A Dash of Romance

When she got to the kitchen, Tonya was nowhere to be seen. In fact, the entire room was sparkling clean; there was no food prep out at all. Rose glanced out the opposite doorway and saw that the dessert had already been set up on the table.

“Just what do you think you’re doing flirting with the client?” Marta’s voice snapped Rose to attention.

“Oh, I’m sorry, that’s your job, right?”

“You bet it is.” Marta’s face went red like the top of a cartoon thermometer. “And I don’t want you getting in the middle of my affairs.”

“I wasn’t flirting with him.”

“That’s what it looked like to me.”

“We were just talking.”

“I don’t pay you to talk, I pay you to cook, serve and clean. That’s all. Got it? I don’t want to catch you doing this again.”

“What did you want me to do? Ignore him when he spoke to me?” Rose frowned. “What do you mean again?”

“I mean, as you well know, that over these past few months you have gotten bolder and bolder about speaking to our clients. And I don’t like it. Every time we do a partly lately, it seems as if you’re spending more time chattering with the guests than you are working.”

“That is absolutely not true,” Rose returned hotly. “I have never shirked my duties. As a matter of fact, I defy you to tell me even one time when I didn’t do at least fifty percent more than my job description called for.” She began untying her Serragno Catering apron. “See? You can’t. Because it hasn’t happened.” She pulled the apron off and folded it. “Look, this isn’t working for me and you’ve made it really obvious it’s not working for you, either, so let’s just call it a day, okay? Tonya, Keith and the rest of the gang can clean up without me.” She put the apron down on the counter. She was so angry her hands were shaking, but she hoped to God that Marta hadn’t noticed that.

Marta glanced out the door and then back at Rose. Like melting wax, her facial features relaxed. “Oh, Rose. I’m so sorry. Can you possibly forgive me?”

Rose was taken aback. “What?”

“This has just been so stressful for me.” She drew in a shuddering breath and dabbed at her dry eyes. “I just…I’ve been awful. I know it. I can’t blame you for quitting.” She gave a humble smile. “I’d do the same thing in your place.”

“You would.” Something wasn’t right here.

Marta nodded. “But the thing is, this is a very important party for me. The mayor is out there! He could bring so much business our way. Would you consider staying on at least for the rest of the night?”

“I don’t know, Marta…”

“I’ll double your pay. Honestly. I’ll pay you now. Hand me my purse.” She gestured toward a garishly shiny leather purse on a wingback chair in the other room.

“That’s not necessary,” Rose said, with a sigh. She took the apron off the counter and tied it back on. “I’ll finish the night as we agreed. But after that, you’re going to have to accept my resignation.”

“If you insist.” Marta sniffed, then crumpled into a heap on the gleaming tile floor. “Oh, I’m such a mess!” she said in a harsh whisper. “How can I face everyone out there?”

Rose felt completely helpless. What was she supposed to do? “Marta, come on. You’ll be fine.”

“Could you…could you do one teensy-weensy thing for me?”

Trepidation pounded in Rose’s breast. “What’s that?”

“Would you get my pill bottle from my purse? The brown one with the yellow lid?”

Rose hesitated for a moment before sighing and saying, “Okay. I’ll be right back.”

She went to the purse and lifted it. It was heavier than she expected, and one of the first things she touched was a soft clean handkerchief. That was weird. Something didn’t compute, but it wasn’t until she heard the gasp several feet away that the pieces began to fall into place.

“What are you doing with my purse?”

Rose looked up to see Mrs. Winchester—the mayor’s mother—standing with one hand over her mouth and the other pointing at her like a gun.

The noise of the party died down to silence. All eyes turned on Rose.

Suddenly everything moved in slow motion. She turned to see Marta, apparently recovered from her nervous collapse, standing with one hand on her hip and a smug look on her face.

“What’s going on?” Warren Harker appeared at the front of the crowd, looking from Mrs. Winchester to Rose. “What’s wrong?”

“That—that girl was stealing from me!”

“What?” Warren asked sharply, giving Rose a look that could have cut glass.

“Oh, no, no, I wasn’t,” Rose stammered. “I was just—”

“Put the purse down,” Warren said in a cold voice.

