Page 16 of Grinch Girl

The resort washosting some sort of convention for dentists this week, so the entire place was overflowing with guests. As I headed for the restaurant, I paused at the concierge desk and shoved a stack of flyers about the Christmas Village beside the pamphlets advertising other activities in the area. A bunch of smiling dentists with perfect teeth would make a nice background addition to Wednesday’s filmed tree-decorating date.

Speed-walking now, I whipped my apron from my bag and tied it around the waist of my jeans with practiced hands. I winked at the hostess, and she mouthed my section number at me. Maureen didn’t appear until I’d delivered drink orders to three tables and turned their orders in to the kitchen, so she gave me a gracious nod instead of haranguing me about being five minutes late.

A single man was sitting at the last table in my section, the best window seat in the house. In the summer, the bright green of the golf course was eye-catching. In the fall, there was red and golden foliage in every direction. Right now, though, it was just brown and bare. And as I approached and realized the man was Bella’s city boyfriend, I stifled a groan. I’m sure the lack of anything to look at outside—as well as the lack of organic produce or sushi on the menu—was not increasing his appreciation for southeastern Wisconsin.

“What can I get you?” I asked, voice flat. He probably wouldn’t even recognize me.

Nate—that was his name, right?—looked up at me and blinked. “J-Bird! Do you work literally everywhere around here?” I hadn’t been around many British accents, but his wasn’t exactly upstairsDownton Abbey-esque.

“Pretty much.” I poured him ice water from a pitcher. “If you call me J-Bird again, I will make sure that everyone in the kitchen spits in your food.”

His lips turned down as he perused the menu. “I ate here last night, and so I wonder if that might actually improve the flavor of the dish.”

My nostrils flared as I suppressed a smile. The resort restaurant was always packed because it was the only place on site to get a meal. But he was right. The food was generally overdone and under-seasoned.

“Get the turkey chili and the bread bowl,” I advised. “The rolls come from a local bakery, and you can add hot sauce to the chili.”

“Done!” He snapped his menu shut and grinned up at me. No, he wasn’t Bella’s usual type at all, but I could get why she went for him. There was an energy about him. Like his very presence changed the air molecules around his body. Made them fidget or dance. It was transferable too—it made me feel more awake, more charged.

I took the menu and nodded, backing away. “Wait!” he exclaimed.

But before he could go on, Maureen appeared at my side, looking crazed around the eyes. I knew that look. “Is the POS system down again?” I sighed.

She nodded frantically. “Thank God you’re on shift.”

I left Nate’s table without a backward glance and went to troubleshoot. The restaurant’s machine was way glitchy, and I had to fuss with it about twice a month. “You have to replace this, Mo,” I lectured her for the fourth time as we crossed therestaurant. “This model stopped being supported years ago. One of these days I’m not going to be able to fix it.”

“That’s what you say every time,” she replied.

By the time I got the stupid thing up and running again, the kitchen was done with my tables’ food, so I delivered them quickly. To Nate’s, I dropped off four bottles of different hot sauces with his chili. “Thanks! Hey, I want to ask you something,” he started. “Not food-related.”

But the bartender was waving at me from across the room. The kid couldn’t mix drinks for shit. Most people ordered beer or wine, so he survived. But every time he attempted something more complicated than a gin and tonic, the drinks were returned. “Hold that thought and eat your chili,” I said to Nate. “I’ll be back.”

Two dirty martinis and six dessert orders taken later, I stopped by Nate’s table again. I kinda liked how he had the caps of all four hot sauce bottles off. Instead of choosing one to dump into his bowl of chili, he was adding individual dashes of sauce to each bite.

His nose was bright red and a little sweaty. He held up the last bottle and shook it at me. “This one is hot,” he said cheerfully.

I scoffed at him. “Not really,” I lied. “I gave you the baby sauces.” Untrue. The bottle he was holding up was a nine on the Scoville level, and I was honestly impressed he was going in for another taste. I’d seen that particular bottle make grown men weep.

He wiped his face with a napkin. “Listen, since I’m going to be in town now for a whole month, I don’t want to stay at the resort the whole time. I need a recommendation for somewhere else. A short-term rental maybe.”

“My apartment building does month-to-month rentals,” I said, thinking of the empty unit on the other side of Sean’s.

But…

I cocked my head at him. “You’re going to actually stay in Wisconsin for the whole month?” I’d assumed he was going to drive back and forth from Chicago when he had to do hisSingle Bellsdates. “Don’t you have a job?” I asked bluntly.

He didn’t take offense. His teeth flashed. “Yes, I have a job. I run my own technology marketing firm. But I don’t need to be in a particular office. I usually work wherever I am.”

Must be nice. I thought of all the gas money I could save if I weren’t constantly moving from place to place to work. It was almost a thirty-minute drive from my apartment in Falworth to this restaurant.

He went on. “I’m staying in Wisconsin for the month because I need to be around Bella.”

Blech. Of course. “How romantic,” I said, pulling out his check.

His eyes widened in apparent shock. “Oh. No, we’re not—it’s not—Bella and me aren’t dating or anything like that.”

I frowned down at him in confusion, and he shook his head quickly. “We’re…coworkers, in a way. She hired me to help her launch a software product.”

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