Page 6 of Waitress at the Shadow Ridge Inn
The thing had been breaking every other day, and each time, Rose insisted the local handyman could coax it into lasting a while longer. It was a losing battle, but from what I’d been able to gather, Rose was tight with the purse strings, and commercial-grade dishwashers weren’t cheap.
“Okay, I won’t,” Jessie replied, glancing over her shoulder with a wry smile. “Hey, what are you still doing here? I thought you were supposed to get off at seven. Wait. Don’t tell me. Shannon called out again, and Rose asked you to cover.”
I didn’t need to answer. We both had a keen grasp of the obvious, though Jessie claimed her abilities went way beyond that. Since I tended to rely heavily on instincts and feelings myself, I certainly wasn’t going to judge. But I didn’t go around claiming to be a psychic either, and I kept my guardian angel’s occasional nudges to myself.
I shrugged. “I had nothing better to do.”
Jessie paused, straightened, and turned around to give me her full attention. Not for the first time, I wondered how old she was. Rose had told me she was fifty-two, but I wasn’t sure I believed that. Jessie’s face didn’t have a single wrinkle, though her eyes—a metallic silver—were ancient and intense beneath slashes of ebony brows. They coordinated perfectly with her striking hair—jet-black on top and pure silver underneath. I’d assumed the monochromatic hair color was as intentional as the black stretchy pants and white T-shirts she always wore, but she’d claimed it was purely natural.
I brushed against her as I placed the bin on the counter.
Jessie’s gaze, eerie at the best of times, appeared to darken, then lighten, as if someone were playing with a dimmer switch. The rest of her went unnaturally still for several seconds. It didn’t freak me out like it had initially, but I found myself holding my breath anyway.
“There’s no luck about it, Casey,” she said, her tone unusually somber. “It’s fate. You’re supposed to be here tonight.”
I suppressed the shiver that ran down my spine. I didn’t like thinking about fate. I preferred to think that I had some control over my life. Otherwise, what was the point of leaving behind everything I had known to forge a new path?
“My car has been acting up lately,” I said, throwing her a bone. “I suppose the extra tips will come in handy when it conks out on me.”
“No,” Jessie said. “That’s not why you’re here. I had a vision about you.”
I kept my expression schooled at mildly amusing, but inside, my heart was racing. If Jessie really was psychically inclined, there was no telling what she might have seen. The last ten years had held some particularly dark times for me. I’d refused Jessie’s repeated requests to do a reading for exactly that reason.
What I said was, “You know I don’t believe in that stuff.”
“What you believe—or admit to believing—has little to do with whatis. Only what you do about it.”
The hairs on the back of my neck lifted, and my skin tingled. I crossed my arms and smiled patiently. My guardian angel wanted me to listen to her, so I would. “All right, I’ll bite. Tell me about this vision.”
“You are going to meet someone tonight.”
I waited for more. When she didn’t continue, I said, “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got? I meet people every night, Jessie.”
“Not like this. This someone is going to have a great impact on your life.”
“Good impact or bad impact?”
She frowned. “I don’t know. Just that it’s going to change everything.”
Fear and paranoia tried to rise from the depths of my recent complacency. I shoved them back with a promise to unpack them later. For now, it was imperative I continue to play the part of a carefree woman, living life day by day.
My smile grew. “Let me guess. A tall, dark, and handsome stranger is going to come into the bar and sweep me off my swollen, aching feet.”
Jessie’s eyes narrowed. “You’re mocking me.”
I exhaled and shook my head, my smile fading. “I’m sorry, Jessie. I just can’t take this stuff seriously. And I really need to get out there. We’re slammed tonight.”
3
“Thanks for covering again,”Shannon said when she finally showed up around ten. “I had to wait until Mike Jr. fell asleep. He has another ear infection, and he’s been miserable. He won’t settle down for anyone but me.”
“It’s no problem,” I assured her. I didn’t have any personal experience with kids, but I remembered how cranky and clingy I’d been when I was sick at that age. My mother would drop everything and make me feel like I was the most important thing in the world. I was happy to help while I could.
“Looks like we’re having another banner evening,” Shannon commented, struggling to tie her apron around her bulging middle.
Most of the dining room had cleared out by then, but the lounge was still packed, people were stacked three deep at the bar, and there was no sign of things slowing down.
“It’s been busy,” I agreed.