Until that moment, she hadn’t even realized she was still holding it. She dropped it, as if it were a dead thing, and said, “Marta just asked me to get something from her purse and said it was this one.” She turned to Marta. “Please. Tell them.”

“I cannot believe my eyes,” Marta said.

Rose couldn’t believe her ears. “What?”

When Marta spoke again, Rose knew she’d been set up. “Mr. Harker, I don’t know how to apologize enough for this. I don’t know what Rose was thinking.”

“I was thinking it was your purse, just like you told me,” Rose said sharply.

Marta shook her head and clicked her tongue against her teeth. “That’s enough, Rose. You’ve been caught.”

It was clear that there was no point in trying to get Marta to tell the truth since she’d gone to considerable trouble to set up the lie.

Instead, Rose turned back to Warren Harker. “Honestly, this is all just a big mistake.”

Mrs. Winchester whimpered like a wounded puppy. “I can’t believe we’re not even safe from theft in a place like this.” Her son, the mayor, patted her arm and said to Warren, “This is unacceptable.”

“Yes, it is,” Warren agreed, eyes on Rose. “I think you’d better go now.”

“I will,” Rose said, reaching around to untie the apron she had just put back on. “But you have to understand, I was not stealing from Mrs. Winchester. I was just trying to get something for Marta from her purse, and she said—”

“Stop!” Marta barked. “You’re a liar and I wouldn’t blame Mr. Harker for calling the police right now.”

“I think you should,” Mrs. Winchester agreed, nodding quickly. “Send a message.”

Rose’s jaw dropped. “This is a mistake!”

“I think you’d better go,” Warren said quietly. He moved forward and, with a firm grip on her arm, led her to the front door.

She wrenched her arm free. “You don’t need to manhandle me. It’s not like I want to stay.”

He looked at her for a moment, then shook his head and opened the door. Behind him, she could see the condescending expressions on the faces of his guests. A bunch of wealthy people who were more comfortable believing the “help” would steal than in listening to the truth.

For just a moment when she’d met him, Rose thought maybe Warren was different.

What a foolish mistake that had turned out to be.

One thing was for sure: it was a mistake she would never make again.

Chapter Two

“He sounds like a jerk,” Lily pronounced.

“Big-time,” Rose agreed. “I don’t know if I should conclude never to trust rich guys, or good-looking guys, or both.”

Rose and her sister were sprawled on the floor of their Brooklyn apartment, the newspaper Help Wanted section spread around them on the floor.

“How about simply never trusting Warren Harker?” Lily suggested. “Rather than wiping out the entire male population with one fell swoop. Or at least, the entire desirable male population.”

Rose sighed. “We’ll see. Oh, and add Marta Serragno to the list, too. I’m an equal opportunity mistruster.”

Lily chuckled. “So she actually used the words, ‘You’ll never work in this town again’?”

“That’s exactly what she said.” Rose circled another ad in the Help Wanted section of the paper. “And she’s as good as her word. So far I’ve been turned down by every major catering company in the entire city and two of three that are so minor you’d think she wouldn’t have ferreted them out.”

“Well,” Lily said with a straight face, “when you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, you’re going to have to expect repercussions, sis.”

“Very funny, Lil. Very, very funny.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Lily threw her arms around Rose and gave her a big squeeze. “I’m just trying to help you see the humor in this. Such as it is. I mean, it’s not like you’ll never work again.”

“It’s starting to look like it.” An ad for a gas station attendant caught Rose’s eye and, after a moment of self-pity, she circled it, too.

Lily looked over. “Oh, come on.”

“Come on what?”

“You can get a job in the food industry. Gerard said he’d hire you if Miguel didn’t already have the job.”

Rose mustered a smile. “That’s nice of him to say, but since Miguel already does have the job, he doesn’t really have to put his money where his mouth is.” Gerard owned one of the exclusive boutique hotels where Lily worked as a concierge. He’d always been so kind to both of them. “Unless…Maybe he’d hire me as a maid?”

“I’m sure he would, but you’d be miserable.”

“I’m miserable now.”

“No, I mean you’d be a miserable maid.” Lily smiled. “Look at your room. There’s hardly a place on the floor where you can see the carpet.”

“This is no time to joke, Lily,” Rose said, but she smiled.

