Chapter 5 #2
"It can vary a lot," the waitress said. "If the weddings are small.
" She blushed, belatedly realizing that there was only four of them.
"I mean intimate, then we can do as many as twelve a day.
But that rarely happens because usually we have a mix of sm—intimate and larger groups.
I'd say we normally deal with around four a day, sometimes as few as one.
It's hard to tell because some of the weddings are super private, so not all of us are involved in them.
" Her eyes glittered with excitement. "Every now and then we get a huge wedding that takes over the whole resort.
Those are very exclusive and usually involve celebrities or very wealthy families.
" She seemed to remember who she was talking to again.
"Not that all of our weddings aren't unique and exclusive, you understand. " She blushed.
"Oh, we understand," Rodrigo beamed at her, oozing charm. "But I wouldn't mind seeing one of the huge, over-the-top weddings. It's always really interesting to see how the super-rich do things, isn't it?"
"Yes." She relaxed. "That's exactly what I mean. It's like a glimpse into another world, you know?"
"You must have a lot of international guests staying here," Katrina picked up the interrogation.
"Oh, my goodness, yes." Her face brightened. "I didn't even know half these countries existed. I need to look them up sometimes, but it's given me loads of ideas about where to travel later on. In fact, a couple of my customers even offered to find me work if I made it to their country."
Considering some of the guests were from crime families, Violet was highly suspicious of those offers.
"Might be a good idea to check those people out first before you go work for them," Katrina said, reading Violet's mind. "A woman traveling alone can never be too careful." And she would know. She'd been vacationing in Greece when her life had been upended.
"Oh, I'm not alone," she said. "I'm traveling with my boyfriend and a couple we know. But thanks for the advice. I'll make sure we follow it."
"Good," Katrina said. "Now, I'm really curious. Which countries use the resort the most, do you think? I expect you see a lot of business from America, don't you?"
"Sure." She nodded. "But South American and Russian people really like to use the resort too." She lowered her voice. "Imagine coming all the way from Russia to get married here. How cool is that?"
"Very cool," Katrina said with a smile.
The young woman's attention was caught by something behind Violet, and she grimaced.
"Sorry, I have to go. My boss doesn't like it when we stop to chat.
I can't help it though. I worked my way through college at TGI Fridays.
People chat there. They chat a lot. Enjoy your food. " With that she hurried away.
For a moment, Violet was seriously distracted by the beautifully cooked salmon on her plate. The vegetables were bright, the sauce was creamy, and it smelled like tastebud heaven. Damien might be a bastard, but he knew how to hire a chef. She took a bite of her fish. It melted in her mouth.
Okay, now she was beginning to see the appeal of the Caribbean.
"What do you think is going on?" Max said, ignoring his seafood risotto. "I mean with these crime guys turning up on the island."
"I've got a theory." Rodrigo had the steak. It looked good but not as good as Violet's salmon.
"Care to share?" Katrina said, tucking into her boring salad.
"I'm wondering," Rodrigo said as he gestured with his fork to indicate the resort, "if this is Switzerland."
"You mean a neutral meeting place for competing or warring parties?" Max said.
It was clear to Violet that he wasn't going to even try the creamy risotto in front of him. What a shame. It looked so appetizing.
"Exactly," Rodrigo said. "But no matter what's brought them here, it doesn't affect our mission. I'll pass the information on to Rochelle later, maybe she can think of someone who'd find it useful."
Violet couldn't stand seeing the risotto get cold. Stealthily, she reached out and helped herself to a forkful. It was delicious. Her eyes closed as she savored the mouthful. Next time they visited The Terrace, she was getting the risotto.
When she opened her eyes, Max cocked an eyebrow at her. "You about done helping yourself?" he said, clearly amused.
"I didn't think you wanted it." She returned to her own fish, but her eyes kept straying to Max's meal, even though he'd belatedly started in on it.
"I'd watch your food if I were you," Rodrigo said with a grin. "Violet has a habit of appropriating things that don't belong to her."
"Like what?" Violet demanded, offended.
"How about the two rooms you claimed on the ground floor of the office warehouse?
You moved in about ten minutes after we arrived in Houston, put new locks on the doors and refused to share the keys," Rodrigo said, thoroughly entertained.
"Annabelle is still trying to figure out how she lost control of part of her building. "
Max was studying her again, as though she was the Sunday crossword, and he was stuck. "You live in the Benson Security office building?"
"What?" she demanded. "It's the sensible option. It's an easy commute to work, the rent is cheap—"
Rodrigo burst out laughing. "That's because you don't pay any."
She ignored the outburst. "And I have everything I need. It's practically an apartment within the building."
Katrina grinned. "It's two old rooms and a tiny bathroom. One of the rooms doesn't even have any windows."
"I renovated them." Now she was getting defensive, and it was ruining her wonderful meal.
"You made the triplets put a shower in the toilet, and a sink in one of the rooms, so you could have a kitchen area," Katrina corrected.
Violet didn't plan on dignifying that with an argument. "And, I'll have you know that I do pay rent." She glared at Rodrigo.
"How exactly do you pay rent?" Rodrigo said, his eyes dancing with amusement. "Tell Max how you pay rent, because Noah told me it isn't in cash."
She tried to look haughty but wasn't sure she pulled it off. "I watch the front door," she said.
The three of them shared a look before bursting into laughter.