thing, hon. How ‘bout you, Mr. Barrett?”
“I’ll take a beer. Draft,” he answered.
Marnie watched the woman make her way back to the bar, where a heavyset man was drying glasses and placing them on a shelf in front of a mirrored wall.
“What are you thinking?” David asked.
“I was wondering how long she had to practice to learn how to wiggle her buns like that,” Marnie replied.
David cracked up.
Marnie grinned. “It’s not that funny,” she said as he continued to chuckle.
“What’s funny is that you swing your tushie a hell of a lot better than Jolene does.”
“I do?” She couldn’t think of anything to say after a statement like that.
Jolene returned with their drinks. “You ready to order?”
“Hamburger with everything . . . and fries,” David answered. He looked at Marnie. “Is that OK?”
She nodded in agreement.
“Comin’ right up.”
“I take it I’ve been here before, since Jolene knows me.”
“You might say that.”
Marnie was getting thoroughly ticked off at his enigmatic answers, and her voice was sharp as she countered. “Well, why don’t you say that, then? How about helping me out here? Did we eat here often?”
“No. We didn’t eat here. At least we didn’t after we married. Jolene knows you because you worked here.”
She fell back against the red vinyl seat. “I worked here?”
“Yep. Wiggled your cute little tushie at me . . . till you caught me.” His voice turned bitter, and he took a swig from the frothy mug in front of him.
“I . . . I wore clothes like that?” she glanced at Jolene who was standing at the bar.
“Nope, yours were shorter and tighter.”
“I was a waitress, in a place like this.” It was a statement, not a question. She looked him square in the eyes and asked, “What did I do here?”
He leaned across the table until his face almost touched hers. In a low, sexy voice, he answered, “Anything you could, sweetheart. Anything you could.”
Chapter 11
At first, the meaning of his words floated by her. Surely, he didn’t mean what it sounded like, she thought. His smirk and his stare revealed the cold, hard truth. Yes, he meant it all right. But I couldn’t have. I just couldn’t have. No way am I the woman he is implying.
Ever since Ruth had faced her on the stairs that first day and told her she was going to jail, Marnie had worried about what she could have done, what kind of person she was. This morning she had faced the fact she was a bad mother, and Ruth had said she was an unfaithful wife. Now she was being told she was promiscuous. David didn’t have to spell it out. What he meant was plain.
She closed her eyes to steady herself against the spinning sensation.
I will not pass out. I will not pass out, she repeated as she gripped the edge of the table tightly.
“Marnie? What’s the matter?” His voice was suddenly concerned.
He got up and moved to her side of the booth and put his arm around her.
“Hang on. Don’t faint. Here, take a sip of your drink.” He held the glass to her lips.
She took a sip. After a minute, she opened her eyes. The room had stopped spinning.
“Are you OK? You turned so white and were holding on so tightly I thought you were going to pass out.”
“I’ll be OK in a minute. What you said . . . it shook me, that’s all. I don’t like what I’m finding out about myself.”
At that point, Jolene appeared with their order.
“Marnie, you all right? You’re as white as a sheet.”
“She’ll be OK. This is the first time she’s been out of the house since she was ill. She’ll feel better when she eats something.”
Marnie drank some more of her Coke and ate a French fry. “I feel better.” As David withdrew his arm, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
She sat up and reached for her hamburger. Taking a big bite, she made a face as she chewed it and swallowed. Pulling the top off, she looked on the table where the catsup was sitting.
“Is everything good? Do you need anything else?” Jolene asked.
“Yes, I need some mustard,” Marnie said.
“Well, my mistake. I thought you took mayo on your burger,” Jolene said. She returned quickly with a yellow squeeze bottle.
David watched Marnie take her hamburger apart and use her knife to scrape the mayonnaise off the bun and the meat. “Since when did you change from mayo to mustard?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she answered