Page 2 of The Music of Love

The man and woman he’s with both look at me and smirk, and something inside me snaps. “Excuse me?” I ask in a tone that could scare my neighbor’s pit bull. “Look, I don’t know who you think you are, Mr. Famous Rockstar, but that’s none of your business–”

“I amsosorry,” Kate says loudly, coming up from behind me. She sets the drink tray down on an empty table next to us and takes me by the arm, smiling at Cal and his friends. “Reese has a bit of an awkward sense of humor.” She hisses in my ear, “What the hell are you doing?”

I’ve never been in any real trouble with Kate before, but I can feel her anger as she tugs me away from Cal’s table. Her fingers pinch into my skin as she drags me back into the kitchen and basically WWE Wrestler slams me up against the wall.

“What the hell was that!?” she shouts. “Have you lost your goddamn mind?”

“What?” I spit back. “Just because I don’t worship this asshole like everybody else here? What ifanothercustomer asked me what he asked me?”

“He’s notany other customer, Reese! He’s Cal Shelton–”

“Cal-fucking-Shelton,” I reply, rolling my eyes. “Yeah. So I’m supposed to just suck his dick and let him say whatever he wants to me?”

Kate frowns. “That’s not what I’m saying, and you know it.”

“So what are you saying?”

It’s been just over a year since I started working at Henry’s. Kate and I became close quite quickly, but there’s a decent chance I might actually get fired for my behavior tonight.

“You know what, Reese? Go home,” she says. “I’ll handle tonight’s service.”

“Fine,” I reply as I take off my apron. I toss it on a hook and turn around, ready to storm out in a dramatic display of emotion, but when I do, I see something completely unexpected.

I see Cal Shelton standing there, holding the door open that leads to the dining room.

“What areyoudoing?” I bark. “This is the kitchen, for kitchen staff only.”

“Reese!” Kate yelps, scolding me, obviously aghast at my behavior. But at this point, what does it even matter? “Go home,now!And we will talk tomorrow whether you will even be working here any longer!”

“Whoa, let’s not go that far,” Cal laughs, putting both hands in the air. “Kate—it’s Kate, right?”

“Yes, it is,” Kate replies, fuming.

“I came back here to apologize.”

It’s a strange feeling when you hear words you never thought you’d hear in a million years. My body reacts by attempting to stop my heart dead in my chest. In fact, I have to brace myself humiliatingly against the wall.

“Excuse me?” I respond.

“Yes, excuse me?” Kate agrees, but in a much more star-struck manner.

Cal smiles that familiar, charming smile I’ve seen so many times on one screen or another and shakes his head. “I was rude out there. I shouldn’t have behaved the way I did, and, Reese, I shouldn’t have asked you what I did.”

“I…” The rest of my sentence stalls in my throat.

“Sometimes I just get so used to being who I am that I forget how to behave,” he says, stepping forward. “And, Reese, I’d love to take you out to dinner and apologize, if that’s all right.”

I gawk back at Cal Shelton in a way that probably makes me look like my brain has been sucked right out of my body. From this close, it’s not hard to see how those bright blue eyes made him a rockstar.

Or howsomany girls fell for him either. This arrogant, romancing playboy who is just back here working his game on me.

“Yeah, no thanks,” I reply. I hear a soft gasp from Kate behind me but ignore her. “How many times have you used this line before, pal?”

“This isn’t a line–”

“I don’t need to be just another name and number. Just another conquest,” I reply. “Enjoy your meal.”

I move to push past him, but he steps in front of me and stops me. He towers over me, and his shoulders are so broad there’s no hope of getting by.

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