Can't Fool Me Twice: Sweet Contemporary Romance: Belles in the City Book 1 (12 page)

Sunny shrugged. "I'm fine with it. I've lived with her off and on throughout my adulthood, so it won't be all that different …" She tipped her head toward the front window. "Except the scenery behind her."

"Yeah, that's definitely different." Estelle's eyes widened as she stared at something behind Sunny. "Something just happened between Dante and your mother."

Sunny spun around in time to see her mother hugging Dante, who appeared unsure of what to do. He just stood there smiling, his arms awkwardly dangling down by his sides.

"I'd better go rescue him. I should have warned him that Mama is a hugger."

"Yeah, you better. He looks scared half outta his mind."

Sunny didn't waste another second. She headed straight over to where Mama still had a grip on Dante.

"Hey, Mama, what's goin' on over here?"

"Sweetie, Dante wants me to be the head cook over at his new restaurant." She let go of him, backed away a few inches and grinned at him before turning back to Sunny. "With what he's offerin' me, I'm gonna be sittin' pretty in high cotton."

"High what?" Dante asked.

"She means she'll be making enough money to feel rich," Sunny explained. "It's a southern expression."

"Oh, I suppose I should know that." He rubbed his chin.

"You sure should." Mama gave him a teasing glance. "But don't you worry. I'll teach you what you need to know to be a proper Bubba."

Dante laughed. "That's exactly what I need."

The restaurant started to fill with customers, so Mama excused herself. "I like bein' busy. Makes the time go by faster."

After she left the two of them alone, Dante grinned at her. "So what do you think?"

"What do I think?"
Seriously?

"Yeah. You'll have your mother right here in town with you. I know you'd worry about her if she went back to South Carolina, being without a job and having to deal with her cancer alone."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No." His expression went from gleeful to serious in a flash. "What is wrong with what I did?"

"Did I say something was wrong with it?"

"You don't have to say it. I can tell by the way you're acting. It's like I intentionally did something to hurt you, and I would never do that."

Sunny decided it was time to bring up what he'd said before. "I thought you weren't sure about the other location." And he said he would talk to her about it before making a decision, something she didn't want to remind him of since it was his business, not hers.

"I wasn't sure for several reasons, one of them being the fact that good help is hard to find," he agreed. "But after meeting your mother and talking to her about the job … and seeing how happy you were to have her here in town, Judd and I went over and spoke to the listing agent."

"But I thought you said it might be dangerous, after being a place with drug deals and all. I don't want Mama—"

"That'll be taken care of. They've agreed to cover the cost of security for ninety days after we open."

"But still." Sunny looked down as she tried to hide her disappointment, not in the fact that he'd offered Mama a job but because he hadn't discussed it with her. If he hadn't told her he'd do that, she wouldn't be as upset, but he went back on his word. Again. Adding that to what Anthony had said about his ladies' man reputation, Sunny's reservations had come back even stronger.

"Please explain. Tell me what's going on … what I did wrong."

"Never mind. What do I know about business?"

"So can you at least be specific about why you're so angry?" He gave her a puzzled look. "Are you upset about my offering your mother a job?"

She glared at him. "That's not all."

"Okay, now I'm worried. I thought I was doing the right thing … the very thing that would show you how much I care about you. Looks like it backfired, but I have no idea why."

Sunny shook her head. All she wanted was for him to do everything he told her he'd do. It was hard to put into words how she felt, but the feelings were there.

Dante placed his hand on her cheek. She slowly looked into his eyes. "Please talk to me. Communication is important in any relationship."

"Yes, that's what I thought too." She swallowed hard. His gaze was starting to penetrate and melt her resolve to stand firm. "You said …" She cleared her throat, glanced down to get her bearings, and then looked back at him. "You told me that you'd discuss your decision with me before you did anything." She lifted her arms in frustration and then let them drop back to her sides. She couldn't bring herself to talk about Anthony's visit—at least not yet. "I know I shouldn't expect you to tell me every single thing you plan to do but you did say—"

He pursed his lips and shook his head. "I didn't think—" His voice cracked, so he stopped talking.

"It looks like we're on different wavelengths," she said.

He nodded. "Yes, I agree. It looks that way."

"If you want me to start looking for another job, I will, but until I find one—"

A look of panic shot across his face. "No!"

"No?" She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes as she studied his face that had suddenly been drained of color.

"You can't leave. I … we need you. This restaurant needs you. You're the best thing that has ever happened to m—Bubba's Diner."

She allowed herself to smile. "Well, in that case, I'll stick around. You sure do know how to sweet talk a waitress."

"Waitress? You're the manager, remember?"

Sunny gave him a serious look. "I know who I am, Dante. I'm getting paid to manage this place, but you and I both know that I'm the head waitress."

"That's not how I see it, just like I don't see your mother being just the cook at the other location. Oh, by the way, she'll be the manager there, but since she's such a great cook, that's what she'll be doing instead of waiting tables." He folded his arms, rocked back on his heels, and gave her a half smile as though he expected her to be pleased with his little announcement.

But she wasn't. "Well, I'm glad Mama's happy."

"I thought you'd be happy too, Sunny. I thought you'd be over-the-moon about having her closer. She already told me that Ms. Chambray wants her to stay at her house."

Sunny admitted to herself that under any other circumstances, she would have been happy. But the little things that Dante did—and didn't do—got under her skin and caused her to feel—and act—different.

Finally, she decided to cut him a little slack. "Okay, yes, I am happy that Mama will be closer to me. You're right. I would have worried myself sick over her, knowin' that she had to go through this cancer thing all alone."

