He Spoke Her Language, So I Said Goodbye novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Table One

Willa's POV

For three days I kept hearing him say it.

Not tonight.

I turned it over on the bus and at work, between a seven-year-old's x-rays and a man who wouldn't stop talking about his bridge.

Not no.

Not tonight meant there was a night coming, and I didn't know why that made me so angry and so warm at the same time.

On Thursday, Bridget came into the kitchen with her phone held out.

"There's a food writer at Dante's Table tonight," she said. "Eight o'clock, a big table, a review dinner. A woman from triage follows the account that posted it."

"He's having a critic in."

"He's having the critic. The one from the paper everyone reads." She smiled, all her teeth. "I'm just saying, you could go."

"I'm not going to wreck his dinner."

"I didn't say wreck. I said go."

I went at a quarter to eight, in the black dress I had bought for the rehearsal.

I didn't make a reservation.

The woman at the host stand was a stranger with a tablet, and she smiled at me and asked for my name.

"I'm here for the owner," I said. "I'm Willa Doyle. He owes me sixty thousand dollars."

Her smile cracked.

"One moment."

She went into the kitchen, and the swinging door was still moving when Dante came through it.

He had a white jacket on, and a vein stood out at his temple.

"Not here," he said, low. "Willa. You can't be here."

← Chapter 9 · All chapters · Chapter 11 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend