our conversation, I heard Oscar laughing in the background. Raul was shaking his head, probably amused at something Oscar had done or written.
“God, I can’t stand it when people bring their kids out to public places like this,” Jayden whined.
I raised my brows and turned back to face him, wondering if he was joking or if I’d heard that right.
“What?”
He scoffed, gesturing in the direction of Oscar. “That kid. Like, why can’t parents just keep their brats at home?”
“That boy? He’s bothering you?”He’s just laughing.It wasn’t overly loud or obnoxious laughter. Nothing hysterical.
“How is it not bothering you?”
I was so over this man and this conversation that I didn’t have the energy to be mad. What a fucking jerk. “No, he’s not bothering me,” I replied coolly. “He’s just laughing. I don’t see why that’s such a crime.”
Jayden chuckled like I was stupid. “I didn’t say it was a crime, but kids are just annoying like that. Making noise and doing stupid stuff…” He shook his head. “They should just stay at home and not bother people out and about having a dinner or whatever. You know?”
I shook my head and stood. “No. I don’t know. Have a good night.”
