Chapter 2
Then he shook his head.
“No.
I haven’t finished my cake.”
A nervous laugh escaped from someone near the bar.
Liam looked at Victor.
“And I want to hear what he meant.”
I nearly smiled.
Victor did not.
He adjusted his jacket.
“I was trying to maintain an atmosphere consistent with our clientele.”
“Which clientele?” Liam asked.
“Our guests.”
“I’m a guest.”
Victor’s eyes flicked toward me.
Liam noticed.
“Don’t look at him.
I’m the one who asked.”
That landed harder than anything I could have said.
A woman at a nearby table spoke up.
“He’s right.”
It was the woman in pearls who had stared at Liam when we entered.
She looked embarrassed.
“I owe you an apology,” she said to him.
“I stared when you came in.
I shouldn’t have.
But that dance was the loveliest thing I’ve seen in this restaurant in years.”
Liam tilted his head.
“Thank you for the second part.”
A few people laughed again, more comfortably this time.
The woman nodded, accepting the correction.
Then a man near the pianist stood.
“I’ve eaten here twice a month for six years,” he said.
“Nobody asked me whether I wanted that young man hidden from view.”
Another guest spoke.
“Me neither.”
Victor turned toward the room.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please.
This is an internal staffing matter.”
“No,” Elena said.
Her voice wasn’t loud.
It didn’t need to be.
Victor spun toward her.
She swallowed, but continued.
May you like
“You told us not to seat wheelchairs near the center tables.
You said they disrupted photographs.”
