you should,” Mrs. Winchester agreed, nodding quickly. “Send a message.”
Rose’s jaw dropped. “This is a mistake!”
“I think you’d better go,” Warren said quietly. He moved forward and, with a firm grip on her arm, led her to the front door.
She wrenched her arm free. “You don’t need to manhandle me. It’s not like I want to stay.”
He looked at her for a moment, then shook his head and opened the door. Behind him, she could see the condescending expressions on the faces of his guests. A bunch of wealthy people who were more comfortable believing the “help” would steal than in listening to the truth.
For just a moment when she’d met him, Rose thought maybe Warren was different.
What a foolish mistake that had turned out to be.
One thing was for sure: it was a mistake she would never make again.
Chapter Two
“He sounds like a jerk,” Lily pronounced.
“Big-time,” Rose agreed. “I don’t know if I should conclude never to trust rich guys, or good-looking guys, or both.”
Rose and her sister were sprawled on the floor of their Brooklyn apartment, the newspaper Help Wanted section spread around them on the floor.
“How about simply never trusting Warren Harker?” Lily suggested. “Rather than wiping out the entire male population with one fell swoop. Or at least, the entire desirable male population.”
Rose sighed. “We’ll see. Oh, and add Marta Serragno to the list, too. I’m an equal opportunity mistruster.”
Lily chuckled. “So she actually used the words, ‘You’ll never work in this town again’?”
“That’s exactly what she said.” Rose circled another ad in the Help Wanted section of the paper. “And she’s as good as her word. So far I’ve been turned down by every major catering company in the entire city and two of three that are so minor you’d think she wouldn’t have ferreted them out.”
“Well,” Lily said with a straight face, “when you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, you’re going to have to expect repercussions, sis.”
“Very funny, Lil. Very, very funny.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Lily threw her arms around Rose and gave her a big squeeze. “I’m just trying to help you see the humor in this. Such as it is. I mean, it’s not like you’ll never work again.”
“It’s starting to look like it.” An ad for a gas station attendant caught Rose’s eye and, after a moment of self-pity, she circled it, too.
Lily looked over. “Oh, come on.”
“Come on what?”
“You can get a job in the food industry. Gerard said he’d hire you if Miguel didn’t already have the job.”
Rose mustered a smile. “That’s nice of him to say, but since Miguel already does have the job, he doesn’t really have to put his money where his mouth is.” Gerard owned one of the exclusive boutique hotels where Lily worked as a concierge. He’d always been so kind to both of them. “Unless…Maybe he’d hire me as a maid?”
“I’m sure he would, but you’d be miserable.”
“I’m miserable now.”
“No, I mean you’d be a miserable maid.” Lily smiled. “Look at your room. There’s hardly a place on the floor where you can see the carpet.”
“This is no time to joke, Lily,” Rose said, but she smiled.
“Okay, okay. Just trying to add a little levity. Now let’s think about this. What if you forget catering for the time being and try restaurants? Maybe even work as a waitress.”
“I’d do that gladly. Unfortunately, I’ve already tried. Same story. Marta Serragno is nothing if not determined. Horrid woman. Half the town seems to be sucking up to her and the other half seems terrified. I can’t win.”
“Wait a minute.” Lily tapped her finger against her chin. “I saw a sign up in one of these places…yes! It was the Cottage Diner. Over by Coney Island?”
“Cottage Diner? I’ve never heard of it.”
Lily shrugged. “It’s a greasy spoon, but a great location. Water view and all. The place itself looks like it’s been there since World War II. Maybe you could get in there as a waitress and then, you know, work your way up. Put the place on the map. Meantime, I bet the tourists and Coney Island visitors give good tips.”
Something in Rose tingled. “That’s not a bad idea. There’s no way that Marta would have gotten to a crummy little diner in Brooklyn. But if I could help them raise their profile…” She frowned. That was getting ahead of herself. She hadn’t even gotten the job—or seen the diner, for that matter—and she was already thinking about raising the place’s profile?
As if reading her mind, Lily said, “I’m sure it will work out that way. And I’m telling you, the location is great.”
“Hmm.” For reasons she couldn’t quite express—maybe just intuition—this was striking Rose as a good idea. A very good idea. Something told her this could work out in ways she hadn’t even thought of. “Where is this place exactly?”
Like the plucky heroine in an old movie, Rose took the Help Wanted sign out of the Cottage Diner window and carried it inside with her to ask for the manager.
She approached a busboy who was clearing dishes from a booth. “Excuse me,” she said.
He turned, startled, and dropped a mug onto the floor. It didn’t break, but bounced loudly under the booth. He looked at Rose and his face turned red. “Yyes?”
“I’m here about the job.” She indicated the sign she was holding.
If possible, his face turned even more crimson.
“You need to talk to Doc, the owner,” a voice barked behind her. “Tim’s just a busboy.”
She turned to see a craggy-faced customer sitting in another booth, holding a newspaper. There was a steaming cup of coffee in front of him and about ten empty sugar packets. “Doc’s in the back.” He looked her over skeptically. “But I’m not sure you’re exactly what he’s looking for. What do you think, Al?”
He looked across the room at the only other customer in the place. The pudgy gray-haired man sneezed, dabbed his nose with a napkin and said, “Give her a break, Dick.” He sneezed again and said to Rose, “They’ve had pretty waitresses here before, but they always leave.”
“I’m always willing to try another pretty waitress, though.” A bald man in a greasy white apron came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a bar towel. “Doc Sears.” He set the towel down on the counter and held his hand out.
