Page 12 of Revenge Honeymoon

“You probably are calorie deprived.” She grabbed her friend by the hand and pulled her out into the hall. “Let’s go get you some food, bestie.”

A young Asian couple reared back from being trampled by the former bride and maid-of-honor.

“Oh, sorry, sorry,” Ruby said as she stumbled and caught herself. “Did you know they let you eat as many appetizers as you want?” She touched the arm of the Asian woman whose rounded eyes matched the circular frames of her glasses.

“Uh,” stammered the shocked woman. She slid her gaze to her brand new husband, possibly hoping for some help.

“Well, they do.” Ruby linked arms with red-faced Emily who wished she was anywhere else but in the hallway at that moment. “Appetizers, entrees, desserts. Whatever you want. It’s amazing, really.”

Ruby could get away with silly behavior. Easily forgiven. All she had to do was pour on the charm and smile. People wanted to like Ruby. People wanted to love Ruby. People always ended up loving Ruby.

“Okay, thank you,” said the husband with a faint smile. He’d fallen for the Ruby charm already. It hadn’t taken long. “I thought that’s what the brochure said,” he intimated to his wife.

Ruby pointed forward. “We are off to the dining room!”

Emily gave the wife an apologetic smile. Not so sure the woman had absorbed the Ruby Charm as quickly as her spouse.

* * *

The maître d’ at the fine dining restaurant stared at the two women. “I do not seem to have your reservation here.” He scrolled through his iPad—up and down and then up and down some more. He may have even scrolled to Sunday night’s dinner reservations to make sure they didn’t have the wrong date.

They didn’t.

The Asian couple they’d left open mouthed in the hallway, who stood in line right behind them, pretended they’d never met. The wife examined her bright red nail polish, and the husband busied himself with the large oil painting of a ballerina dancing with a bear that hung on the wall.

Ruby smiled a winning smile—she had several of them, and this one was at half-power. “Robbie,” she began.

“It’s Robert,” the man corrected.

“Robbie, my wife and I were told our dinner reservation was at eight o’clock. We’re hungry. Very hungry, aren’t we, babe?” Ruby nodded at Emily. “And we want our seven appetizers.”

“Seven?” the maître d’ scratched his jaw.

She waved her folded itinerary in the air. “Three, seven, what difference does it make?” She faced the line growing behind them. “Don’t let them cheat you out of your appetizers. You can have as many as you like. The paper says so.”

The guests behind them began to murmur quietly.

“Ruby, dial it down a little,” Emily hissed. Although Ruby ate small meals, when she didn’t eat regularly, she could turn hangry. Poor Robert.

“I’m sure it was a mistake,” the man said. “Evers and Small?”

“Yes, Ruby Evers and Emily Small.” Then she whispered, “It might be under Hardy—Tyler and Ruby Hardy. My fiancé left me at the altar.”

“Oh my. I see.” Robert tapped on his iPad again. “I have you under cancellations. They forgot to rebook the table with the new names. I apologize.”

“So we won’t get our appetizers?” Ruby frowned.

“Don’t worry, Ms. Evers, I will find you and your—uh—” The maître d’ eyed Emily.

“Emily,” Ruby filled in.

“Yes, Emily. I’ll find you a table. Give me a moment.” He zoomed in on tables with possible empty seats, looked on both levels, and tapped on a table. “If you don’t mind, we have a table for four with two seats available. It’s not the best table, and I could try to move you for tomorrow night...maybe if you switched to an earlier dining time?”

“We’ll take those seats.”

“Are you sure? The table is right by the kitchen. It’s usually reserved for staff.”

“It’ll be fine.” Ruby’s stomach growled audibly.

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