Page 37 of Set to Love | AllFreeNovel

“Nope. He’s still playing maître d’.”

Lina rises onto her toes and spies on him through the window. In the dining room, Leon has a white cloth napkin draped over his arm and is grinning wildly as he uncorks a bottle of wine and pours it for the party of three at table one. “He’s improved,” she muses.

“He sure has. If he ever considers a career change, he may have a calling in the hospitality industry.”

“Which reminds me . . .” Slipping her phone out of her pocket, Lina snaps a discreet photo. “Theo wanted an update.”

“When did you have time to text him?” I ask, planting my hands on my hips.

“When I was taking up the ciabatta.”

I shake my head and laugh.

“I’m here!” Randy’s voice says as the back door bangs open. We both turn to see him tying his apron strings with shaky hands. “I am so, so sorry about the car. It took me forever to get the spare on. Thank goodness for SearchTube.”

“The tow truck never showed?” I ask, handing him a clean bar towel.

“No,” he huffs, his face flushed. “I waited an hour before I realized I’d get it done faster if I just figured it out myself.”

“Why did it take you two hours to get here?” I ask.

“I was at my parents’ place in Ocala.”

“Gotcha,” I say, knowing that the city is about an hour away without traffic.

“Has it been like this all afternoon?” He heads straight to the sink and begins scrubbing his hands up to the elbows.

Lina returns her phone to her pocket as we both nod in unison.

The guilt on Randy’s face is almost painful to look at. “Where do you need me?”

“Out there,” Lina says, gesturing toward the dining room. “Katie’s taking a break. She’s earned it.”

I give Randy a quick tactical play-by-play of the floor—who’s waiting on dessert and what should be on the checks—then I fix myself a massive bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. I retreat to the small break table in the office and close the door.

The second I sit down, my legs begin to pulse with a dull, heavy throb. The adrenaline that’s been carrying me since the gym starts to recede, leaving me feeling like a half-inflated balloon. I kick off my sneakers, wiggling my toes against the cool linoleum, and take a long, shaky breath.

It takes me all of five minutes to devour my meal. Needing a sugar hit to survive the next few hours, I treat myself to a slice of Lina’s legendary six-layer cake, the chocolate lasagna, and pull out my phone.