“Okay, okay. Just trying to add a little levity. Now let’s think about this. What if you forget catering for the time being and try restaurants? Maybe even work as a waitress.”

“I’d do that gladly. Unfortunately, I’ve already tried. Same story. Marta Serragno is nothing if not determined. Horrid woman. Half the town seems to be sucking up to her and the other half seems terrified. I can’t win.”

“Wait a minute.” Lily tapped her finger against her chin. “I saw a sign up in one of these places…yes! It was the Cottage Diner. Over by Coney Island?”

“Cottage Diner? I’ve never heard of it.”

Lily shrugged. “It’s a greasy spoon, but a great location. Water view and all. The place itself looks like it’s been there since World War II. Maybe you could get in there as a waitress and then, you know, work your way up. Put the place on the map. Meantime, I bet the tourists and Coney Island visitors give good tips.”

Something in Rose tingled. “That’s not a bad idea. There’s no way that Marta would have gotten to a crummy little diner in Brooklyn. But if I could help them raise their profile…” She frowned. That was getting ahead of herself. She hadn’t even gotten the job—or seen the diner, for that matter—and she was already thinking about raising the place’s profile?

As if reading her mind, Lily said, “I’m sure it will work out that way. And I’m telling you, the location is great.”

“Hmm.” For reasons she couldn’t quite express—maybe just intuition—this was striking Rose as a good idea. A very good idea. Something told her this could work out in ways she hadn’t even thought of. “Where is this place exactly?”

Like the plucky heroine in an old movie, Rose took the Help Wanted sign out of the Cottage Diner window and carried it inside with her to ask for the manager.

She approached a busboy who was clearing dishes from a booth. “Excuse me,” she said.

He turned, startled, and dropped a mug onto the floor. It didn’t break, but bounced loudly under the booth. He looked at Rose and his face turned red. “Yyes?”

“I’m here about the job.” She indicated the sign she was holding.

If possible, his face turned even more crimson.

“You need to talk to Doc, the owner,” a voice barked behind her. “Tim’s just a busboy.”

She turned to see a craggy-faced customer sitting in another booth, holding a newspaper. There was a steaming cup of coffee in front of him and about ten empty sugar packets. “Doc’s in the back.” He looked her over skeptically. “But I’m not sure you’re exactly what he’s looking for. What do you think, Al?”

He looked across the room at the only other customer in the place. The pudgy gray-haired man sneezed, dabbed his nose with a napkin and said, “Give her a break, Dick.” He sneezed again and said to Rose, “They’ve had pretty waitresses here before, but they always leave.”

“I’m always willing to try another pretty waitress, though.” A bald man in a greasy white apron came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a bar towel. “Doc Sears.” He set the towel down on the counter and held his hand out.

Rose shook it. “Rose Tilden.”

“You’re looking for a waitress job?”

“If you’re looking for a waitress.”

He looked at her skeptically. “You don’t look like the kind of waitress we’d get here. Bet you could make a lot of money a few miles into the city.”

He was talking about Manhattan, of course. Where she couldn’t get so much as a job busing tables. “I live here.”

He looked at her as if he wondered what the truth was, but was too tactful to ask. “Can you work evenings?”

She splayed her arms. “Any time you want.”

“You gonna stay on longer than a week?”

“I guarantee it.”

“Good.” He took the sign from her and ripped it in half. “You’re hired, Rose Tilden. Can you start tonight?”

Lunchtime had been dead in the diner, and dinner wasn’t a whole lot better. Doc was working the grill alongside a short-order cook called Hap, short for Elwood Happersmith. Rose privately concluded that, under the circumstances, she would have preferred Hap, too.

Only about half the booths were full, and the only other waiter was a young man named Paul, who spent more time dozing in an unoccupied booth than waiting tables, leaving Rose to handle pretty much the entire crowd.

She didn’t mind, though. She was just glad to have the work.

She was on her feet from two in the afternoon until 10 p.m. With closing time just an hour away, and her feet eagerly awaiting the promise of an Epsom salt bath, her last customer came through the door.

Warren Harker.

She did a double take. If she’d made a list of the top fifteen people she least expected to see in a place like this, Warren Harker would have been close to the top, along with Gandhi and Fidel Castro.

