Chapter Sixteen
E mma brushed damp palms down the short skirt of her Chinese-style dress yet again, as waves of nerves threatened to swamp her.
“We don’t have to go in if you’d rather we didn’t.”
Pete’s gruff old voice turned Emma’s head in his direction. She reached out a hand to grasp his arm. “Thank you, but I’m fine. It’s just a little daunting, knowing that half the town is here to see who I’m going to walk through that door with. Don’t they have better things to do?”
A soft chuckle preceded Pete’s next words. “Not on a Friday night, they don’t. The boys are all beside themselves, wondering who it might be. Wonderin’ why no one’s talkin’. There are a few trucks missing from out here, so I’m guessing that some haven’t made it here yet. That should give them something to think about.” He glanced at her. “You ready for your big entrance, missy?”
Amusement flooded her, washing away the nerves. “No one’s called me missy since I was ten years old.” She nodded and took a fortifying breath. “Let’s do it.”
As Pete put his hand to The Cow’s door handle, he smiled at her. “Your young man should be here. He works the bar almost every Friday night. I wonder what he’ll think of you walking in with an old man like me?”
Emma flushed, heat rushing up her chest to the tips of her ears.
Great, now I look like a Muppet.
“Gabe’s not my anything. He wouldn’t notice if I walked in with a duck.”
Pete’s chuckle turned into full laughter. “That’s strange. I don’t recall mentioning any names.” Pete held his arm out for her as he pulled the door open. “You are right about one thing. I could be a duck and he wouldn’t see me tonight, not with that dress you’re wearing. You look lovely, girl. Just the thing to catch his attention—and keep it.”
Silence descended when, as one, everyone in the entire bar turned and stared.
Emma swallowed and forced a smile onto her mouth. This was even worse than the first night she’d walked in with Darby. She glanced at Pete and received an affirming pat on her forearm.
A real, full-blown smile split her lips because of Pete’s silent support. How ridiculous for all these people to be here, staring at her like this.
A beaming Max moved toward them from across the wide dance floor.
“Evening Pete, Emma. If you’ll follow me, I have the best table in the house ready for you.”
He spun and made his way back the way he’d come, stopping in front of a booth next to one of the wide-open, double-hung windows overlooking both the bistro and gardens outside.
Beautifully crafted handmade place mats were laid with silver flatware, a cut-crystal vase containing a single white rose standing between the two place settings. Wine glasses gleamed in the soft, muted light from the dimmed spotlights overhead.
Max seated Emma and handed out the menus.
“I’ll leave you to decide what you’ll have. Any requests for drinks?”
Emma flicked her gaze over the fancy menu in her hands, new from the last time she’d been here, only two weeks ago.
Max smiled at her when she looked up at him questioningly. “I change the menu once a month. Keeps things more interesting. I had these ones made special for tonight.”
Emma shook her head and pushed her fringe out of her eyes. “What a shame it was wasted on me. The normal one would’ve been fine.”
A conspiratorial grin wound onto Max’s mouth as he leaned down. “Pete told me it was him. I wanted to give you guys a good meal. You have quite a kitty to use up. It’s going to take more than one night to get through it. What can I get you to drink?”
*
Emma pushed aside her plate. Determined as she was, she just couldn’t finish the amount of food on it. She loved food and always tended to order too much, but this time she believed it wasn’t her over-ordering that was the problem.
Max was intent on giving them value for their money, and by the looks of the food still on her plate he must think that meant fattening her up.
Sighing heavily, she sat back and groaned aloud.
“Too much for you, my dear?” Pete’s amusement sparkled in his faded-brown eyes.
“You could say that.”
Emma took in the amount of food left on Pete’s plate. There was none. His helping had looked significantly smaller than hers when they’d brought them over. When she’d queried Gabe, he’d shrugged a shoulder and told her to ask Max.
“Excuse me, Pete, but I need to visit the ladies’ room. I’ll be back soon.”
Moving through the packed bar and dining area, Emma felt eyes watching her every step. Placing her hand on the bathroom door to push it open, she raised her gaze to see who it was that had her so on edge.
Gabe.
He stood behind the bar, wiping down a stack of newly washed, steaming glasses, his eyes firmly on her. A slight smile widened his delicious mouth and he nodded once. He stared a moment longer, then turned to place the glass behind him.
Emma shoved the door hard and walked into the bathroom, going to the last stall. The man had been weird all night. He hadn’t spoken to her, other than offering the most basic of courtesies.
The main door to the ladies’ room opened several times, the last of which had hurried footsteps rushing to the stalls beside her. Doors slammed. Voices rose over the sound of the flushing toilet.
Emma stepped out, set her small bag on the counter and washed her hands, pushing at her hair to make sure it would stay up in its twist and not fall out all over the place like it usually did. She smoothed her hands down the front of her dress, straightening her skirt and turning in the mirror to check that it still looked okay.
