Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
TEMPERANCE
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumbled under my breath as I bent to retrieve an order pad and pen from beneath the counter.
Sally’s voice sounded just as unhappy as she said, “Well shit. Look what the cat just dragged in.”
We watched Harley’s hips sway with an exaggeration that made it look more ridiculous than anything else as she moved like she was on a catwalk to a booth by the window that just so happened to be in my section.
“That’s just freaking perfect.”
Sally grabbed my hand,. “You want me to cover that table?”
Sally hadn’t worked the floor since her hip started giving her problems. She handled the register and the people who chose to sit at the counter so she didn’t have to walk around as much, and there no way was I letting her cause herself any undo pain just so I wouldn’t be uncomfortable.
I gave her fingers a squeeze. “Nah. Thanks, but I got it. I wasn’t afraid of her back then, and I’m sure as hell not now. ”
She shot me an approving smile before releasing my hand and heading down to help one of her customers.
With all my other tables taken care of for the moment, I had no excuse to avoid Harley, so I grabbed a menu before heading to her table.
“Hey there,” I said with a smile so forced my face felt like brittle plastic at risk of cracking as I placed the menu down in front of her. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Wow.” Harley lifted her head toward me with a catty smirk on her face.
Leaning back in the booth, she stretched an arm out along the back and looking at me like I was simply a servant and she was royalty.
“This is like déjà vu. You waiting tables at Evergreen again just like in high school. Seems not much has changed, huh? Oh, except that you don’t have your perfect boyfriend anymore, do you? ”
Well, looked like she was just going to dive right in. Instead of stooping to her level, I kept my smile firmly in place and repeated, “Drink?”
“Mineral water.”
“We don’t have mineral water,” I said flatly.
Harley blew out an indignant sigh and looked to the ceiling like she was put out. “Fine. Then bottled.” I started to turn away when she spoke again. “In a glass. With a lemon wedge on the rim, and one squeezed into the glass. Not dropped, squeezed. And five ice cubes. Only five. You got that?”
I could feel my eyelid tick, but that goddamn smile stayed on my lips. “I think I can handle it. I’ll just give you a moment to look over the menu.”
With that, I spun on my heels and headed for the counter. “God,” I grumbled quietly as I prepared her water to her exact specifications. “She’s a piece of work.”
“Luckily she doesn’t come in here too often,” Sally returned in a low voice so no one could overhear.
“Don’t know if that’s necessarily good news, babe. It just means she’s here to screw with me.”
Sally’s mouth pulled into a tight, unhappy line. “Didn’t think of that.”
“Yeah. And something tells me this won’t be the last time she shows her face in here.”
She cast her gaze to Harley, her face falling into a frown before she looked back at me and wiped it clean. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, darlin’. Somethin’ tells me whatever showdown she’s gunnin’ for isn’t gonna work out in her favor.”
Before I could question her on that ominous declaration, she whipped around and walked off.
The bell over the door tinkled again just a few seconds before a voice spoke, “Well if it isn’t Temperance Levine.”
I spun around so fast my hair smacked me in the face. “Carl? Oh my god!”
He grinned as I rounded the counter and went to give him a hug. “It’s great to see you, Tempie.”
I’d known Carl Dwyer since he moved to town during middle school.
He wasn’t an integral part of our immediate circle of friends, but he was so social that he didn’t need a circle.
Most everyone in every crowd knew him and liked him.
Sweet and good-looking in that boy-next-door way, he wasn’t as big or built as Hayes and the other athletes in high school, but he carried himself with confidence, treated people with kindness, and was funny as hell, so he was easily one of the most popular guys in school.
After college he’d taken a job that required a lot of travel, so whenever his work happened to bring him to Chicago, he’d reach out, and we’d catch up over drinks or dinner. It didn’t happen a lot, but often enough that we knew the basics of each other’s’ lives thanks to the infrequent visits.
“It’s good to see you too,” I said, taking a step back to get a better look at him. He looked the same as always, his sandy brown hair styled perfectly into place, his expensive suit freshly pressed, his tie straight as an arrow. “So what are you doing here? Are you back in Hope Valley for good?”
“Yeah, just came back a couple weeks ago. The company offered me a promotion that’ll eliminate all the traveling, so I jumped on it.
The job’s in Richmond, but the commute isn’t too bad, and I was able to settle here so I could be close to family and friends.
