Chapter 4

"Lucie, can you cover Edme's tables please, hun?" Olivette said, as she pushed another breakfast through the hatch. The older woman bent to smile at Lucie, the brown marks under her eyes looking darker than usual. "Just for ten minutes, promise."

"That's okay," Lucie told her, picking up the plate. She had been on the job for two point seven five days…she had been on the job for nearly three days, if she didn't count the frantic training time. In two days, she had learned that there was much more to waitressing than delivering plates of food and taking orders. But she had also learned how to manage many tables. It reminded her a lot of how she had managed a city and its millions of residents' constant demands. Set priorities, then deal with each matter, no matter how minor, in the fastest order.

And always be pleasant, smile and never show nervousness. Tips would be better if she smiled.

In two days she had also learned how much Olivette needed her. Well, anyone at all. But Lucie had been the one to step into the restaurant and ask about the help-wanted sign she had seen in Celestial.

Olivette had barely asked any questions. She had dropped the apron over Lucie's head and pushed the order pad into her hand. "You can learn as you go. You seem sensible, like you have a head on your shoulders. Don't piss off the customers, is all I ask. We have a reputation here, and it's not all about the view and the food." Olivette had hurried away to prepare for dinner, as the lunch rush had just finished.

Although even when the rush was over, the Sky Dome restaurant was busy. The view did have something to do with it. Lucie had learned not to look up too high, or else risk her attention being snagged by the starfield hanging like crystals upon black velvet just overhead. The purples and reds of the Arentto Cloud galaxy glowed with majestic beauty. And constantly, ships were drifting out of their bays, to hang in space just beyond the dome, before disappearing as their pilot took the ship across Interspace.

It was far too easy to stand and stare through the dome and forget where she was, until someone called for her with annoyed tones.

Don't piss off the customers, Lucie reminded herself whenever she saw the starfield from the corner of her eye.

But plenty of customers, many of them tourists, came to drink coffee and eat a pastry, while staring at the mesmerizing view.

This morning, Olivette had graduated her to the breakfast rush. "Lots of regulars, and good tippers," Olivette told her. "You'll be working with Edme."

Edme was the longest serving waitress in the restaurant. "Just the two of us?" Lucie asked, terror swamping her.

"You'll be fine," Olivette said, heading for the kitchen. "Five a.m.!" she added through the serving slot.

Now Edme was disappearing for a mysterious ten minutes and all the tables were loaded.

Lucie traced out a path that took her to each table consecutively, including Edme's, and in between delivering plates and taking payments, she stopped by each occupied table to make sure everyone was doing okay.

Breakfast time was fast turnover time. People ate and ran. Except there were a few who lingered with a pot of coffee and their own thoughts. Lots of solo diners and established couples.

It was a different feel to the evening crowd, who dined in bigger groups, or romantic couples, and who lingered to enjoy the meal.

She got to the corner tucked in behind the entrance foyer, opposite the kitchen, and came to a halt, for Elijah Santiago sat at the last empty table, a pad in front of him, wearing a scowl.

And looking at her. His eyes under the thick brows were narrowed.

Lucie made herself move. She continued her circuit around the tables, making sure everyone was happy, and steeling herself. Her heart thumped unhappily as she stopped dutifully beside Santiago's table. "What can I get you?"

"Are you following me?" he demanded.

Lucie stared at him. "Follow…?"

"You somehow found out this is my favourite restaurant, and now you're going to make my life a misery for some reason that defies analysis?"

Lucie lowered the order pad. "I've been working here for two point…for three days. I haven't seen you in here once."

"I stayed away to avoid you," he ground out. "‘till you got on that damned ship and left the city."

"Oh…" Lucie let her head fall back and looked up at the dome. "Oh, no…" Oh, this was a mess!

"Oh, what?" he demanded.

"It's just…I've been trying to avoid you. I didn't want to use your ship and risk running into you again. I didn't think that would be…fair."

"So you decided to haunt my breakfast instead?"

"I didn't know you were a regular! You haven't been here. How could I know?"

"Why are you even working, if you're doing the Grand Tour?" he shot back.

"Because it costs more to change flight plans than it does to cancel, so I cancelled all my flights, and I'm working to pay my cancellation fees. I have to stay in the city for thirty days, or I get fined a change fee, too!"

Santiago glared at her. He had brown eyes that should have appeared warm, but they were icy shards. "I'll pay your damned fines," he snapped. "If you get on the next ship out of here."

Astonishment rippled through her. And indignation. Who the hell was he to tell her what to do? "The next ship out of here would be yours," Lucie said with the sweetest tone she could muster. "So, no, I won't take your money. The last thing I want is to step on your ship ever again."

Lucie saw Edme from the corner of her eye, tying her apron. Lucie's relief weakened her knees. "I'll have Edme take your order. You won't have to speak to me again."

"Good," Santiago snarled as she turned away, making her heart trip and hammer even harder.

Perhaps fury was a good thing, coming from him. It was better than the agony she had seen in his eyes, the day she had arrived. If he was angry, it would be much easier to avoid him.

●

Edme didn't come to get Elijah's order. He hadn't expected her to. She knew what he wanted. She had placed his breakfast plate on the table with a small smile and a nod, instead of the chatty how-are-we-todays that other waitresses seemed to think was expected.

Elijah's appetite had fled, but he made himself eat every bite, anyway.

What the hell was the girl doing here? Was it really so simple a coincidence that she ended up working here? If she had really wanted a job, she could have got one anywhere else in the city.

She didn't know I come here all the time, he tried to reason with a cooler mental voice.

And waitressing was perfectly suited to a transient, while other jobs required contracts or longer-term commitments.

He'd seen his fair share of waitresses working here, after all. He'd had to train all of them to his preferred way of dining each morning. Some of them had learned very quickly. Some hadn't, and were gone just as quickly. Edme was a stayer.

He recalled the way the girl's back had straightened as she walked away from the table. There was spirit in her. She hadn't shriveled when he'd accused her of stalking him, either.

Shades of Blake.

No. He wasn't going to do that. He wasn't going to make the mistake of thinking of her as Blake in any way. She was her own person. She just happened to have Blake's genes, that was all.

Thank the stars he was shipping out today. It was an octagonal run. Seven stops, then back here. Three days, at least.

In three days, he should be able to figure out how to look at the woman without wanting to kiss her or kill her.