“I also heard you have a kid with that girl who used to hang off you and Cole.” She went on, giving me a smile full of fake sympathy. “Then I heard she ran off and I thought, well, doesn’t surprise me. But I’m glad to see you haven’t let it bring you down.” She glanced at Tracie and gave her a bigger smile.
I felt a small jolt of anger. Lia had never hung off Cole and me. If anything, she’d made a concerted effort to avoid us in public. It had pissed me off actually. “Thanks for stopping by,” I said tersely, hoping she understood the dismissal.
She looked slightly off-put but nodded and smiled back. “Have a nice dinner. I sure do hope I see you around while I’m here.”
A water glass was set down in front of me and Alicia moved to the side slightly. She looked at Lia and her eyes shot open so wide she looked like a shocked owl. For a second I almost wanted to laugh. “You have got to be kidding me,” she said. “You work here?”
Lia’s eyes widened as well when she saw Alicia, but she gathered herself quickly and nodded. “Hi, Alicia.” I remembered that long-ago day Alicia had been so cruel to Lia at school and felt the weight of sadness fall over me. Of course, Alicia had been even uglier to Lia with her words after Lia had run to the nurse’s office, but I’d never told Lia that. She had enough hurt to contend with as it was.
Alicia looked over her shoulder to where her friend sat waiting for her and smiled tightly. “I’d better go. See you later.” She nodded to Tracie and me and then turned and sashayed the short distance to her table.
“Are you ready to order?” Lia asked. I heard the tremble in her voice. Lord knew how many times I’d caused that tremble. I once again wished I could draw her close and provide comfort.
“I am,” Tracie said. “Are you?”
I hadn’t even taken in any of the words on the menu but at this point I just wanted to eat and get the hell out of there. “Yeah.”
Tracie ordered and I pointed to something on the menu, hoping it was an entrée of some sort. Lia’s hand paused where it had been writing on the small pad of paper she held. “You want an order of tripitas?”
“Uh . . . sure. What is it?”
“It’s pig intestines. It’s considered a delicacy, but . . . I’ve never known you to be a very adventurous eater.”
Pig intestines. My stomach roiled at the thought. “Just bring me whatever you think I’d like.” I closed the menu and handed it to her. She took them and walked away.
Tracie and I talked stiltedly for a little while. I didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. I didn’t think either of us were under the impression the date—if it could be called that—hadn’t been shot to hell. I just hoped we could make the best of it, get out of here and . . . what? Did I even want to try again somewhere else? Another time? I was too mixed up to even think right then. I should have stuck with the tripitas. If anyone deserved to eat pig innards, it was me.
I started to say something to Tracie but was distracted by Alicia’s loud, snooty voice coming from behind me. When I glanced back, she was talking to a busboy and asking for a manager. Not thirty seconds later an attractive older woman with her black hair in a twist at the back of her head and wiping her hands on an apron, came out of the back and approached Alicia’s table.
“I’d like to request a different food server than the one I have.”
“Was there a problem, ma’am?” The woman’s voice was soft yet firm. The people at the tables around us seemed to quiet slightly as if they, too, were listening to the exchange.
Alicia’s voice lowered an octave as if she were trying to speak privately, but being that the voice she’d started in had been overly loud, this new “softer” voice could still be heard from four tables away. In every direction, I imagined. “That girl used to come to school with bugs on her,” she said and my heart dropped. “I don’t want her serving my food.”
Every muscle in my body froze. You fucking bitch, Alicia. I looked back and the woman in front of her had crossed her arms over her chest and seemed to be standing taller. I couldn’t see what was on her face, but by the look on Alicia’s, the woman wasn’t cowering to her—at least not in her stance or expression.
There was a lengthy pause as if the woman was deciding how to reply. “I’ll have Raul take your order,” she finally said, her voice clipped. I didn’t know her but I swore I heard the low simmer of anger in her tone. “I do hope he’ll meet with your approval.”
“That’s fine,” Alicia said, obviously not catching the note of sarcastic disdain in the woman’s voice. Or not caring.
Motherfucking hell.
As the manager walked away, she passed our table, her eyes lingering on me for a moment.
I frowned, looking at Tracie to see her expression was pained. “Wow, that Alicia’s a real bitch, isn’t she?”
I let out a raspy breath. “She always was.”
“Did you go to school together?”
“Yes, we were friends, kind of.” We’d actually dated for a short time, which I was too ashamed to admit.
“What . . . what did she mean about bugs?”
My breath hissed from my lips in a loud exhale. “That . . . it wasn’t Lia’s fault.” I wouldn’t dredge up the story for Tracie—it was in the past, where it should be.
She nodded, pursing her lips, studying me. “You’re still in love with Annalia, aren’t you?” She reached across the table and put her hand on mine. “It’s okay, Preston.” She looked down for a moment. “I had hoped . . . well, I’d hoped there could be something between us; I’m not going to beat around the bush about that. But after seeing you two together, I know there can’t be. And I won’t take it personally. I don’t think you’re available for anyone. You’re not over Annalia.”
I stared at her for a moment, wondering what she’d seen exactly, because Annalia and I had barely spoken. From my point of view, it’d been stilted and painful and awkward.
I glanced behind her at the depiction of the Mexican couple, my eyes lingering on their linked hands for a moment before I looked back at Tracie. No, I didn’t know exactly how she knew how I felt, but I couldn’t deny she was right. I couldn’t. Not even to myself. “No,” I said, letting out a humorless sound that was half-chuckle, half-breath and closing my eyes very briefly. “I’m not available for anyone else.” I haven’t been, not really, not since I first looked into Lia’s eyes when I was only a kid. And over her? No. I wasn’t over her—far from it. Only . . . I didn’t think she loved me back, and I had no earthly idea what to do with my feelings.
“I’m sorry, Tracie. I wasn’t trying to play games with you. I respect you more than I can express, and we couldn’t have survived this past six months without you. I wish,” I released a harsh breath, “I wish it could be more than that.”
She smiled softly and patted my hand again. “I love Hudson, he’s—”