I knew what that meant.Be cool, be cool, be cool,I chanted inside my head.
“Well… I do live with a man,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck with one hand. “He’s very protective, and he’ll probably get mad if I’m not home by a certain time. But I guess he’ll just have to get over it.”
“Your dad?”
“Nope.”
Hunter frowned, shoulders stiffening. “So you have a boyfriend?”
I flashed a mischievous grin at him. “A terrier. His name is Mignon.”
“Fuck…” He grinned and rolled his eyes. “Can’t believe I fell for that shit.”
I laughed and brushed a loose strand of hair away from my face. Some of it got caught in the necklace I had tucked under my blouse (I never left home without it, but it seemed unprofessional to have it out on display while waitressing). I grimaced and yanked it out, trying to detangle it.
Hunter’s smile vanished. “Where did you get that?” he asked, nodding toward my chest.
“The necklace?” I asked as I pulled the dark wayward strands of hair out of the tiny silver loops.
“Yes.” His eyes narrowed slightly as he watched me.
“It was a birthday gift from my mom,” I said, tucking it back under my top.
“Your mom got you an L pendant?” he said, crossing his arms. “I thought you said your name was Delaney.”
“It is, but everyone calls me Laney for short,” I said, wondering why he was suddenly acting so strange. It was just a necklace.
“What year were you born in?” he asked, apropos of nothing.
“2001,” I said, furrowing my brows. “You?”
He was silent for a moment. Then he rubbed his neck and took a step back. “One of my friends just got here. I have to talk to him,” he said stiffly. “I’ll see you around, Laney.”
“But didn’t you want to hang out lat—”
Before I could even get my sentence all the way out, Hunter was gone, striding over to the other side of the ballroom without a single glance back at me.
“Okay, then,” I muttered to myself, wondering how and why things had taken such a strange turn. Hunter was openly flirting with me, and then everything had soured over… nothing, really. It seemed as if he didn’t like my necklace, but that wasn’t a reason to suddenly dislike a person.
Maybe he was one of those guys who hated anything even remotely vulgar and unrefined. Name and letter necklaces were a little outdated and gaudy, I suppose, compared to fine jewelry, and when he approached me earlier, one of the very first things he said was ‘I hate to sound like a walking cliché’, so he obviously didn’t like clichés and tackiness.
If my supposedly-bad taste in jewelry was all it took for him to lose interest in me, then I never even stood a chance.Oh well. I guess I shouldn’t have expected much more than snobbery and derision from a Royal Falls guy.
Before I could ponder the matter any further, Charles Connery strode up to me and cleared his throat. “Delaney, isn’t it? Ava’s daughter?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yes, sir.”
He patted my shoulder. “You’ve grown up. I think you were only thirteen or fourteen the last time I saw you,” he said, tilting his head slightly to the side. “Your hair is different now, isn’t it?”
“It’s a bit longer, yes,” I replied, pasting on a smile. I knew he was probably just being polite. We’d met a few times over the years, because of my mom’s work here, but I didn’t expect a man like him to actually remember what I looked like.
“Anyway,” he went on. “Do you think you’d be willing to do me a favor?”
“Of course, Mr. Connery.”
“You’ve met Jean, I presume?”
I nodded. Jean was one of the other maids working here tonight.