Where Winter Finds You (Black Dagger Brotherhood #18)- J.R Ward Page 0,24
was next with a single-minded focus that bordered on addiction.
Except iAm shook his head. “Never mind. You just finish up here and head home.”
Before she could stop herself, she reached out and touched his arm. “You can tell me. Whatever it is.”
“It’s not my story, and that’s only part of the problem.”
iAm turned and went back toward the kitchen. And as she watched him go, she wanted to chase after him and make him talk to her. But that wasn’t her place, and not because she was only a waitress. You didn’t get between siblings. She used to live that firsthand with her own brother.
To keep from sliding down that slope of regret and recrimination, she canceled the transaction out of the register, tucked her order folder into her half apron, and headed over to the only occupied table. She wasn’t sure where Emile was. The couple he had been waiting on were long gone, which was what happened when you just ate an app, an entrée, and a dessert. As opposed to four apps, seventeen entrées and the entire dessert menu.
As she came up to the table, the blond male and the human-ish female looked up at her with expectation.
“Chef is pleased to comp your meal,” Therese said. “With his best regards.”
The male shook his head. “iAm doesn’t have to do that. Where is he?”
“I believe Chef is in the kitchen. Would you like me to get him for you?”
“Nah, it’s cool. He’s probably working.”
“Is there anything else I can get you both?”
“We are so full. Even him.” The female smiled, and tilted her head. “Tell me, where are you from?”
“Michigan.”
“So you’re used to the long, cold winters,” the male said.
“I am.”
“And what brought you to Caldwell?” the shellan asked.
Therese shrugged through the lancing pain that went through her chest. “I just felt like a relocation.”
“Caldwell is a wonderful place to live.” The female smiled. “Do you know anyone here?”
“Not really. But it’s okay. I’m just getting settled.”
“Well, remember to be kind to yourself. Transitions are hard even when they’re exciting.”
It was as she stared down into the female’s eyes that she understood the male’s attraction. She totally got it. There was something incredibly wise and kind about the shellan, a depth of knowledge and understanding that transcended the physical and made her resplendent.
“I do what I can,” Therese heard herself mumble. “Anyway, be careful out in that storm even if you aren’t driving.”
“Thank you. You, too.”
The male indicated the table with his broad palm. “And thank you for working so hard for us.”
“My pleasure. Take care.”
Therese left the pair feeling defeated. Her hourly wages were low, as was to be expected. Tips were where the money was at. But her suddenly sad mood was about more than the lack of tip. The idea of going back to that rooming house made her want to cry, although that was her own fault, wasn’t it. She’d had another option. Just waiting for her.
Except she’d turned that down. Out of pride. And out of the fact that anything that had to do with Trez was complicated even if it looked simple.
Her attraction was the problem.
Taking cover behind the water station, she figured she’d wait for the couple to leave, clear their coffee cups and water glasses, and then drag herself back to the hellhole. Yay. Excitement.
She passed a little time getting out some pitchers from the cabinets under the water dispenser, mopping around the countertop, wiping down the cash register surface. The quiet of the restaurant seemed to surround her, follow her, stick close by, a stalker that kept to the shadows. And with her instincts firing for absolutely no reason, her eyes made rounds of the empty bar behind her, the empty hostess stand, the other, completely empty dining room.
Restless. So restless and anxious for no justification she could think of.
Did she want to go back to the rooming house? No. Did she wish she could be normal around that Shadow? Yes. Did she wonder what Trez’s brother had been going to say? Absolutely.
But none of that explained her nagging sense of worry—
“Chef said I could go now.”
Therese tried to hide her jump of surprise. “Oh, Emile. Yes, me, too. Well, as soon as they leave.”
She leaned out from the water station. The couple was still there. The male had reached across the table and taken his shellan’s hand. He was staring into her eyes, his face rapt, a soft smile on his perfect lips.