Table for Two by Brandy Bruce

Author:Brandy Bruce
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Mandy was halfway through the most scrumptious plate of lasagna she’d ever tasted, trying to follow two conversations. Across the table, Leo’s twenty-year-old cousin, Nick, hadn’t stopped talking about his new car. On Mandy’s left, Isa was talking about the frustrations of working the night shift at the hospital.

By the second time Leo excused himself to return a call to the restaurant, Mandy knew something was wrong. He slid back on the wooden bench seat next to her.

“Leo, what’s up?” Mandy whispered.

“It’s Monday night—usually our slowest night. Caitlyn, our seating hostess at the Franklin location tonight, called because we’ve had two large-party walk-ins. When I say large, I mean one of the parties has nearly forty people. So the cooks are scrambling...there aren’t enough people. They need help.”

“Then let’s go,” Mandy said immediately.

“I hate to do that to you,” Leo said, his forehead creased with anxiety. Mandy shrugged.

“I’m the one suggesting it. You need to be there. We should go.”

Leo sighed but Mandy knew he agreed. After a round of goodbyes, Leo walked Mandy out to her car.

“So I’ll call you,” he told her.

“I’ll meet you at the restaurant,” she insisted. Leo shook his head.

“Mandy, you don’t need to go to the restaurant with me.”

Mandy didn’t want to add to Leo’s angst, but she couldn’t stand the thought of just going home while he walked head-on into a stressful situation.

“I want to help, Leo. I’ll wash dishes, wait tables, refill water glasses, whatever you want me to do.”

He crossed his arms and looked at her quizzically. “Do you have any experience, Ms. Seymour?”

Mandy chuckled. “Do two years as a waitress during college count?”

The corners of Leo’s mouth tilted up. “You’re hired.”

* * *

By nine o’clock that night, the orders began to let up, allowing Leo, Adam and Crey to breathe easier. Leo had been informed that Mandy had bused tables, refilled drinks and bread trays, and cleaned the ladies’ room sink.

He could have loved her just for that.

Leo didn’t want to make comparisons, but it had crossed his mind more than once that Carol Ann had never offered to help out at the restaurant. Granted, he wasn’t the owner at the time. But he’d always been heavily involved and there were so many hectic nights working with his father.

Thinking of Mandy going from table to table—even busing tables when the others were busy—made Leo want to drop everything, take her in his arms and tell her that she was exactly what he needed in his life.

But he couldn’t.

I couldn’t even make it through a Monday-night family dinner. How do I make room in my life for a relationship? Especially when I know that, for me, a relationship with Mandy could only be enough if I marry her. She’s not the kind of girl I just want to date. I know I would need more, want more.

Once the doors were locked, Leo watched as Mandy laughed and joked with the staff. He recalled the way she pulled up

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