it was hard to avoid. Her own cell lay inert and soundless at the bottom of her clutch.
"Please excuse me," he muttered as he dug it out of his pocket, and the expression on his face when he looked at it didn't bode well — his jaw tensing up as he scanned the screen, every trace of good cheer erased from his face.
He said little, stayed guarded, but when he hung up a few seconds later a different man was standing in front of her, distant and focused on somewhere else entirely.
"Margaret, I'm sorry but I’m going to have to step away for a moment," he said, curt, before turning to Emmy. “This is something I really have to deal with now. It shouldn't take too long. I am terribly sorry but this... I cannot put it off. Please accept my apologies, Emmy.”
He didn't look her in the eye, and she was too surprised to say anything before he stalked away, but as she tracked his silhouette weaving through the crowded tables, a feeling of intense irritation washed through Emmy. It had been bad enough when he'd ignored her for days on end in private, but being walked out on in public — and not any public, but this crowd — was cruel.
Margaret obviously thought the same, because the look she cast on Emmy was now tinged with pity, surely not an emotion she was well acquainted with.
"I must say, I thought young men today had better manners," she said, and Emmy was torn between agreeing with her and giggling at the haughty tone. Add a few years and she could be a dead ringer for Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey.
The atmosphere at the table was awkward after Eric's abrupt departure, and when Margaret left the table to return to her own place, Emmy found herself ignored by her remaining neighbor — perhaps warned off by his wife, again. What had felt like peace earlier was turning into something closer to ostracism and the occasional pitying glances from other diners were making it intolerable. Ten minutes passed, then twenty — still no sign of Eric, or of the chocolate crème brûlée mentioned in the menu, so she stood up with a polite vague smile towards her table companions, none of whom was looking her way anyhow, and made her way to the restroom.
It was mercifully empty as she splashed some water on her face, still unsure about whether to go back to the table. It was such a relief to be away from the scrutiny of others, she didn't know whether she could face it again. The decision was made for her when she walked out, only to be ambushed by a guy she'd caught looking at her earlier — tall, blonde, designer stubble, expensive cologne, and a slight aura of sleaze as he leaned towards her.
"I couldn't help but notice you earlier," he said with a wide grin that aimed for charming but didn't quite make it. "My name's Victor. Victor Morgensen. You're... Emily?"
"Emily Flanagan," she replied, caught off guard.
"I hope you don't mind me following you here," he said, ingratiating and she did, very much. The guy was giving her the creeps.
"I'm not sure what it is you want, Mr. Morgensen, but I doubt..."
"Please," he cut in, "call me Victor. I just wanted to tell you that if you're tired of that prick Oswell, you should give me a call."
He fished out a business card from his pocket and slipped it into the side pocket of her clutch bag, in a move that left Emmy speechless.
"Unlike him, I never make the mistake of leaving a beautiful woman unattended," he added, his smile turning more leery than charming with every word.
He might've been handsome, but he was ringing every alarm bell in Emmy's head.
"Listen, Victor — I'm really not who you seem to think I am. And I am not interested. Now please, I'm afraid I have to go," Emmy said, because there was no way she was going back now, with this stalker in tow, and she brushed past him and made her way down the staircase to the cloakroom to recover her wrap and go home.
Fuck Eric. He could figure that one out on his own. Victor let her walk past without protesting, but she could feel his eyes boring into her back all the way down the stairs. She didn't look back.
Chapter Six
Outside, the temperature had dropped a few degrees and she cursed Eric under her