“Hey, Mel! You don’t usually come this late. Did you have a busy day?” Lucy bustled up; a blonde curl bobbing up and down beside her ear was the only evidence that the woman had been working hard this shift. She leaned her hip against the table top as if she planned to stay for a few minutes.
“Umm, yeah. I was busy working on questions for my article.”
“The one with Ryne? How did your meeting go with him?” Lucy’s eyes sparkled with interest.
“Meeting?” Mel could feel heat creeping up her neck. The meeting was what had started the whole mess.
“Yeah—the one Harley delivered the message for? Or did the big storm keep you from going? I heard there were some trees down across the roads and some power lines too.” She frowned and tucked the wayward curl behind her ear.
Mel swallowed, but forced herself to answer calmly. “No, the storm didn’t stop me from going to Ryne’s house.” It only kept me from leaving, she added in her head.
“Great. I’ve never been to his place—oh damn! Table six wants more coffee. I’ve got to go. Do you know what you want? The chicken parmesan is really tasty.”
“That sounds good.” Mel agreed not recalling what she’d previously selected, just thankful Lucy had to leave before she asked any more questions.
“Great. I’ll be back in just a minute.” As she walked away, Lucy yelled Mel’s order into the kitchen and the cook grunted in reply.
Mel nibbled on her thumb nail and when she realized what she was doing, clutched her hands together in her lap. She hardly ever chewed her nails anymore, which just went to prove how guilty she was feeling over Ryne. Hopefully all the customers in the diner would be very demanding and leave Lucy no time for idle chatter. Squeezing her eyes shut, she sent up a little prayer to that effect and then slowly opened her eyes to check the results of her missive.
As per usual, it had the exact opposite effect that she’d hoped for. A table of eight diners were standing up preparing to leave and two smaller parties were also showing signs of finishing their meal.
“Here you go, Mel. Enjoy. I’ll be back later to chat.” Lucy breezed by and set a plate of food in front of her.
With little appetite left, Mel placed her napkin in her lap, and picked up her utensils. Half-heartedly she began to cut the chicken into small pieces, but only pushed them about her plate, making a show of actually caring what was in front of her. Damn, damn, damn. Why had she given in to Ryne this morning? If only she’d been stronger, if only she’d thought before she’d acted...
“How’s that dinner?” Al called out to her from the serving window between the kitchen and dining area, causing Mel to start in surprise. She looked at her plate. The food was now in small enough pieces that even a baby could eat it.
“Delicious.” Mel answered Al’s question, pasting a smile on her face, and popping a piece of food into her mouth. She chewed with feigned enthusiasm. It probably tasted wonderful, but at the moment she was sure sawdust would have been just as palatable. Taking a sip of water, Mel washed the chicken down then stared unseeing at the food in front of her again. To tell Lucy or not to tell Lucy, that was the question. Now, if she only knew the answer.
She ran through the imaginary conversation in her head. “Hey, Lucy. I have something to tell you. I’m really sorry. It wasn’t supposed to happen, but... I had sex with Ryne this morning.”
“What was that, Mel?”
Mel blinked and realized Lucy was standing in front of her. Oh no! Had she really spoken those words out loud? Surely not.
“You had sex with who this morning?” Lucy grinned, slid into the empty chair opposite Mel, and leaned in close, resting her elbows on the table top. She was obviously eager for a juicy bit of gossip.
“Er...no one.”
“You had sex with no one? You mean you were...um...self-servicing?”
“No!” Mel felt heat rising in her face at the assumption.
“Hey, no need to be embarrassed. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. If you’re all tensed up and—”
“Lucy!” Mel slunk down a bit in her seat and hoped no one could overhear the conversation.
“Then who? And don’t give me any of that ‘no one’ business. I can see a love bite on your neck.”
Mel clapped her hand to her neck. She hadn’t notice that when she took a shower!
Lucy giggled, sounding immensely pleased with herself. “Gotcha! Relax, there’s nothing there. I was just tricking you into revealing the truth. You did have sex with someone, though. Now give. Which local stud got lucky?”