I smirked.“I think the question is how many of them have I dated.”
Daphne actually chuckled humorlessly at that.She raised her beer.“Amen, sister.”
She took a drink.
“Are you having man trouble?”I rolled my eyes at my own question.“Of course you’re having man trouble if you ask that.”
She nodded.
“Is it that actor I saw you with last night?”I asked gently.Then I waved a hand.“You don’t have to answer that.”
She sighed, staring into her beer.“It’s okay.Yeah, it’s him.Turns out he’s cheating on me.”Then she shrugged her shoulders slightly.“Well, actually, he was cheating on her with me, but he told me he was ending things with her.And turns out that isn’t true.”
“Oh, no, I’m sorry.”It was all I could think to say.
She turned to look at me again.“I know that doesn’t sound very good, does it?”
“I—um?—”
“I know it sounds stupid,” she said, saving me from having to find an appropriate response.“But I really thought we had something special.We’ve been acting together for a few months.We’re in an acting troupe from Boston, and he’s just such a talented guy and charming when he wants to be.And…I just fell for him.”
I nodded sympathetically.
“But he is an actor, so I’m sure some of that caring, charming person he showed me was just a character,” she said, then took a swig of her beer.
I didn’t know what to say to her.My gut told me that Nick was not a good person.Really not a good person.
“Did you recognize him?”she asked suddenly.“He’s actually quite famous.”
I shook my head.“I only recognized him as playing Saint Nicholas.”
“He’s done quite a few commercials,” she told me.“He has one that airs pretty regularly for men’s hair gel.”
Of course he did.I tried not to make a face.“No.I tend to skip commercials though.”
“Anyway, I guess I was a little starstruck myself, but today, I got a real wake-up call.”
Just then someone tapped me on the shoulder.
I turned to see an unfamiliar man scowling at me.
“Are you the owner of this pub?”he asked.
“Yes.How can I help you?”
“My family has been waiting for well over thirty minutes for our appetizers.”
“Oh no,” I said.I saw that Dave was no longer seated at the bar, which gave me hope that he was in the kitchen picking up their order.But I immediately stood.“Let me check on it.I’m so sorry about that.”
The man still looked perturbed but nodded.As I passed Brandy, I asked her in a hushed voice, “Is everything okay in the kitchen?”
Brandy shrugged.“I think so.”
We certainly didn’t have enough patrons in the pub to warrant any delay on food.I pushed open the swinging doors to find Dave looking out the window toward the back of the restaurant.
“Is everything okay?”I asked.
Dave glanced at me.“Jimmy is just sitting outside.”