As the water slowed, the voices became distinguishable. One voice in particular stood out.
“You’d think she’d have the decency to pick someone her own age.”
Millie.
Emma had seen the death stares sent her way over the course of the meal. Stares that she’d ignored after the first five minutes, simply because she didn’t have the energy to waste.
“I mean, honestly. Pete Hammond? He’d have to be what? Eighty? She’s making a total fool of herself and she doesn’t even know it. The old man only asked her out because he felt sorry for her. It’s funny when you look at it. The idiot men in this town fell all over themselves to make that stupid list. When it came down to it though, none of them wanted to actually date her. That’s why they left it this long.”
Emma paused in applying her lipstick.
Another voice piped up from the stall beside Millie’s. “But I thought they all agreed to give her some time to get settled in first? Isn’t that what Gabe said?”
Emma replaced the lid of her lipstick and slid it silently back into her bag, listening hard.
“Yeah, but Gabe was just making excuses for them. I heard Steve tell Sally that he wasn’t really interested, but Steve was only going to ask her out to get lucky. You know what those city girls are like. They’re all trash. They’ll open their legs for anyone.”
Half-hearted giggles bounced around the tiled bathroom, ricocheting and thrusting into her heart each time they echoed back at her.
“That’s why Gabe didn’t want on the list, you know. He’s not interested in sloppy leftovers. Gabe told Ryan if he put his name on the list, he’d knock Ryan straight into next week.”
More giggles, louder this time. Emma’s heart staggered and stopped, shock racing through her.
Sloppy leftovers? Trash?
“You know it’s only a matter of time before Gabe comes knocking on your door, right, Millie? You two were meant to be together. He knows it. He’s just playing around while he still can,” another voice said.
Millie’s strident voice once again caught Emma’s wandering attention.
“I know. And I sure don’t have anything to fear from a stuck-up bitch like her. Walking around with her nose in the air, thinking she’s better than all of us, pretending she can’t swim to steal Gabe’s attention. He thinks she’s a joke. The way she manoeuvred him into helping her on that waste of a house is criminal. He doesn’t want to. He only goes to keep Darby and his mother off his back. Ryan would do her in a heartbeat. I say let him.”
Emma stifled the gasp that burst out, her hand hard over her mouth. Normally she wouldn’t credit a person like Millie with the time of day, especially when she knew the woman had it in for her, but her words rang with enough truth that Emma’s heart ached.
Emma hadn’t lived here that long, and Millie had known both Gabe and Darby since they were small. She knew them both well. Could that be why he’d been so determined to tell her he wasn’t interested? He’d made a point of coming over to her home and insisting that they be friends only after she’d made a fool of herself the first night she’d gone out with Darby. He’d been friendly since. But that didn’t mean he’d changed his mind, only that he was true to his word.
No. She wouldn’t let Millie get to her. She was doing her best to make Emma feel unwanted. The rest of the town had been wonderful, so welcoming and friendly. It was only Millie who was being horrible. She wouldn’t let her chase her away from her new home.
She grabbed her bag from the counter and wrapped her arms around it, waiting Millie out. If she had something to say, she could say it to her face like an adult.
A couple of the stall doors opened and Millie stepped out, followed by her friends. Pink flushes washed over their cheeks, then Millie raised a brow and stepped past her to wash her hands.
Millie looked pointedly at her in the mirror. “Can I help you?”
Emma straightened her spine and steeled herself. “You could start by not being so damned nasty to me.” She glanced at Millie’s friends. “I’ve done nothing to any of you. I’ve tried to be friendly. You have no right to speak about me like that.”
A smirk appeared on Millie’s mouth. “I didn’t say anything to you. Not my fault you were eavesdropping on a private conversation.”
Emma grunted. “You can pretend all you like that you’re right, or whatever, but I won’t let you run me out of town. I’m here to stay. Get used to it.” Emma stepped toward the door, shaky but happy she had the courage to face Millie and her nastiness face-on. “Oh, and if you want to go out with Gabe so bad, just ask the guy out instead of playing childish games. It’s not that difficult.”
Murmured agreement and several murmurs of sorry, Emma reached her ears from the small group of women behind Millie, but Millie scowled defiantly at her in the mirror.
“Well, he’ll probably say yes. He didn’t seem too interested in talking to you tonight.”
Emma refused to let Millie see how accurately those words hit home. He had been quiet tonight. Diffident.
She held Millie’s gaze as long as she could stand, the whole time her stomach somersaulted and make her want to throw up. Her hands shook but she clenched them tight and breathed deeply, determined to get out of the bathroom before she lost her rapidly deteriorating nerve.
Did Gabe really think she was a joke? She really liked him. Loved his company. She felt so at ease when he was around. To think he might not regard her in the same way hurt like hell, regardless of her brave words to Millie.
She had to get out of there. Before the tears now welling in her eyes made their way down her face.