Page 81 of Heidi Lucy Loses Her Mind
She clears her throat once more. “He didn’t settle things with that woman,” she says quietly, her eyes still shifting around us. “The old lady who was going to sue?”
I nod quickly, trying not to look too eager so I don’t scare her away. “Carmina, yes.”
The mousy little waitress takes a deep breath, and her expression grows more determined. “He didn’t settle things amicably. Manniford doesn’t do anything amicably. He was lawyering up. The lady came in here making all sorts of threats after she said she found a bug in her food. Manniford said she put it there herself so she could get a free meal. He never solved anything with her.”
“When was this?” Soren says, stepping up from behind me once more. I lean back into him after the briefest of hesitations; I want to practice being close to him. So I let myself revel in his warmth at my back, at the comfort I feel from knowing he’s here with me.
“It was…I don’t know. Sometime in April? Here, I have a picture,” the waitress says. She’s still speaking quietly and quickly, and when she pulls her phone out of her pocket, her hands tremble. “I noticed it later, but…” She taps on her screen a few times and then holds it up to show us.
At first glance, it just appears to be a selfie—the mousy waitress and another girl, smiling at the camera. But a second later my attention jumps to the background, and my gaze sharpens on the woman there: Carmina. It’s her, undeniably. She’s at a table right behind the waitresses, about to take a bite of her food, and her head is ducked slightly, but I still recognize her. She’s wearing a familiar heavy locket around her neck and looking down at it, and I’ve seen her wear the red jacket she has on, too.
“That’s her,” Soren murmurs, his voice close to my ear as he leans over my shoulder to see the phone.
“It is,” I say.
“She said she was on a date,” the waitress says.
I frown, turning around and glancing at Soren. He looks as shocked as I do.
“A date?” I say, looking back at the waitress. “Like…a romantic date?”
She shrugs, but it’s a tight movement. “I guess. That’s what she said. She said she had a date.”
My frown deepens. “Did anyone show up?”
“No,” the girl says, sounding sad, and something uncomfortably like pity twinges in my gut when I look back at the photo of Carmina by herself. “She ate alone the whole evening.” She hesitates and then adds, “She looked lonely.”
* * *
“A date.”
“I know. Adate.”
Soren and I look at each other before his eyes jump back to the road.
I keep my gaze on him, though, as my mind works double time trying to make sense of everything.
Up until now, no one has mentioned that Carmina had a man in her life. Her son certainly didn’t say anything. And I guess we can’t make assumptions; for all we know, she was stood up on what was supposed to be a first date or a blind date. Maybe for all intents and purposes, she really didn’t have anyone in her life romantically. I just don’t know.
There’s one thing I do know, though: Soren would never stand me up if we were supposed to have dinner together.
I can’t believe I told him I like him. I don’t know whether to be proud of myself or scared of my own daring.
It’s fine,I remind myself.Telling him you like him is totally fine. Dating him would be totally fine too.
“I guess we should ask someone about her romantic life,” I say. “There are a few other things I want to ask her son about anyway.”
“All right,” Soren says, nodding grimly. “I think if anyone would know about Carmina dating, it would be him.” He drums his fingers on the steering wheel and then looks at me. “Let’s do it.”
20
IN WHICH SOREN AND HEIDI DO SOME SNOOPING
Heidi is in thezone, and I can barely keep up.
“Now?” I say incredulously to her when she tells me she’s ready to go back to Phildegarde’s place.
She blinks at me. “Of course,” she says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Then she points at the sign we’re passing. “Take the next exit, I think.”