"She said she had a brother in one of the nearby towns." He paused and glanced up in thought. "I think it's called Summerville."

Sunny nodded. "Yes, her younger brother has a tire shop in Summerville, but he's busy with his family. He has five young'uns, three of them teenagers, so he barely has time for them and his crazy-successful business."

She noticed a flicker of something in his eyes. He chewed on his bottom lip for a few seconds and nodded. "I can certainly understand. That's how my family's business was, so in order to see Pop, we all had to go to work for him."

"At least you like what you do."

He shook his head. "I didn't always. In fact, when I was a teenager, I told Pop that as soon as I graduated from college with my degree in business I'd find a job doing anything that didn't involve food."

"But you like it now, right?"

Dante did a half-nod-half-bob. "It's fine. I did work in retail management for a couple of years, but it wasn't really any better." He let out a little laugh. "It's that grass-is-greener thing, you know."

"Oh, I sure do know. I didn't have the luxury of college, but I decided to switch careers for a while too." Sunny scooted to the side to let Estelle get by.

"Doing what?"

"Clerical work. I got the position through an agency. They told me if I did a good job, the company had an excellent upward mobility program and tuition reimbursement. My plan was to work hard, do a good job, take advantage of the college tuition program, and get noticed by the higher ups."

"Why didn't you stick around?"

"I hated sitting all day. When you're used to moving around in a busy restaurant, sitting is awful."

"And you don't mind not getting the benefits? A college degree is expensive."

"Yeah, I know, but I'm happy doing what I do. Why change it?"

Estelle walked up to them, this time stopping a couple of feet away and gave Sunny an apologetic smile. "I hate to interrupt an important conversation, but Twila needs you."

"You'd better go see what she needs," Dante said. "Why don't I take the two of you home after work?"

"Not tonight. Mama has an appointment with Miss Lucille's oncologist. She's taking a cab here, and we're all going straight there."

"Would you like for me to join you?" Dante asked, a hopeful look on his face.

"Thanks, but not this time."

"Okay, I understand." He nodded toward the kitchen. "I'll be here for a little while longer. Let me know if there's anything I can do."

Sunny had mixed feelings about parting ways from Dante. She did need to get back to work, but that magnetic force between that always sizzled through her made her want to stay with him … even if they had no hope for anything beyond boss and employee.

*

Dante went to the front and seated people as they came in. When all the tables were filled, he asked Estelle to go to the kitchen and bring back a plate of appetizers for those who were willing to wait in line.

She returned about ten minutes later with two platters—one with ham-wrapped cheddar cheese and the other with fried sliced okra. "Sunny says her mama makes the best fried okra, and she was able to whip this up in minutes."

All of the customers inside the front of the restaurant took an appetizer, most of them choosing the okra over the ham and cheese. He asked Estelle to get Twila to make some more. She nodded and grinned.

Twila personally delivered the platter of okra this time. "We have everything under control in the kitchen for the time bein'. I thought I'd see what all these lovely people like about southern cuisine." She turned around and started chatting with the first person in line.

Dante was fascinated by the Tatum women. They both had the gift of gab, and it was always interesting to hear what they had to say. He'd admired Sunny's breezy personality, and now Twila was blowing him away.

"I'm so happy y'all are enjoyin' my okra. Want me to do some tomatoes next? I spotted a few green ones that are perfect for slicin' and batterin' and fryin' up." She glanced over her shoulder and flashed a conspiratorial grin at Dante before turning back to the crowd that had gathered around her. "How about it?"

After a few sounds of appreciation, Twila took off for the kitchen. One of the older guys in line chuckled. "She sure is a looker. In fact, she looks an awful like that pretty manager over there waitin' on tables."

"They're mother and daughter," Dante explained.

The man made a clicking sound with his tongue. "I thought they might be sisters. I never would've guessed she was the mother."

Dante knew that Twila was only sixteen years older than her daughter, but he didn't want to say anything. "I'll tell her you said that."

It took about an hour to get everyone in line seated and served. Dante left his post at the front and walked toward the kitchen. "How's it going back here?"

Twila leaned around the half-wall. "It's goin' good. Business here is hoppin'. I don't know what kind of advertisin' you do, but keep it up because it's certainly working."

"Since your daughter has been here I haven't had to do much advertising at all. People come back to see her."

"That's my girl. Where's the other cook … Riley, is it? I thought he'd be here lookin' over my shoulder. I know I would if someone came in and tried to take over my kitchen."

Dante knew that Riley was irritated about her being there, but he wasn't about to tell Twila. "I'll call him later and see if he'll stop by tomorrow."

Twila's attention was diverted to something behind Dante, so he turned around. It was Ms. Chambray hobbling through the diner with her cane. He excused himself and went to help her.

"Hey there, Bubba Dante." She lifted her head and closed her eyes. "Something sure does smell mighty good."

"Why don't you take a seat over there," he said, pointing to the only vacant table in the diner. "I'll get you a plate of our special, meatloaf and mashed potatoes."

"I already had dinner, but it sure does smell delicious. Maybe just a half order."

He followed her to the table and helped her get situated. "Coming right up."

Twila insisted on bringing Ms. Chambray's food to her, so he stayed in the back and helped with some of the cleanup. Pop had always insisted that he learn his way around every part of the restaurant, so no one had to tell him what to do. "Your employees will respect you more if you know their jobs," Pop had said. And he was right.

Estelle offered to close the restaurant, so he went back out to the dining area with Sunny. Ms. Chambray had cleaned her plate and was trying to get up. She reached for Dante. "Give me a hand, will you, Bubba Dante? Oh, and since you're here, why don't you go with us to the hospital? I'm sure Sunny would like the support."