“How do you feel about all this?”
After a rather lengthy pause, he cleared his throat. “I don’t know, exactly. I’m having trouble processing everything.”
She nodded, completely understanding why he would feel that way. All-too-familiar words left her mouth then, her typical, knee-jerk reaction to seeing anyone in distress. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
She couldn’t imagine anything she could do, of course. This was so far beyond her realm of experience. And it wasn’t as if she knew Mark particularly well, herself.
“Actually, there is something…”
She tried to hide her surprise. “Um, sure. What is it?”
“Join me for dinner tonight?”
“You want me to have dinner with you?” She couldn’t see how another dinner date would help him with his family problem.
He nodded. “I’m supposed to meet Ethan and his girlfriend for dinner tonight. We all agreed it would be best to get together after I’d had a few hours to think about what they’d told me. It would be a really big help to me if you’d go with me tonight—you know, sort of moral support.”
She cleared her throat. “I don’t know, Mark. That sounds rather awkward.”
“It would be even more awkward for me to have dinner with Ethan Brannon and his girlfriend without having anyone there who’s on my side.”
“Your side? You make it sound like a confrontation rather than a getting-to-know-each-other evening.”
“I’m not expecting a confrontation. I just…well, I’d like to have someone there who knows me as Mark Thomas, you know? Not some missing kid named Kyle Brannon.”
“You have plenty of friends you could ask. People who have known you much longer than I have.”
“True. But you’re the only one I’ve told,” he replied with a disarming smile. “And I wanted to ask you out again, anyway. I was hoping to do so sometime during our meeting today—though, admittedly, I didn’t have anything like this in mind at the time.”
Nor had she envisioned that their second date would involve her going along as a buffer between him and his newfound brother. Definitely an awkward situation, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to get involved. She searched for the words to politely decline.
Before she could speak, her telephone vibrated against her waist. She glanced at the screen, grimacing when she saw that her sister was calling again. It seemed that she had a choice of how to spend her evening—either entertaining Mark’s brother or refereeing yet another of her own family squabbles.
“Okay,” she said abruptly, pushing her phone back into its holder. “What time?”
“That’s a yes?” He seemed rather surprised that she had accepted, as if he’d realized how close she had come to declining.
She nodded. “Sure. Why not?”
His smile was wry. “I’m sure there are plenty of reasons why you’d have liked to pass, but I’m not going to argue. I’ll pick you up at seven, okay?”
She nodded even as she ignored the renewed vibration of the phone at her waist. “I’ll be ready.”
At least as ready as she could be, she added silently.
“C’mon, Rach, you’ve got to help me out. I don’t know how I’ll get through the evening without you.”
Holding her phone to her ear with one hand while she unzipped her slacks with the other, Rachel wondered absently when Robbie’s voice had taken on this rather shrill, whining tone. She was sure he hadn’t sounded that way when they had dated back in college. And it hadn’t been quite this bad before their three-year marriage had broken up, though it had certainly become more common as their relationship had slowly dissolved.
“I’m sorry, Robbie. I told you, I have plans for tonight. I can’t change them now.”
“But what will I do? Kaylee just doesn’t feel like working tonight. I can’t have an empty hostess stand.”
“Then you’ll have to find someone else to fill in, because I can’t do it tonight.”
Robbie wasn’t used to having Rachel stand her ground when he begged. Usually he could count on her to cave if he laid it on thickly enough. But not tonight, she vowed. She was already doing a favor for Mark. This time Robbie was going to have to find his own solutions to his problems.
“You’re doing this to punish me, aren’t you? Because I forgot to call you on your birthday last week. I know it hurt you that I didn’t remember, but I’ve been overwhelmed with everything that’s going on here. And Kaylee hasn’t been much help—even though I guess she really does feel lousy, having a cold and all—but I’ve apologized to you over and over, Rachel. I don’t know what else I can do.”
Rachel sighed loudly as her clothing fell to the floor at her feet. “I’m not mad at you for missing my birthday. I just can’t help you out tonight. I have other plans. You’re going to have to find someone else. Mary can handle hostess responsibilities tonight. You’ll have to call in one of the day staff to take up her serving duties. Call Hilary. She’ll do it, if you pay her overtime. She needs the extra money.”
“Mary’s too impatient to be a good hostess. She doesn’t have enough tact.”
“She’ll get better with practice. Or you’re going to have to hire someone else if Kaylee continues to bail on you. The point is, you can’t keep depending on me to come to your aid, Robbie. I have my own career. My own life.”
“The restaurant was your dream, too, at one time,” he reminded her, sounding more sullen than whiny now.
“It was never my dream. It was always yours. But I tried to support you in it—until you found someone else to be your cheerleader.”
“So that’s what this is about? You’re still jealous about Kaylee?”
She nearly tripped over her fallen clothing. “Are you kidding me? I will always be eternally grateful to Kaylee. If you hadn’t dumped me for her I might have spent years trying to hold our marriage together out of some misguided sense of loyalty and responsibility. This isn’t ‘about’ anything, Robbie. I just can’t help you tonight. I have a date, and I’m going to be late if I don’t hurry. I’m hanging up now. I suggest you get on the phone to Mary and Hilary while you still have time to prepare for the dinner rush.”
“A date? You didn’t say you have a date. Who is the guy? Can’t you reschedule for another—”
“Goodbye, Robbie.” She snapped her phone closed and headed for the shower.
Mark didn’t know why he was so nervous as he parked in the lot of Rachel’s apartment complex. It was just dinner, right? A double date of sorts, over a nice meal. He’d been on dozens of outings like that. No big deal.
Of course, this would be the first time he’d dined with a man who claimed to be his brother. And the guy’s sort-of psychic girlfriend. Not
