Page 72 of Falling into a Second Chance

Chapter Thirty-Seven

It had beenweeks since Agatha had worn the starched white shirt and not-so-flattering black pants that Harper insisted all the waitstaff wear. Tonight, it was Agatha and sisters, Frankie and Louisa, that were working the event. Harper had given her pep talk and then handed out trays of hors d’oeuvres to the group to pass around.

“Why do you hate me?” Agatha asked her older sister.

“I love you the best. You can’t lick them if they’re slimy shrimp.” Harper shoved the platter into her hands. The cocktail sauce glittered in the fluorescent lights in their tiny bowls.

“I quit,” Agatha stated loudly.

“You can’t,” Lucy reminded her. Agatha tried to quit every time she worked.

“One day, you won’t see me again,” said Agatha. She hoped it sounded like a curse.

“One day, you will be happy to work for me,” Harper replied, touching her hair. “Just like these two.” She motioned to her newest recruits, or as Agatha called them, suckers. Neither had ever worked for Harper before, and neither seemed overly excited about it. Okay, Louisa was excited, but Frankie seemed as pissed about it as Agatha.

It seemed when short on waitstaff, Harper would rather pay for plane tickets for the two sisters to fly in from another state than to pay strangers. Agatha wondered how much money Harper and Lucy were throwing away tonight. Then again, they were both married to billionaires and worked for fun, so money wasn’t a real worry for them anymore.

“This is so exciting!” Louisa said beside her in a whisper.

“Give it like a minute, and it’ll be awful,” Agatha told her with a grin.

“I don’t even need a minute,” Frankie said, checking to make sure her blue hair was tucked neatly in the bun on her head.

The sisters couldn’t be more different. Then again, they were actually Lovelys, so being different was a given. Louisa was a goody two-shoes, and Frankie, the blue-haired sister, was as wild as any Lovely had been at twenty-two.

Agatha hoped that they would visit them more often because she didn’t know them well and thought that they would get along. Maybe once she moved back home, she would invite them to move in with her. It would be nice to have a house full of Lovelys again, except she wasn’t ready to return yet. Maybe in time.

Her heart still ached when she thought about Chris, and she thought about him constantly. For days she has wanted to go back to him, to forgive him and hope that he would forgive her. But suddenly, her sisters were no longer talking about him or telling her about him hanging around. Was it because he was over her? Had she gotten her wish, and he realized she wasn’t worth it? She was afraid to find out.

“Okay, smile everyone and look happy,” Lucy said to the three sisters.

Following Frankie into the room, Agatha started her usual mindless circling. It had been years since she cared what the function she was working was all about. She didn’t see a bride and groom, so it probably wasn’t a wedding, which was a plus. Weddings always lasted forever.

After a full circle, she recognized three of the attendees. They had graduated from high school with her. One had been the homecoming queen, and another was Dayle, who had been her best friend those last few months of school. Both had acknowledged her with a nod or a wave. The homecoming queen looked exactly the same, but Dayle didn’t. Dayle had gone from total goth to total sophistication in nine years. Her dress was form-fitting like it had been sewn just for her and in a perfect shade to complement her dark blond hair. Dayle’s hair had been as dark as Agatha’s in high school.

After leaving school that day, she never spoke to Dayle again, just closed that door of her life with Dayle on the other side. For a moment, she wanted to rush to her and see how her life was going but held back. She was just the staff tonight, after all.

The third person she recognized had been the biggest surprise. It had been Savannah, Chris’s high school flame. She was prettier now than she’d been in high school, much nicer looking than the homecoming queen. She wondered if she and Chris were still friends? Agatha was sure he wouldn’t have looked her way if Savannah had still been around.

After another loop around the room, she began picking out more faces that she hadn’t seen in years, their names ones she no longer knew. But they were there. Some were in jeans, and some were in suits and dresses. She realized that the event had to be a class reunion for her graduating class. And joy upon joy, she was there as a waiter for the catering company. Not as an author or artist, but a worker for the event, someone who hadn’t even been invited. Or maybe she had. Maybe the invitation was just at her house, which she hadn’t been to in weeks.

So far, she hadn’t seen Chris, but if the entire class had been invited, so had he. After all, he was Mr. Popularity back then. No way would they not invite him.

Her third trip around the room found her hors d’oeuvres more popular, and her tray was almost empty when she slipped into the kitchen. Usually, Harper had a tray ready, but this time she was not ready and was just beginning to fill little bowls with cocktail sauce. Which was fine since Agatha didn’t want to be out on the floor anyway. How many of them knew it was her and that she wasn’t invited, just working there? More than enough to make her want to hide in here.

Watching Harper work, Agatha decided she wasn’t going to mention it was her class reunion out there; it would just make Harper sad that Agatha wasn’t invited. It was bothering Agatha more then she liked to admit. She wanted to be a guest. She wanted to be included.

After their talk that morning, she had wanted to avoid this evening but hadn’t wanted Harper to think she was avoiding her, which would have been true. She never wanted to have that conversation with her sisters again.

“Here you go. I love you. You know that, right?” Harper said, handing her the tray.

“I love you too, Harps, but if you ever use these cups again….” Agatha made a cutting motion against her throat and picked up the tray. With a fake smile, she headed back out to serve food to her former classmates.

As she started circling the room, the light piano music coming from the overhead speaker abruptly cut off. Her fake smile became real as she wondered if they would have to call a sound guy to fix the music or if it was an easy fix. Either way, a mess-up that wasn’t her fault was fun.

That was when she saw Chris, looking handsome as fuck in a tux. His curls were combed to his head, and he was looking right at her. Someone took the tray she was surely dropping from her hand. She had nowhere to run, nowhere to go to get away from him. Not that she really wanted to.

As the seconds ticked by, they stared at each other, neither one moving. The music had started back up, but now it wasn’t the piano music that had played before.

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