Part 21 (1/2)
”In a pig's eye.”
”Or maybe I'd be an absent owner, coming in only at night.”
”As if that would work.”
”Or maybe I'll get you to manage it for a while.”
”People recognize me as part of the restaurant too.”
”Not if you quit.”
They stared at each other. Finally, Darius sighed. ”You're not being fair.”
”Sure I am,” Blackstone said. ”I'll get rid of Ariel at any moment on your say-so.”
”Even if I say so right now.”
”Even if.” Blackstone didn't hesitate. He was very convincing.
”I don't want her there, Aethelstan,” Darius said.
Blackstone studied him for a moment, then sighed and stood. ”All right. I'll call her in the morning and tell her.”
He picked up both beer bottles and tossed them in the recycling bag under the sink. Darius watched him, but he couldn't sense any posturing on Blackstone's part. The man seemed to mean what he said.
Ariel, who had no job and no money, would lose what little hope she had gained from this day. And it would be his fault, all because he was trying to prove a point. A rather childish point for a man who was nearly 3000 years old, trying to prove that his best friend really liked him by hurting someone else, someone who didn't deserve to be hurt.
”Don't fire her,” Darius said.
Blackstone faced him, gaze impa.s.sive. He didn't smile triumphantly as Darius might have done. He didn't do anything at all. ”I said I would. I keep my promises.”
”I'll come back,” Darius said. ”Keep her on staff.”
”I said I'd get rid of her if you came back,” Blackstone said. ”I mean it. We've been friends for a thousand years, even if I've been a poor one. I've only known her a day. I owe her nothing.”
”I know,” Darius said. ”I appreciate the offer. Keep her.”
”You have control,” Blackstone said. ”If you think she should go, just fire her.”
Darius shook his head. ”She's your employee. Treat her like the others.”
Blackstone grinned. ”Which means you can fire her, like you do all the other employees who need to be fired.”
Darius propped himself on his elbows. ”I don't want to have control over her.”
”You won't have any more control over her than you have over our other employees.” Blackstone shrugged. ”No sense treating her differently.”
”I can't be objective,” Darius said. ”I might fire her for flirting with someone tall, dark, and handsome.”
”I won't flirt with her,” Blackstone said. ”I can promise that.”
”Believe it or not,” Darius said, ”I didn't mean you.”
Blackstone flushed. Then he shook his head ever so slightly. ”Guess I deserved that. I really don't listen, do I?”
”Let's just say it's not one of your strengths.”
Blackstone nodded. ”All right. I'll be in charge of hiring, firing, and generally managing Ms. Ariel Summers. Deal?”
”Deal,” Darius said.
”Come back to work, then?”
”Tomorrow,” Darius said. ”I have some gory, violent movies I've been saving up.”
Blackstone grinned and picked one off the pile. '”Notting Hill' is violent?”
”Nope, just gory,” Darius said. ”Now would you get out of here before you embarra.s.s me further?”
”You don't have to ask twice,” Blackstone said, and waved his arms. He disappeared in a flash of light.
”Show-off,” Darius muttered. Then he glanced at the DVDs. He wished he'd known Blackstone was going to study them. He'd have left out his guy flicks. The romantic comedies were there for research. A matchmaker always needed new tricks for ways to unite couples.
Even if the female half of one of those couples was a woman he cared about more than he was willing to say.
*Twelve*
Ariel's ankle ached. Acting as lunchtime hostess in a fancy restaurant was harder than she had expected. And she wasn't even the hostess in charge. She was the junior hostess, just learning her duties.
Hostess in Charge or HiC, as she jokingly had called herself, was Sofia Harney, a fiftyish woman who bore a striking resemblance to Sophia Loren. She was tall, big-boned, and big-busted, but surprisingly fit all the same. Her long brown hair was streaked with gray and she wore huge gla.s.ses over heavily made-up eyes.
She had a broad laugh and more energy than Ariel could ever hope for. And all the regulars seemed to know and love her.
”Can't believe you're retiring, Sofia,” more than one regular said as she led him to his table.
”I'm not retired,” she would say in response. ”I'm moving to the weekends. At my age, you shouldn't have to work full-time.”
Sofia's change to weekends, and the fact that the other junior hostess had quit before Ariel started, meant that Ariel would eventually become the HiC.
”I think any healthy twenty-year-old should learn the value of hard work,” said the man currently in front of Sofia. She laughed, just like she had at every variation of this remark she had received all day.
”So do I,” she said. ”Which is why I'm training young Ariel here.”
Ariel smiled, just like she was supposed to, even though she didn't want them to think she was too young for the job or only twenty. She didn't know why her age seemed important here, but it did. She found herself actually wis.h.i.+ng for a few more years--or at least the wisdom those years could allow her to claim.
Sofia sat the man and his party at the table where the tourist had had his heart attack the day before. The tourist was doing surprisingly well, the hospital had told her when she called first thing that morning on Blackstone's behalf. In fact, the nurse had told her, he was doing better than any heart attack patient they had ever had.