MAD AS BELL by Jeremy Waldron

Author:Jeremy Waldron [Waldron, Jeremy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sugarhouse Press, LLC

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Owen Daniels closed the tab on a wonderfully luxurious meal and handed it off to the waitress. “Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he said to Susan who was watching him, “I’m off to the men’s room.”

Susan smiled, thinking how handsome he was and how satisfying the meal.

Daniels reached for her hand and brushed his thumb over her knuckles in gentle, firm strokes. “Promise to miss me while I’m gone?”

“Only if you promise to not take too long.”

Daniels’s eyes crinkled as he smiled and kissed the back of her hand. Susan blushed and watched her date weave his way into the back corner of the restaurant. On the opposite side of the room, a pianist tapped the keys next to a violinist. Tonight was perfect. A candlelight dinner from one of the city’s top-rated chefs, and a finished bottle of wine—their second of the day. Still, Susan asked herself what exactly she was doing with Daniels. Sure, he was incredibly generous, handsome, and funny, but would she kiss him if he tried?

She opened her purse and applied a new layer of lipstick as she thought about how unfair life was. How was it possible she could live this life of luxury without a care in the world when another woman was too sick with worry to eat because her daughter was missing and she didn’t know where to find her?

As soon as she closed her purse, she flicked her gaze toward the restrooms. Daniels stood in the hallway near the window with his phone pressed to his ear.

Knitting her eyebrows, Susan couldn’t help but notice his agitation. The way he carried himself, the way his shoulders appeared tight. Who could he be talking to at this hour? It had to be work. Daniels caught sight of her and smiled before turning his back and disappearing behind the wall.

Susan didn’t want to read too far into his actions, but something didn’t seem right. She reached for her own phone, thinking about messaging Sam and letting her know she had a way in with Daniels. In the end she decided against it, fearing it might create unnecessary problems for them both.

“Shall we?”

Surprised, Susan turned to find Daniels hovering over her left shoulder. He offered his hand and pulled her to her feet. He smiled, but there was a definite glint in his eye that wasn’t there before. Had he used the restroom at all?

She asked, “Everything all right?”

“Nothing to worry about,” he assured her. “Just work.”

“And we can’t talk about that.” Susan smiled, attempting to lighten the mood as she threaded her arm through the crook of his.

A small laugh passed over Daniels’s lips and they began to walk.

She liked the way she fit next to him—liked how strangers were looking at her with admiration in their eyes. Daniels was at the top and everyone knew it. Outside, they walked beneath a star-studded sky and Susan didn’t want the night to end. At the car, Daniels opened Susan’s door and said, “I had a wonderful time.

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