Page 38 of The Reverse Cinderella
“I was. It took me ten minutes to get through so I imagine a lot of people are listening. It sounds like your program is a success.”
“It’s been going pretty good, thank you,” Piaget fiddled with her pen. “Max, I want to say sorry for how I reacted when I found out about… about your housing situation. It was a bit of a shock and I was upset. I felt like I had been lied to. My husband, Gary, he used to lie to me a lot and I just didn’t want you to be lying to me. But you were right, you didn’t lie, you just hadn’t told me. I’d found out before you were ready to tell me and I should trust that you would have told me when you felt ready. I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry,” Max said. “I should have told you sooner. I promise, I will never intentionally lie to you, Piaget. You mean far too much to me.”
Piaget smiled and wiped away a tear. “Thank you.”
“Does this mean I can walk you home from work again?” Max asked hopefully.
Piaget gave a small laugh. “Please.”
“That’s all we have time for today,” Melanie interrupted. “Please sign up on our Facebook page.”
Piaget listened as Melanie gave the details and her on-air light went out. “Max? Are you still there?”
“I am,” he seemed a little amused by the interruption.
“I missed you.”
“Tell me what time you get off tonight and you will miss me no more,” he promised.
Piaget felt as nervous as if she were going on a first date again. She checked herself in the ladies’ room mirror five time in the past hour. She was jumpy. She got three customer orders wrong.
“You’re off the till,” Dix said grimly. “I don’t know what is wrong with you but go clean for the last half hour of shift.”
Chastised, Piaget grabbed the spray bottle and cloth. Time was going so slowly. It felt like twenty minutes had passed and yet when she looked at the clock, only a minute had ticked by. “Does that clock need batteries?”
Dix looked at the clock then at Piaget. She was annoyed. “Do you not see the cord? It’s plugged in.”
“Sorry,” Piaget muttered. She scrubbed a table. Butterflies were fluttering through her stomach.
Dix gave her a funny look and helped a customer. Once she was finished, she came over to Piaget, grabbing the cleaning cloth. “You’ve been cleaning this table for the past five minutes. If you aren’t going to be useful, you can go home or you can tell me what is going on.”
Piaget grinned. “Max is coming to walk me home.”
Dix blinked. “You made up with him? About time!”
“Hey, I had valid reasons,” Piaget protested.
“Maybe, but it’s not like guys like that grow on trees,” Dix dimpled. “This means maybe you’ll be back to normal and not so mopey.”
Piaget grabbed the cloth back. She rolled her eyes. “Love you too.”
“You know you do,” Dix said happily. “Now get this stuff done properly so we can get out of here in time and you can go take your midnight walk with Prince and Pauper Charming.”
Piaget smiled back and found a new table to scrub.
They rushed through the closing routine and were ready when Max showed up. He had a single red rose for Piaget.
“What? Nothing for me?” Dix demanded.
Max smiled down at Piaget as she shyly took the rose. “Sorry, Dix.”
She sniffed. “That’s okay. I wouldn’t want my boyfriend to get jealous.”
Max raised an eyebrow. “You and Adam have moved to that stage in the relationship?”
Dix rolled her eyes. “Like you don’t know since you and he talk every day. See you later, kids.”