No Vacancy (The Aveline Series Book 2)

Chapter 40

DARCY

I was choking.I was choking on a piece of roll, and I was not only making a scene, but Penn had jumped up from his chair and started doing the Heimlich Maneuver on me with great force.

One thrust.

This was not a part of the plan.

Two thrusts.

I probably shouldn’t have shoved so much bread into my mouth.

Three thrusts.

If they have to do CPR, at least my armpits are shaved.

A second later, out popped the little round death ball, and I watched, listless, as it rolled across the table. I went limp in the chair, and Penn kneeled in front of me. “Are you okay? Darcy, are you okay?”

I was still coughing, nodding, my face red and eyes watering with such force, I was afraid the entire restaurant would flood. Penn handed me a glass of water that Sienna had graciously brought to our table, and I chugged it.

“I’m fine,” I said, trying to catch my breath. “Thank you.” I leaned up and turned around toward the table again.

Penn moved, checking again to make sure I was okay before slowly sitting down across from me, watching, and presumably waiting for me to choke again. I wondered if he had ever done the Heimlich Maneuver before. He seemed to know exactly where to put his hands to efficiently eradicate the bread ball. Maybe he had a tendency to go on dates with girls who gorge themselves with carbs before the main course.

I had choked on the idea that he would be staying in Aveline longer. This was the exact opposite of what I wanted to hear from him. Why on Earth would this man want to stay in our town? It was obvious I hadn’t been doing my job well enough, and I would need to up the ante. I needed to make sure, despite the fact he had just saved my life, that he wouldn’t want to stay another moment in Aveline.

“Wow, you sure know how to bring some action to a date, don’t you?” Penn said, smiling.

I forced a grin, took another sip of water, and finally felt back to normal. “Yeah, I have no idea how that happened.”

He eyed me. “It might have had something to do with you shoving two rolls in your mouth.”

I brushed him off. “I think it went down the wrong pipe, you know?”

Sienna came back to our table, and I decided that even though I was going to go Operation AA 2.0, I was going to go easy on her. She didn’t deserve to take the brunt of my plan just for drawing the unlucky number of serving our table. She brought me water when I was dying after all.

“Glad you’re okay,” she said hesitantly. “Are you guys ready to order?”

“Yes, that near death experience really increased my appetite. I’m starving.”

We ordered steaks, mine a six-ounce sirloin medium done, and Penn ordered an eight-ounce rare. When they arrived, we cut into them, and while mine was cooked perfectly, I decided that, regardless of what Penn thought, his just happened to be too done.

“I knew it,” I said, while I shook my head and closed my eyes. “This is not okay.”

“What?” Penn asked, taking his first bite.

“Your steak. Penny, look, it’s not rare at all. That steak is practically well done.” I sighed heavily but secretly patted myself on the back for throwing in the nickname.

Penn’s eyes grew wide, and he looked down at the steak in front of him. “No, it’s fine. It’s perfect.”

I turned around, looking for a waitress to flag down, my hand in the air. “It’s okay, I will fix this for you. Hey! Miss? Miss?”

I flipped back around to the table as another waitress approached. “Hi,” I said, looking at her name tag, “Don’t mind me, Katarina, I was just looking at your name tag.” I stuck my hand to my mouth as though I had a secret. “Not like this guy over here—he kind of has a boob fetish.”

Penn covered his face with his hands and shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

“Can I help you?” Katarina asked.

I clapped my hands. “Oh, yes! My boyfriend here, he asked for his steak to be rare, and, well, it just doesn’t look rare to me. Penny? Penny, show her your steak.”

Penn’s face looked defeated, and I pulled my lips in to avoid the smile I knew was spreading.

“Honestly, it’s fine.”

I tapped my finger next to his plate. “Do you see it?” I squinted my eyes, poking his steak with my fork. “See? He just doesn’t like it this well done. He wants it to be moo-ing, you know what I mean?” I chuckled loudly and patted her arm.

Penn lowered his head. “Honestly, Darcy, it’s fine.”

I ignored him. “Could you bring him a new one?”

“Absolutely,” Katarina replied. “I’m so sorry. I’ll bring that right out.” She took the plate despite Penn’s insistence it was fine, and when she left the table, I continued eating mine as quickly as possible while trying to avoid another choking incident.

“You’re so lucky to have me looking out for you, you know?” I said as I took a sip of my wine.

On the outside, I looked around happily at the restaurant, but on the inside, I was cringing so hard at my propensity to be so obnoxious. Who would have known I had the ability to improvise on the spot and do it with such conviction that it would sound completely natural? Honestly, at the rate I was going, an Oscar might be in my future.

I would have to remember to thank Penn Murphy personally for giving me the role of a lifetime.

By the time the waitress came back with another steak, I had finished mine.

“I’m so sorry about that, sir. I hope this one is better for you,” the waitress replied.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Penn said. “Just like the other one,” he mumbled under his breath.

I turned toward the waitress and smiled. “Thank you so much. Could you bring us a box for that? Oh, and the check. I think we are ready to go.”