It’ll be nice not having to bounce around from one shitty furnished apartment after another for once. ”
“I bet,” I returned on a laugh. “And now we’re finally in the same town for more than one damn night. We need to catch up.”
His smile was easy and light. “Definitely.”
“Uh, excuse me.” I rolled my eyes at Harley’s annoying, whiny voice cutting into the moment I was having with an old friend. “Is it too much to ask for some service around here?”
I let out a few choice words under my breath before looking over my shoulder and replying, “Just one sec,” in a saccharin-sweet voice and turning back to Carl.
“Jesus Christ. Harley Madison’s still a bitch on wheels, huh?”
“Understatement of the freaking century. You staying for lunch?”
He glanced over my shoulder at Harley, giving her an angry look. “Wasn’t plannin’ on it, but now I’m thinking I should.”
I wasn’t going to argue. If he wanted to take my back, I’d be more than happy to let him. “Counter, booth, or table?”
“Counter.”
“All right, then. Take your pick of stools. Sally’ll be right with you. I have to go check on my tables.”
“All right, sweetheart.” With one last withering look at Harley, he offered, “I’ll be right over there.”
He pulled up a seat and shot Sally a playfully charming smile, and I headed back to Satan’s minion, pulling my pad and pen from my apron.
“Sorry for the wait,” I said, still trying to maintain the high road. “What can I get you?”
Her entire face pinched together in snooty displeasure.
“I want the chicken Caesar salad, but with grilled salmon instead of chicken. I want shaved parmesan, not that shitty grated stuff. And I want fresh croutons, not the ones you’ve had sitting out all damn day, and they better not be from a box.
Oh, and dressing on the side, not on the salad. ”
What. A. Bitch!
With that, I went skidding right off the high road into a ditch.
Returning my pen and tablet to the pocket of my apron, I leaned forward, braced my palms on the table, and spoke loud enough for everyone around us to hear.
“Look, I know what you’re doing here, and I know exactly what you’re hoping to get out of this exchange.
I hate to break it to you, but you’re wasting your time, so do us both a favor and just get on with it already so I can be done with you and your drama.
I’ve got other customers to take care of. ”
Her eyes flashed and I could practically see her rage boiling over. “You always were a bitch,” she hissed.
I stood tall and crossed my arms over my chest. “If that’s not the pot calling the kettle black, I don’t know what is.”
Sliding out of the booth, she took a step closer so we were practically toe-to-toe. “You’re a joke. A pathetic joke. Poor little orphan Tempie,” she mocked condescendingly. “All alone because the only people who cared about you are all dead.”
Everything inside me turned to ice. I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t even breathe.
All I could do was stand there and bleed out, her words having flayed me right open.
I didn’t expect anything she had to say to have an effect on me, then again, I’d totally underestimated her desire to be the most vile human being to ever walk the planet.
She didn’t bother pulling her punches, and that particular blow had hit its mark with dead accuracy.
“That’s enough.” I heard Carl’s voice, but it sounded muffled, as if it was coming from a far distance. I could feel him at my back, but his warmth did nothing to penetrate the ice that had formed over me all of a sudden. “You need to leave, Harley. Right now.”
But she didn’t. She kept talking, twisting the knife in my heart deeper and deeper.
“Everyone’s talkin’ and we know what you’re doing,” she continued.
“You’re sticking around town, hopin’ for a pity fuck from your ex-boyfriend since no one else wants you.
” Her top lip curled up in a sneer. “You’re pathetic. ”
“Harley,” Carl said in a warning growl. “Swear to Christ, woman. You don’t get the hell outta here right now—”
That was all he managed to get out before the atmosphere around us all shifted so abruptly it was a wonder we managed to stay on our feet.
“This shit’s over. Right fuckin’ now.” Hayes’s furious voice broke through the haze of pain I was currently stuck in, and I turned just in time to see him storming through the diner in our direction.
He extended his arm and pointed at Harley.
“Whatever fucked-up stunt you’re tryin’ to pull isn’t gonna happen. You hear me?”
I didn’t bother telling him it was too late for that.
Harley’s face turned pale in response to a very pissed-off Hayes. Unfortunately, the woman was the very definition of a massive bitch, and her fear didn’t last long.
“I don’t know who the hell you think you are, Detective Walker, but you’ve got no right to boss me around.”