Page 52 of Waitress at the Shadow Ridge Inn
“With sexual favors?” she asked.
“Probably.” I laughed. “To be fair, he’s really, really good at it.”
“You bitch. I’m totally jealous now.”
“I’ll keep you posted, okay?”
“You’d better.”
19
As expected,I was the hot topic of conversation at the inn. From the moment I walked through the door, I was bombarded with questions. Word had gotten around about my car, and everyone wanted to know what had happened.
Apparently, Rose had been calling the number I’d given her—the number of the burner I rarely turned on. When attempts to reach me were unsuccessful, several people tried to contact Steve. He had responded simply with, “She’s fine,” which raised even more questions.
Rampant speculation ensued. People wanteddetails.
Well, they weren’t going to get them from me. They already had most of the pertinent information about the accident from Chuck anyway.
I answered the most obvious questions simply and honestly without providing additional information. Those queries I deemed too personal or intrusive—like those about Steve and me—I either deflected or ignored outright.
“Where’s Jessie tonight?” I asked during one of my escapes to the kitchen.
Max wasn’t a gossip, and while Lou liked to tease me, the man knew how to mind his business.
“Off,” Max told me. “Rose finally broke down and bought a new commercial dishwasher. They installed it yesterday, so Rose told her to take the night off.”
So much for talking to Jessie tonight.
I cornered Rose instead. “I need to talk to you. In private, please.”
Judging by the sparkle in her eye, she thought I was going to divulge some of those details. Boy, was she going to be disappointed.
Rose led the way to the small office she kept in the back. She rarely used it; she preferred to do business at the bar or in the lounge. I thought, at one time, the tiny room used to function as a larder.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Rose asked, closing the door behind us.
“I’m putting in my two weeks’ notice.”
Her lips parted, and her eyes opened wide before narrowing. There was that disappointment.
She shook her head. “No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“I mean, no. I’m not accepting your resignation. If this is about people getting up in your business, I’ll tell them to back off, okay?”
“It’s not that,” I told her.
“Then, what?”
I wasn’t about to go into all that. I liked Rose—I really did—but there were aspects of my personal life I wasn’t willing to share with her or anyone else in Shadow Ridge. Steve was a glaring exception, and even he didn’t know the half of it.
“I told you up front that this was a temporary thing,” was what I said.
She waved her hand dismissively and made apfftsound. “Please. No one believed that.”
“Excuse me?” I said, sitting up straighter.
