Page 5 of The Payback Adventure
He had a point, but Henry didn’t want to think about that. He didn’t want to think about the things they could do together. He didn’t want to think about her at all.
“I don’t want to talk to her,” Henry said. “I don’t want anything to do with her. Can we go?”
“Oh, knock it off.” Cynthia nudged Cade. “Excuse me, honey, I need to powder my nose.”
Henry fiddled with his paper napkin as she slid out of the booth. “Elisabeth seems…sweet. Innocent.”
“That’s never stopped you before,” Cynthia said before walking away.
It hadn’t. Her comeback made the situation clearer.
The sooner Henry put Elisabeth with anSand this two-bit little town behind him, the better.
CHAPTER TWO
Elisabeth’s hand trembled as she placed a bottle of water on her tray. She couldn’t believe the guy from table four, who looked like a movie star with his expressive hazel-green eyes and killer smile, had been flirting with her. And she couldn’t believe she’d shut him down.
Stupid move, but she hadn’t been thinking straight. She hadn’t been thinking at all.
She should have played along, done all those flirty things she used to know how to do, and gotten a big, fat tip. The trio at table four had money. The expensive shoes were always a giveaway.
Kathy Alexander placed a small plate of lemon wedges on the tray. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.”
Kathy owned the Berry Bistro, which until two weeks agoand for the past nineteen years had been called Kathy’s Korner Kafé. That was until Berry Patch, Oregon, Elisabeth’s hometown, wanted to become upscale to appeal to wine country visitors. Shops and restaurants changed their names and remodeled—or repainted the walls in the case of the bistro—as best as they could. Of course, the bistro was still a corner café. For now. “Is this for table four?”
Elisabeth nodded.
“Those two men are lookers. Especially the guy with the light brown hair and brown eyes.”
“Hazel,” Elisabeth corrected. “His eyes are hazel.”
She hadn’t liked being stared at with those eyes. His gaze had been so intense, so intimate. Elisabeth had felt exposed, naked, and wanted to run away.
“He called me Lizzie.” She’d been called Beth, Bess, Bessey, Lissie, and Lis. Those names didn’t bother her. But Lizzie? “Every time I hear that name, I think of Lizzie Borden chopping up her parents with an ax. It gives me the willies.”
“He could call me whatever he wanted, and I’d answer.” Kathy sighed. “Sure would like a taste of that eye candy.”
“He’s too much of a pretty boy.”
“I remember when you used to love pretty boys.”
And look where that had gotten her.
Elisabeth tightened her grip on the tray. “That was a long time ago.”
“Not that long ago, honey.” Kathy stared at her. “And that pretty boy at table four looked as if the only thing he wanted to order was you.”
“I’m not on the menu.”
“Maybe you should be.” Kathy’s eyes darkened with concern. “Have you found someone to fill in for Manny?”
“No.”
Manny Gallegos ran the berry farm for Elisabeth. Between the kids and her serving job, she did what she could with the farm, and Manny did the rest. Or had until he’d had to return to Mexico. And this late in the year, all her regular field hands had also returned home. Normally, she and Manny could handle it together. But alone…
She bit her lip. “I thought he would be back by now, but his mother took a turn for the worse.”
