“At Olivia’s twenty-first birthday party. I almost wiped out on the gravel getting out of the car and this big, burly guy caught me. I was like, ‘ooh, I want to snugglethat.’”
Her friends giggled. “Our innocent Rosie.” Nadia patted her on the knee.
Rosie blushed. She wasn’t so innocent anymore. “And then it turned out to be Matt, and I remember thinking, ‘That’sLittle Matty?’” She fanned herself to make her point, bringing more laughter. “He wasn’t so little anymore!”
“I remember that year. He had thatawful, clingy girlfriend that wouldn’t let him speak or doanything.” Jade rolled her eyes.
Rosie nodded. “That was our junior year. And I had a crazy schedule, so I put my head down and focused on school, and then work. We lived in different states anyway, even if hehadbeen single. But most of all I didn’t want to …” She gestured around with her hands. “I didn’t want to upset Olivia.” Her voice cracked again, and she looked around the room. “How is this going to work? I won’t let you pick sides. It’s not fair to any of you.”
Jade pulled at a thread sticking out from the couch. Nadia cleaned her glasses on her shirt. And Mia picked at her nail polish.
None of them met her gaze.
None of them had the answer.
Orange Blossom was absolutely swamped. The wait for a table was two hours long, which was excessive even on a Saturday night. Bruce had called Matt while he was working on a project, begging him to come take over maitre d’ duties when Julie called in sick. He’d left the presentation unfinished; he’d do the narration after he woke up tomorrow. One of the benefits of going to class remotely was being able to use PowerPoint's recording function to create a video. Tonight, he was going to crash the second he got home.
He felt like he’d walked a marathon in the four hours he’d been there. Sweat dripped down the back of his dress shirt, and an ache spread out from his chest that he’d been suppressing all evening. It was still a struggle to ignore it. Now it had spread to his left shoulder. And just walking from one end of the restaurant to the other had him winded. But he wouldn’t let Bruce and the Orange Blossom down.
“Hunter, party of two?”
A couple stepped up and he led them back to table forty-one. He advised them of the night’s specials and let them know Evan would be their server. That’s when Keith saw him and dragged him back to the hallway.
“Hey, you feeling alright?”
“Just tired,” Matt panted.
“You look awful.”
“Gee, thanks.” Matt rolled his eyes. “I don’t know what’s wrong, but it didn’t start ‘til I got here.”
“Maybe you oughta go home.”
Matt shook his head. “Bruce said we needed the help. And we’d have no maitre d’. I can’t leave.”
“We’ve got a two-hour wait for a table. Sit down in the office while I get Bruce.”
“He’s still here?”
“He’s in the kitchen. I’ll be right back.” Keith patted his shoulder and took off.
Matt tottered off to the office. He really did feel terrible. Oh fuck, could he be contagious? The last thing he wanted to do was get his coworkers or the patrons sick. Flicking on the florescent light, he tumbled into a chair in Bruce’s office. Bruce wasn’t far behind.
“Hey, Matt. You look a little green around the gills, there. What’s wrong?”
“I’m just tired.” And sweaty. “I think I need to go outside for a minute and cool off.”
Bruce just nodded.
Keith followed him outside. “I’m due for my fifteen anyway.”
Matt squinted at him. He thought for sure Keith had already had his break, but then he wasn’t an actual manager so what did he know? Not up to talking, Matt collapsed into the picnic bench and pulled out his phone. The heaters chased most of the nighttime chill away, but at least he felt the sweat begin to dry off. It wasn’t any easier to breathe, though.
“How’s Rosie been?”
“Good.” Matt licked his lips. Keith hadn’t brought her up since Matt let it be known they were together. “Not really up to … talking, right now.”
“No worries.” Keith was watching him with careful eyes. “Seriously, I think you should go home. Is Rosie working? Can she pick you up?”
