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It made her heart ache uncomfortably.
She glanced back over her shoulder, watching Lorenzo pull out two beers for Debra, giving her his easy smile that made Katrina’s heart race. It was time to make a stop by table one, where Judith sat talking animatedly with Jackie, Jase Warner’s personal assistant.
“I need this,” Katrina muttered, taking a long drink of her beer that wasn’t nearly as cold as it had been when she’d set it down.
“What you need to do is march up there and lay a liplock on that boy that he’ll never forget,” Judith quipped, and Jackie laughed.
But Katrina didn’t have time to come back with a witty reply.
She saw her out of the corner of her eye, and her stomach dropped.
Not here, she thought. Not now.
The girl walked in like she owned the place, looking around at all the patrons, and quickly making her way to a vacated seat at the bar. Once in place, she crossed her legs and watched Lorenzo intently, her stare penetrating.
“What is she doing here?” Katrina asked before walking brusquely towards the girl, her beer forgotten.
“Excuse me,” she heard the girl say, and before she’d even reached them, Katrina watched Lorenzo turn around, his breath catch, his eyes widen.
Miranda was sitting at the bar.
“I’d like a Shirley Temple, on the rocks,” Miranda said, staring at her father with eyes much like his own.
It only took a beat for Lorenzo to recover, and one corner of his mouth lifted in a grin. “Coming right up.”
Katrina quickly took the seat beside Miranda, and she leaned forward so the girl could hear her. “How did you get here?”
“Oh, hi!” Miranda’s face lit up as she saw who was talking to her. “My driver brought me. The internet is a wonderful thing. I found out all about this place, thought I’d come see him for myself. It isn’t like Emily would agree, but she’s busy, and my nanny was preoccupied with some real housewives thing.”
She certainly didn’t speak like a nine-year-old, Katrina thought. No, she spoke more like Emily, like a well-versed rich girl who’d had the best of everything her entire life.
“I’m just curious.” Miranda shrugged. “Who wouldn’t be?”
“Well, I suppose you’re right,” Katrina finally said, “although I don’t think Emily would be very happy with you being here.”
“There’s other kids here.”
Which was true; the age restriction didn’t start until the kitchen closed at 11.
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Oh, I get it. But she made him out to be some monster, and I had to see it for myself. I don’t think he’s a monster. Do you?”
Katrina felt anger beneath the surface. Of course, Emily would make Lorenzo out to be the bad guy.
And he wasn’t.
Not even close.
“Is he?”
“No,” Katrina replied. “No, he isn’t.”
“One Shirley Temple,” Lorenzo said as he returned. “On the house if you tell me how you got here.”
“My driver, and thank you.” Miranda smiled at him. “I look just like you. I always wondered why I was so different from everyone else. Just so you know, though, I’m going to need tons of therapy. Tons of it.”
Lorenzo laughed softly. “We’ll manage it, I’m sure.”
