help myself.”
He smiled politely.
Connie automatically placed two glasses of iced tea on the table. “This is unusual. Seeing the two of you here on a Friday night.” She gave Annie a long sideways look. Uh-oh. She’s seen the video.
“I’ll have a burger,” said Walter.
“Well done with an order of fries on the side?” asked Connie.
He smiled at her. “You betcha.”
She turned to give Annie a cool look. “How about you?”
“I’m not that hungry. Maybe some soup? Whatever the soup of the day is will be fine.”
Connie sniffed. “Sure thing.” She tossed Walter one last long-suffering look, then went to put their orders in.
“So,” Walter began, “Connie’s right. We never come to The Miramar Café on Fridays.”
“We never go anywhere on Fridays.”
“True. But then you’ve never been one of those people who can’t wait to get out of the office for the weekend. You’re like me. You live for your job. It’s what makes us so compatible.”
“Walter, I don’t live for my job. As a matter of fact, I don’t even really like it very much.”
He looked as if she’d just told him she hated puppies. “What do you mean you don’t like your job?”
“Working for a used-car dealership, even one that belongs to my family, isn’t my dream job. When I was studying for my MBA, this isn’t exactly where I imagined myself, you know?”
“Oh.” He took a sip of his iced tea. “I can see that,” he said carefully.
Here goes nothing. She gentled her voice. “There’s something I have to tell you. Remember the man who was in the café last Tuesday night? The one who you thought was choking?”
“Roy Rogers? Of course, I remember him. The man almost died right in front of us.” Poor Walter. He really was the last to know everything.
“Yeah. So, that’s not his real name. His name is Sam DeLuca. He was on a reality dating show, and he came to town to get away from the tabloids. And to see me.”
Walter frowned. “Is this some kind of joke?”
“Remember when I went to my mom’s house last week for the book club meeting? Well, there was no meeting. We watched the premiere of Single Gal instead.”
“The dating show where they hand out the roses?” She raised a brow, so he went on to explain, “It’s always front and center on all the tabloids in the express lane at the supermarket.”
“That’s the one.”
“Now I know this is a joke. The Annie I know would never waste time watching a reality TV show. Especially that one. You do know that’s all staged, don’t you?”
“Three weeks ago, I would have agreed with you. But I watched the show, and something happened that night that changed my life.”
Walter went quiet. “You’re serious about this.” He leaned forward in his seat. “Go on.” Annie had never seen him look so intense before.
“I … for lack of a better word, became infatuated with one of the contestants. All of America did, actually. And I couldn’t stop thinking about him, so I wrote him a letter.” She paused. “I wrote him that I wasn’t in love with you and that we needed to break up.”
Walter blinked. “You’re not in love with me?”
“I’m so sorry, Walter, but no, I’m not in love with you.”
“And you confided all this in a letter to a complete stranger?”
Annie cringed. “I know it was wrong to tell someone else before I told you, but if I hadn’t written that letter, I don’t think I would have realized it. At least, not for a while anyway. I think you’re a wonderful man and a terrific lawyer, but there’s just no zing between us.”
He bowed his head and stared down into his glass of iced tea. After a few long and horrible seconds, his shoulders began to shake. Oh no. He was crying. Walter was crying right here in their favorite booth in The Miramar Café.
What had she been thinking? Breaking up with him in a public venue? She was never taking Bridget’s advice again.
She reached out to touch his hand. “I’m so sorry. I know, I’m a horrible person.”
His head shot up to make eye contact. But instead of the expected tears, his eyes were filled with relief. And amusement.
What? This couldn’t be right.
“Walter, are you laughing?”
“Annie, you’re not a terrible person. As a matter of fact, you’re one of the best people I know. You’re smart, hardworking, family-oriented, and best of all, you can recite all the latest tax tables off the top of your