Beyond the Book

It’s bad enough when a guy you’re engaged to breaks up with you because he found someone else, and it might be worse if he did it at Christmas time. And in their favorite restaurant while wearing a sweater she bought for him. That’s what happened to my heroine Marley. So how did Marley handle it? Uh, I mean what happened after she cried a river trying to make herself feel better. Let’s find out.

In this excerpt, Marley is Christmas shopping and stops to eat at the restaurant where her fiancé jilted her.  

Barton’s hostess picked up a menu. “Table for one?”

“Yes.” Marley’s eyes prickled, but she swallowed hard and followed the hostess to a small table near the kitchen. Guess they saved the nice window tables for hunks like Michael.

She sat her purse and packages in the empty chair beside her and tried not to stare at the table where it had all occurred. Her heart burned. Maybe she shouldn’t have come here after all.

“Hi, may I take your drink order?”

Marley looked up and saw Robert, the waiter who’d served her and Michael on that awful day when Michael broke up with her. She blushed and hoped he didn’t know why. “Maybe some hot tea,” she decided, “and I know what I want to order. I’d like a chicken salad plate.”

He smiled at her. “Coming right up.”

As he vanished into the kitchen, Marley heard someone yell, “Hey, Rob, what are you doing here? Your shift’s over.”

So Robert’s friends called him Rob. Marley liked that name better. Robert sounded like someone her father’s age, but Rob sounded young and upbeat. Wonder why he wanted to hang around Barton’s after his shift ended? Didn’t he have some place he needed to be at Christmastime?

He returned to her table and set her tea in front of her. “Have you ever tried tea the way the English drink it?” he asked. “I brought you some cream in case you’d like to try it.”

“Thank you, that’s very thoughtful,” Marley answered. “Maybe I will try it.”

She thought he’d go away, but he remained standing beside the table. “Uh, is there anything else?” she asked.

He smiled at her. “My shift’s over. If I’m not bothering you, I wondered if you’d like some company for lunch.” His eyes twinkled. “In case you’d like to know, you’re the first customer I’ve made that offer to.”

How strange. She’d seen this guy in Barton’s for over a year now, yet she couldn’t have described him to save her life. She paused for a quick inspection. He wore black trousers and a long-sleeved white shirt with a red and black striped tie. A green bib apron covered his shirt and tied around his neck and waist. He’d spiked his short, blonde hair ever so slightly in front. He had blue eyes and a square jaw and definitely wasn’t as buff as Michael who spent a lot of time in a gym. Michael was taller too.

The sparkle in his blue eyes decided her. “Sure. Have a seat.” She swept her packages and purse into the floor, and he sat down beside her.

Oh, she’s done it now! Can Rob be the one to mend her broken heart, or will she find that rebound relationships never work?

If you like the sound of A Table in the Window, please check it out at http://amzn.to/2eW9gBq

The Table in the Window is a short novella.