AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Mr.Esposito,” she said rather haughtily, “you know very well we require residents to be in their rooms at nine p.m. These rules exist for a reason. The fragile health of our residents requires them to get adequate rest.”
“My apologies,” I said, with a sincerity that surprised me. “I shouldn’t have kept her out so late.”
The nurse’s expression softened when she looked at my grandmother. “Would you like me to get you a wheelchair, Mrs.Esposito?”
“Oh no, I’m just fine,” a cheerful Donna said. She patted my arm and tried to reach my cheek for a kiss. I had to bend down quite a bit to make it possible.
“Great job, Dominic,” she murmured in my ear. “And Melanie is wonderful.” My grandmother touched my face. “I knew she would be from the way you talked about her.”
“I told you about Melanie?”
Her bright eyes danced. “Of course you told me all about Melanie. Don’t you remember?”
In fact, I did remember now. I’d stopped by to see Donna one afternoon with a bag of the forbidden chicken tacos she loved so much. I was all out of sorts because Melanie and I had just bickered over menu prices. While Melanie was standing in front of me, spouting off all her dense market research, I just kept thinking about how badly I wanted to silence her with my mouth. I hadn’t admitted that last part to Donna, but I’d said enough. I didn’t even realize Donna had been listening to me complain as she happily ate her tacos and flipped the television channels.
“Good night, Donna,” I said, and she winked.
The nurse said a stiff farewell to me and then led my grandmother down the hall to her room. I checked my phone and saw that Gio had texted. Now that Leah was safe and asleep, he said he’d come down to Espo 2 and help clean up. I told him to forget it and stay home with his family. I didn’t see a good reason for Gio to leave his wife and baby and come down to Espo 2 in the middle of the night when I was capable of handling everything myself.
I yawned the whole way on the drive back to Espo 2. Tonight I planned on getting a good night’s sleep for once. Tomorrow I would start tackling the projects that remained before opening day. All I had left to do tonight was to make sure the fires were out and the doors were locked.
If Melanie had followed my instructions, the place should’ve been empty. I’d been gone for nearly an hour, and I’d ordered her to chase everyone, including herself, out after thirty minutes.
She had almost listened.
As I approached the door, I saw her through the glass and I stopped to stare. Her white Esposito’s T-shirt sported a tomato sauce stain on the right shoulder, and her hair was still loose. Melanie had caught my eye from the very beginning in her crisp power suits and heels. But lately she’d started dressing more casually, and right now in her T-shirt, jeans, and messy hair, I felt like I was seeing the real Melanie, not the sophisticated version that hid behind designer clothes and perfect makeup. And my god, she was beautiful.
Melanie hadn’t noticed that I was standing right outside. She was walking around and pushing all the chairs into place around the empty tables. As she finished, she tucked her long hair behind her ears and picked up a stack of plates. I hesitated with my hand on the door. Even though we’d been alone in the restaurant for countless hours, there was something more intimate about tonight, about the surrounding darkness, about the way we’d locked eyes for a split second, and the earth had seemed to shift under my feet. If I went in there now, I didn’t know if I was capable of keeping my distance. I was tired of doing that, tired of coming up with endless reasons why I shouldn’t touch that girl when I wanted her so much I couldn’t function normally. Maybe all this stuff I’d been telling myself about rules and propriety was bullshit anyway. Maybe when we were offered a moment like this, we ought to take it.
I opened the door.
“Thought I told you to take off,” I said.
Melanie was startled. She let out a tiny gasp and took a step back. I saw the blush creep across her cheeks and the way her eyes briefly lowered after they swept over my chest. I wasn’t going to bother lying to myself; it excited the hell out of me. Then she tipped her chin up and got a little huffy.
“Most employers are grateful when a dedicated employee wants to put in more time even when she’s off the clock,” she informed me.
“I’m grateful,” I said, and tossed my keys on the nearest table. “By the way, don’t hang out in here by yourself with the front door unlocked. Especially not when it’s after ten o’clock at night.”
“I wasn’t by myself for long,” she said defensively. “Tim and Gilberto only left ten minutes ago.”
“Don’t do it for two minutes, Melanie.”
“This is a safe neighborhood,” she sniffed.
“There’s no such thing. Now quit arguing with me.”
She rolled her eyes and hugged the plates to her chest. “Aren’t you a little too tired to play the macho savior?”
“No.”
Melanie pressed her lips together, then shook her head. “I’m just going to clean a few things up and then I’ll be out of your way,” she declared, carrying her pile of plates to the kitchen.
I didn’t remain in the empty dining room. I followed her. She was in front of the huge sink, running the water full blast.
“You hungry?” I shouted over the noise of the water.
She shut the faucet off. “What?”
