“Hi,” she said to him. She was surprised to see a woman with him, and at the same time, she wasn’t surprised at all.
“Hello,” Oz said to her.
She was a little disappointed if she were to be honest with herself, but she didn’t let that suppress her manners. “Thanks again for helping me out that morning,” she said to him.
“Have you had any trouble with that guy since then?” he asked her.
“No,” she said. “But I don’t go that route anymore either. At least not until their construction project is over. That may be why.”
Oz smiled. “Maybe,” he said. She had such warm eyes, he thought. And then he looked down the length of her body.
But when he didn’t continue by telling the others in the room what he and Gloria were talking about, and when he didn’t introduce his lady friend, Alex stood to his feet and extended his hand. “How are you?” he asked Jennifer. “I’m Alex. And this is my wife Kari. And this is Gloria.”
“Hi everybody,” Jennifer said cheerfully as she shook Alex’s hand. Then she waved her hand. “I’m Jennifer.”
“Jennifer?” Alex asked and then looked at Oz. Was this the same Jennifer who abandoned him at that bar, he wanted to ask his brother. But Oz was still staring at Gloria.
“What route do you take?” he asked her.
It seemed out of order to everybody, but Gloria answered. “I go on that back road, Spencer Creek Lane, and then I come back up a block away from that construction site.”
“Oh, okay. I know where you’re talking,” Oz said.
“Oz said you wanted to see me?” Alex asked Jennifer.
“Yes, sir. I just wanted to shake the hand of the man who put Apple Valley on the map,” she said. “If it wasn’t for your hotel and casino, we wouldn’t have nearly the tourist dollars we have in our economy now.”
What did she know about the economy, Alex wanted to say. “Thank you,” he said instead.
“Where were you headed, Oz?” Kari asked him.
“To his place,” said Jennifer with a sly grin, and Gloria looked away from both of them.
Oz was upset too. He wanted to dump Jennifer right then and there for blurting out his personal business that way, but he realized he would just be lashing out at the wrong person. Because he felt weird seeing Gloria again. Because he felt he had the wrong woman on his arms seeing Gloria again.
“Anyway,” he said, “we’d better get going.”
“Nice meeting you all,” Jennifer said like some southern belle, and then she and Oz began leaving the room. Oz, however, glanced back at Gloria. Gloria was already glancing at him.
It was a brief encounter, Gloria thought, but a telling one. Because now she had no illusions. Now she knew, if she hadn’t already, that Oz Drakos, despite his kind gesture that morning, was not reliable. He was, in fact, the absolute last man on earth she needed in her life.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
That Monday morning, the day her employees would show up for work and finalize the diner’s reopening, Kari was dressed and ready to get to work. But her cell phone rang again. This time it wasn’t Leyla. When she saw that it was her big brother Teddy, she smiled. And answered. “Called to wish me luck?” she asked him.
“You need to get back here,” Teddy responded.
Gloria frowned. “Get back where? To Philly? I told you I plan to return after we open.”
“You need to be back here Wednesday night.”
“Why?”
“Dad wants to see you. He wants you at his house Wednesday night.”
Her heart began to pound. “What about?”
“It’s Joey’s big mouth. He jumped up and told Dad you’re moving to Florida.”
Gloria was mortified. “He didn’t! How did he even know? I never told him anything about my plans.”
“But I did,” said Teddy.
“Teddy, you didn’t!”
“He kept our secrets before. I didn’t think it was a big deal. But I forgot.”
“You forgot what?”
“Since his accident and since he’s been living on Pop’s estate, he and Pop have gotten close. He tells him everything now apparently. And last night he just blurted it out.”
Gloria couldn’t believe it. She leaned her head back.
“He didn’t tell him that you bought a business or anything like that,” said Teddy, “but he did tell him you were leaving him.”
Gloria rubbed her forehead. “How’s he taking it?”
“He wants you at his house Wednesday night. You, me, and Joey. And he ordered me to deliver the message. How do you think he’s taking it?”
Gloria let out a harsh exhale. A part of her wanted to kill Joey. He knew how their father was. Why would he tell her business like that? But another part of her was kind of relieved, in a scary way, that the cat was out of the bag. It was done now. She had to face facts. She had to face her father. May as well, she figured, be now than later.
“Okay, you’ve delivered the message.”
“And?”
“And I’ll try to catch a flight out Wednesday afternoon.”
“There’s no trying, Glo. You’ve got to be here Wednesday night. I would send a plane, but Dad’s planes are grounded for the week.”
“Grounded? Why?”
“Maintenance. They’ll be down the rest of the week.”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll be there.”
“You know how he is.”
“Of course, I know how he is! I know who I’m dealing with. I’ll be there.”
“Sorry about all of this, sis,” Teddy said. “I truly am. I never dreamed Joey’s stupid ass would tell Dad of all people.”
“It’s okay. He used to couldn’t stand to be in the same room with Dad, now he wants to please him like some little kid.”
“Like you used to want to please him,” Teddy said.
Gloria knew it was true. “When there is no pleasing him. You know that.”
“Yes, I do,” said Teddy with a chuckle.
“I’ll see you Wednesday night,” Gloria said, they said their goodbyes, and then they both ended the call.
But Gloria had fear mixed up with her relief. Because she knew her father, and she knew he had the power to stop her in her tracks. But she knew she would have to face the music, sooner or later. She exhaled again, said Lord, help me, and then exited her room.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Who is she anyway?”
“Some black girl, all I know.”
“I heard she’s really young.”
“She is. She’s not even thirty yet.”
“But Miss Lucinda likes her. She says she’s a good’un.”
They were in the diner, sitting around two tables, waiting for their brand-new boss to arrive. And although all of them were hopeful that they would keep their jobs, and they loved the new paint on the walls and the new tables and chairs, all of them were doubtful too. The youngest person working there was Elsie, and she was in her forties. Everybody else were in their fifties and sixties and had been working at that diner, in various iterations, for decades. But they’d never felt more worried about their future than when they heard that some young girl was taking over.