Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
W ould he just hurry the heck up!
Larissa stared at the obnoxious man holding the line up, preventing her and the others from moving forward.
The jack-hole at the back, who was holding the door open until the line moved, wasn’t helping either. Cold air was blowing inside, making the whole experience of getting her Kentucky license painful, as if going to the DMV wasn’t painful enough.
Staring a hole into the man’s back was useless, or he would have moved forward by now. She really hated confrontations, but she hated being cold even worse.
“Excuse me; do you mind moving forward so the person at the back will close the door?”
The man in front of her just turned his head to the side, only giving her the profile of what he looked like. “He should have waited outside until there was room for him to come inside.”
“He should have, but he didn’t,” Larissa agreed, still trying to be polite. “If you took a few steps forward, he would be able to close the door.”
“There’s a line that says do not step forward until called. I’m up to the line.”
“I’m sure they won’t mind if you go over a few inches.”
“It’s the DMV. They care.” The jerk turned his face forward again.
Running her tongue along the inside of her cheek instead of snapping at the rude man, Larissa promised not to say another word. Surely, someone in the back would say something to the man holding the door open.
Neither of the men moved to alleviate the problem, the office grew colder, and if the woman behind her with the stroller bumped her crutch again, they were going to have a problem.
To heck with this. She’d wait to transfer the license. It wasn’t like she was able to drive, anyway, and it wasn’t worth creating a scene in a town she was still unfamiliar with, especially with the people who lived here.
“Excuse me; will you let me pass?”
The man in front of her must have been texting, because when he spun around, his cell phone was in his hand. His outflung hand struck her crutch, jerking it out from under her. She lost her balance and started falling backward.
“Watch out! My baby!” the woman behind her yelled as she yanked the stroller to the side.
In a split second, Larissa felt herself lifted into the air by the man who had almost knocked her down.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were on crutches?” Brownish eyes, which were so dark they almost appeared black, glowered into hers.
“I don’t know … Maybe because I thought you could see them,” she snapped.
“If I did, I would have let you go in front of me.”
“Okay,” she said, giving him a disbelieving look.
He became angrier. “I would have.”
“Huh! Yeah right; you wouldn’t even take a couple of steps forward. All this could have been prevented if you had just done what I asked. I’m probably going to have pneumonia because of you.”
The man still holding her looked over her shoulder. “Nial, shut the fucking door!”
“I can’t—it’s jammed!” Nial yelled back.
“Then why didn’t you say something?”
“I was going to when it was my turn!”
Larissa’s head went back and forth as the men yelled at each other.
“He didn’t shut the door because it was broken,” he said, giving her a smug grin.
Balefully, Larissa stared at him. “So I heard.”
“So, it wasn’t my fault.”
“Yes, I got that, too. Do you mind putting me down, please?”
Despite his irritation at her, he set her gently down on her good foot and held on to her until he returned her crutch. “There you go. How’s that?”
“Fine. Thank you.”
“Next!” the clerk called out.
Looking her over, as if gauging she had her balance, the man turned and walked toward the clerk.
Would it have hurt him to let her go first? She was fuming. Any thought of leaving had disappeared. She was going to stay in line until her foot rotted off, she was so angry. At least what he needed done didn’t take long, and it wasn’t long until he was striding out without giving her another glance.
That dude was so conceited she was surprised little blue jays didn’t fly out of his ass when he walked.
Thankfully, she had the required paperwork and transferring her license didn’t take long, other than a quick vision test.
Hobbling out the DMV, she decided to grab some lunch before returning to her office. There really weren’t many choices. The food at the diner consisted of hamburgers and fries, and King’s Restaurant was more expensive but offered more variety. Not wanting to call Priss to broaden her choices, she bit the bullet and headed toward King’s.
The restaurant was packed. She guessed everyone else in town was sick of hamburgers as well.
Larissa was happy the hostess found her a small table. She ordered a diet soda and browsed the menu, only lifting her gaze when she heard someone being seat at the table next to her.
When the hostess moved away, Larissa found herself staring at the rude man from the DMV.
Could she catch a break today?
Self-consciously, she hurriedly bent her head over the menu. She really didn’t want them staring at each other as they ate their meals at their respective tables. If it weren’t so obvious, she would leave. Concluding she would order the food to go rather than be uncomfortable, Larissa waited for the waiter to come.
“I’ll take the pork chops and a baked potato, with asparagus.”
As she was about to order it to go, a couple took the empty chairs at DMV dude’s table, fortunately blocking her view. She changed her mind about eating there and took out her cell phone to check for messages.
Unable to help herself, she peered through her lashes at the couple who had sat down. The older man had caught her eye. He was striking, with a chiseled jaw and broad shoulders dressed in a suit. There was something about him that struck a chord of fear inside of her without knowing why.
It was apparent the man and woman were a couple by the way they spoke to each other, and the arm placed over the back of her chair was a clear sign of possession. The scary man was giving the conceited jerk a warning.
Larissa almost wished she had a better view of their faces.
She lost interest in the other table when her attention was diverted by her waitress.
“I’m sorry. We’re out of pork chops. Would you like to choose another entrée?”
Choosing a strip steak instead, she forced herself to go through her messages. She dealt with those which couldn’t wait and was electronically paying her storage unit when she noticed the food arrive at the other table. No wonder there weren’t any pork chops left. All three people had ordered them.
Irritated, she set her phone down as her waitress arrived with her food.
She told herself not to say anything when the waitress asked if there was anything she could get her, but Larissa wasn’t able to help herself.
“I have a quick question. How is it that I ordered before the table next to me, yet they all were able to get the pork chops when I wasn’t?”
Larissa wanted to slink under the table when all the occupants at other table looked in her direction.
“The owner of the restaurant placed the order before you sat down,” her waitress explained. “May I get you something else?”
“No, thanks. I’m good.”
Humiliated with the people still staring at her, she started cutting her steak.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt your meal. My friend texted me that he was coming, and I placed the order, not realizing we were taking the last. I apologize.”
“No, no, there’s no need to apologize. I shouldn’t have said anything to begin with.” Larissa took a bite, hoping the woman would turn around and continue with her meal.
The pretty redhead smiled. “Let me make it up to you. I’ll have Valerie give you a gift certificate. Your meal will be on the house.”
Swallowing her bite, she forked another piece of steak. “No, that’s completely unnecessary.”
“Eat your food, Evie. Can’t you tell she wants to be left alone?” the man from the DMV told the woman.
Hoping the woman would take the advice, she raised the steak to her mouth. It was delicious. If she had two good feet, she would kick herself.
“Moon, I’m trying to make a customer happy …”
Larissa’s eyes flew to the table at the same time she tried to swallow the bite of steak. Immediately, she regretted the action when she felt it go down the wrong way. Raising her napkin to her mouth, she tried to cough the steak up.
“You want to make her happy? Quit talking to her.”
“I will …”
She felt the steak sink lower in her throat. She dropped the napkin and clutched her throat, feeling herself turning red … She couldn’t breathe …
“Where are you going?” the woman asked.
“To keep your customer from choking to death.”