“Oh my god, pry much?”
He shrugs and presents his palms. “Just wondering. You’re not exactly Cape Katie’s Miss Congeniality, but you and Eva . . .”
“Me and Eva what?”
“Seem to get along. Damn. Sensitive much?”
I take a deep breath, rolling up some more silverware. “Sorry. And yeah, we do get along. She’s cool.”
He nods, smiling an infuriating little smile.
“What?” I ask.
“Did you share things?”
“Luca, I swear to god, I’m about to stab you with this knife.”
“It’s a butter knife—?it’ll barely break the skin.”
“Try me.”
“I’m just asking if you talked about yourself at all. Your mom or whatever. Jay didn’t even know your middle name.”
I ignore the whatever and focus on the most innocuous part of his inquiry. “First of all, Jay didn’t care about my middle name. Second of all, what does my relationship with Jay have to do with Eva?”
He starts to say something, but I power on.
“And third, why would I tell her about Maggie?”
He frowns. “You’re not going to?”
“Again, why? Poor girl’s been through enough.”
His frown deepens, but he nods. Luckily, Eva chooses that moment to come over, a few credit cards and guest checks overflowing in her hands.
“Oh my god, does anyone tip with cash anymore?” she asks, brushing her hair out of her face with her arm.
“Nope,” Luca says. “Or anything over fifteen percent, at least in Cape Katie.”
“Lovely.”
“But you can expect some nice plum preserves around Christmastime.”
She blinks at him, and he shoots her a double thumbs-up, coupled with a goofy grin. They banter back and forth for a few seconds, but I don’t hear it. My eyes seem to have a mind of their own, traveling from Eva’s tired eyes and laughing mouth, down her long neck to the hollow of her throat where the necklace would rest next to her heart.
“How’s your first day going?” she asks, turning toward me.
“Fine, I think. I’ve mastered the very challenging silverware roll.” I hold up an admittedly sloppy creation.
“Lucky. Better than dealing with people.”
“How dare they want coffee refills.”
“Right? So entitled.”
We laugh and Luca bats his eyelashes at me over Eva’s shoulder. I stick my tongue out at him while Eva runs the credit cards.
“I’m exhausted,” she whispers, leaning toward me so only I can hear her.
