“If you keep making that face, people are going to think things,” she chastised.
“Let them,” I smirked just as the waitress approached.
“Have you decided what you want?”
I nodded to Ellie.
“Um…I’ll have the seafood pasta.”
“We’re out of shrimp.”
“Oh,” she said, studying the menu. “Then I’ll have the Lobster Mac ’N Cheese.”
The waitress made a face. “Yeah, sorry. No lobster either.”
“Really?” Ellie asked, her face pinched in a frown.
“Swordfish?”
The waitress shook her head. “Nope. He got the last one,” she said, pointing to another customer.
“Huh. Must be popular.”
“Actually, it was the only one.”
“What do you have?” I asked, trying to make this easier.
The waitress spun the menu and pointed to the burgers. “Those. Oh, and salad.”
“So, you’re a seafood restaurant with no seafood,” I grinned.
“It’s not always like this.”
“No?”
She shook her head. “Sometimes, we have steak.”
Chuckling, I handed the menu over. “Surprise me.”
“And you?” she asked Ellie. “Maybe a salad?”
My good mood instantly vanished at the waitress’s snarky tone.
“She’ll have the smash burger with onion rings,” I answered for Ellie, my eyes never leaving hers.
People in this town were so fucking cruel, but how I hadn’t realized it before now, I wasn’t sure.
Ellie ducked her head as the waitress gathered the menus and walked away.
“Don’t ever hide your eyes from me.”
Slowly, she raised her eyes to meet mine, and what I saw there fucking pissed me off.
Devastation. Embarrassment. Sadness.
“Excuse me a minute.”
Shoving back from my seat, I marched into the back, looking for Jeff. I heard his voice coming from the office, and I ignored the staff’s shouts as I headed straight back there.