For a moment, she froze, heart pounding. She didn’t know if it was the lighting or the fact that she’d spent the day looking at guys like Dick, Al and Doc, but Warren Harker was even more slick-looking than she’d recalled. His dark hair gleamed under the fluorescent lights, his crisp blue suit—with loosened tie and unbuttoned collar—fit like a charm across his wide shoulders.

The jerk.

And now he was her customer. This was spectacularly bad luck. A quick glance at the booth she had already come to think of as “Paul’s bed” revealed that the waiter was indeed snoring away, so she was stuck with Warren Harker.

Rose took a quick breath and straightened her back. She could do this. No problem. With a little bit of luck, maybe he wouldn’t even remember her.

She walked toward him, feeling a little like a prisoner being led on the final walk down the prison hall. Of all the greasy spoons in all of New York, why why why did he have to walk into this one?

“Can I take your order?” she asked, laying on the Brooklyn accent a little thick and keeping her eyes averted.

Her efforts were wasted. Apparently Dick was right in saying they didn’t normally have women waiting tables here, because Warren looked up from his paperwork with surprise.

“Hey, you’re new,” he said.

She barely glanced at him. “Just started today.”

He gave a laugh. “Wow, I don’t know when I last saw a women working here.”

Oh, no, he was a regular?

That was it; she was doomed. She was going to lose another job and, given the trouble she had had in finding this one, she didn’t know where she’d go next.

“So what can I get you?” she asked, keeping her tone short.

“Just a coffee, thanks. And real cream, not milk. Doc’s always cheap with the cream.”

So he was a regular. “Sure thing.” She turned to get the coffee, thanking her lucky stars he hadn’t realized who she was. Yet.

But she was stopped in her tracks not three feet away.

“Wait a minute.”

She closed her eyes, dreading what was coming next.

“I know you, don’t I?”

She could feel his eyes on her back, sending a tickle straight down her spine.

“Don’t think so,” she answered without turning around.

“Come here.” It was practically a command. Apparently he was so used to having people jump when he told them to that he felt perfectly comfortable bossing everyone around.

She took the coffee carafe from the counter and turned to go back to his table. She kept her eyes downcast, in the ridiculous hope that if she didn’t look at him, he wouldn’t see her. Ostrich logic. “What is it?”

“I know we’ve met.”

She shook her head. “Don’t think so.” Then she made the mistake of glancing at him.

His blue eyes looked her over for a moment before he snapped his fingers. “Serragno Catering.”

“I—”

“You’re Rose Tilden!”

Chapter Three

“What the hell are you doing here?” he went on, before she’d even had a moment to respond.

His tone was so sharp, so downright accusatory, that she was taken aback. “I’m working here.”

“What?” He looked around, as if trying to find confirmation that this was true.

“I’m working here.”

“That’s impossible.”

She tightened her grip on the coffee carafe, tempted to assure him that his wallet was safe from her. But she bit her tongue and instead tried to be mindful of her job. “Do you need more sugar?”

He looked at her for a long moment, before shaking his head. “I don’t do sugar.”

You don’t do sweet, either, she thought pouring coffee into his cup. “Well, is there anything else I can get you? We’re closing up soon.”

“Nothing,” he said, distracted. “How long have you been working here?”

“Are you investigating me, Mr. Harker?”

“Should I be?”

Good lord, he sounded serious! “Of course not!” she responded quickly. “I was joking.”

“That’s reassuring.” His tone remained even. Cool.

Accusatory.

“Mr. Harker, are you implying something? If so, I really wish you’d come right out and say it.”

“Hey, now, what’s going on here?” Doc came out of the kitchen and ambled over to the booth. “You two know each other?”

“We’ve met,” Warren said, keeping his eyes on Rose.

Her heart pounded as she wondered what else he would say to Doc and if she would lose her job because of it. For a moment, she stood there, suspended in time, filled with anxiety at the thought of what Warren might reveal.

Then she decided she would just tell Doc the truth herself. There was no point in standing around wondering if someone else was going to control her future; she had to do it herself.

“I worked for a caterer at one of Mr. Harker’s parties,” she said to Doc. “I was falsely accused of stealing and lost my job because of it, but I promise you I didn’t do it.”

Doc laughed and patted Rose’s arm. “You’re as wound up as an old alarm clock, aren’t you? I know you wouldn’t steal anything.”

Her shoulders slumped in relief. “Thank you.”

“What sort of idiot accused you of stealing?”

She glanced uneasily at Warren.

“No!” Doc exclaimed. “Not you!”

Warren gave a small shrug. “The evidence was, as they say, overwhelming.”

Doc looked at Warren incredulously. “What are you, crazy?”

“I’ve been called worse than that,” Warren said. Then he frowned and added, “I think I’ve even been called worse than that by you, Doc.”

Doc furrowed his brow. “Then you deserved it, I’m sure. Now it sounds like this little lady has been through enough. You ease up, Harker, or you’ll find yourself drinking some mighty cold coffee in here.”

Warren took his wallet out, opened it and left a twenty on the table for the dollar fifty check. “Your coffee isn’t that good to begin with, Doc.”

“Hmmph.” Doc crossed his arms in front of his barrel chest. “You drink too much of it anyway.”

Warren laughed, then headed for the door without looking back at Rose. “See you next time.”

“Be nice to my waitress,” Doc called after him, then turned back to Rose. “See? He’s not so bad.”

“Maybe,” she said doubtfully, watching the dashing figure of Warren Harker walk out the door and into the night. “Does he come in here very often?”

“Few times a week. He’s been in quite a lot lately.”

Her heart sank. This was going to be trouble for her. “Why? He doesn’t live near here.”

“Nah. Just likes to hang out here, I guess.” Doc gave her an encouraging smile. “Don’t worry about him. He may be a big shot up in the city, but around here he’s just another fella looking for a cup of coffee. Now let’s wake Paul up and get out of here. Got another day of work tomorrow, you know.”

Warren Harker leaned back against the leather seats of his Town Car and watched the drizzly gray city pass by. It had been unseasonably cold and rainy all day, and his mood had grown worse by the hour, along with the weather.

Now, on what promised to be a long wait in traffic on the drive to Brooklyn, he sat back and tried to figure out what was troubling him so much.

It came to him in two words: Rose Tilden.

For two days, he hadn’t been able to get her off his mind.

What was she up to? What was she doing at the Cottage, of all places? There was no way it was just a coincidence and although Warren didn’t like to draw the worst conclusion, it was inevitable. She had to be some sort of corporate spy. Some clever and strange variation on the theme—a cross between Mata Hari and Donald Trump. He had heard rumblings that something like that was going on, but at first he had dismissed it as rumors. Now he wasn’t so sure.

If her contact with him had just ended with the caterer, he never would have suspected a thing. Whoever had sent her, if indeed someone had, had been smart to take that route. If he were a less honest businessman, he’d be jotting it down in his notes for future reference.

But once she showed up at the Cottage…well, that was bad planning. It was just too specific to be chance, wasn’t it? Of all the tiny, obscure little places she might have gotten a job, why the Cottage? He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d seen a woman working there. Maybe never. It was in what was generally regarded as a slightly unsavory part of town. That was one of the reasons he was spending so much time there. In fact, the neighborhood was still a diamond in the rough. He could buy property for a song and turn it around in no time.

Which was exactly what he intended to do.

He could think of three adversaries right off the top of his head who would have paid big money to find out what and where he was planning to develop next.

Had Rose figured it out? The real reason he was spending so much time in that booth at the Cottage was that he was planning to buy the building opposite it just as soon as he could get the owner—a creaky old man who ran a dry cleaner on the ground floor that never seemed to have customers—to sell.

Warren couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t accept any of his offers, though there were rumors of money laundering and vague Mob ties, so he had to keep an eye on the place to watch for changes. As soon as the old guy relented, and surely he would eventually, Warren had to pounce.

Then he’d tear the building down and use the space to build one of his luxury apartment complexes. More and more people were moving out of the heart of the city, for more and more reasons. Now was the time to bring the Harker touch to the suburbs of Manhattan.

Unless, of course, Monroe Associates or Chuck Donohue or Apex got wind of his plans and sabotaged them somehow.

The question was, who among them would go so far as to hire a beautiful woman to spy on him?

And had she figured out anything about his plans yet?