Every Breath You Take (Second Opportunities 4)

And if that weren’t bad enough, the window glass was noticeably grimy.

She pushed through the heavy brass-trimmed oak door, looked around for the ma d’, took in the general condition of things, and worriedly glanced at her watch. It was 11:15; fifteen minutes before Donovan’s opened for lunch. By now, all the tables should have been covered with snowy white linen tablecloths and decked out with sparkling crystal, gleaming china chargers with a goldD in the center, and ornamental brass lanterns. As she walked toward the lounge, Kate counted ten tables that weren’t set, and she noticed that the patterned burgundy carpet didn’t look freshly vacuumed.

The lounge was separated from the dining rooms by a richly carved mahogany wall with stained-glass panels. The room occupied the entire right-hand corner of the building, its shuttered windows looking out onto the street at the front and along the side. During the day, the shutters were left open so people who were eating and drinking at the tables could enjoy the street scene. At dark, the shutters were closed, and the atmosphere inside became a candlelit, upscale ” with a jazz quartet providing music next to a small dance floor.

The remaining two walls were taken up by the bar itself, an L-shaped mahogany replica of an old-world bar, with dark green marble counters, brass foot rails, and a carved wood canopy above burgundy leather barstools. The beveled mirror on the two back walls was all but obscured by tiers of crystal glasses and Donovan’s famous selection of spirits from all over the world.

The entire original Irish pub of Kate’s youth had occupied about half the area of the current lounge. Normally, being in the lounge evoked nostalgia in Kate. Today, however, she felt a rush of frustrated annoyance when she took a look inside and saw Frank O’Halloran rushing back and forth from one end of the bar to the other, setting out bowls of imported nuts and pulling out trays of fruit from the refrigerators under the bar.

Two bartenders normally manned the bar for weekday lunches, with the number increasing to three on Monday through Wednesday nights, and then to four for the Thursday-, Friday-, and Saturday-night crowds.

, Frank,” Kate said to the balding bartender, who’d worked for Donovan’s for twenty years. ’s supposed to be on duty with you today?”

,” he replied, flicking her a noncommittal look.

thought Jimmy was working the evening shift.”

switched with Pete Fellows.”

’s Jimmy, then?”

, Mary Kate.”

Scheduling the staff was Louis Kellard’s job as the restaurant manager. guess Louis is taking care of getting you some help,” Kate said, turning to leave.

Kate, I need to tell you somethin’.”

She turned back, suddenly uneasy about his tone. ?” she said, walking over to him. He had a sheen of perspiration on his forehead, presumably from trying to rush.

’m gonna have to quit.”

Kate’s eyes widened in alarm at the thought of another familiar face disappearing from her life. you sick, Frank?”

Lifting his head, he looked her straight in the eye. , I am. I’m sick of watchin’ this place slide downhill. I’ve always been real proud of workin’ at Donovan’s. There’s not a customer who comes in here more than a few times that I don’t make it a point to remember his name and what he likes. Your dad, God rest his soul, was the same way about the dining room customers.”

know that—” Kate said, cringing inwardly from the indirect criticism of her stewardship.

’s has always been special. Even when your dad decided to make this place real classy, he kept it real personal, too. He gave it his special touch, and that’s what’s made Donovan’s the popular place that it is. I’m gonna be honest with you, Mary Kate, and tell you what all of us think who’ve worked here for a few years: You don’t have your dad’s touch. We thought you might, but you don’t.”

Kate put up a valiant struggle against a sudden rush of tears. spend as much time here as my father did,” she argued.

heart isn’t in it,” he countered. father wouldn’t have seen me alone in here and shrugged and said, ‘I guess Louis is taking care of getting you some help.’ He’d have made damned sure I had help, and then he’d have made damned sure he knew why Louis hadn’talready taken care of it.”

Heated tears were burning the backs of Kate’s eyes now, threatening to spill over, and she turned, starting toward the doorway into the dining room. Marjorie to give you an extra two months’ pay in your final check,” she said, referring to the trusted bookkeeper who’d worked for her father for more than a decade.

To her shock, the Irishman called angrily after her, “Youtell Marjorie to do it, Mary Kate Donovan! That’s your job—you’re the boss, not me, and not Marjorie.”

Kate nodded, trying to breathe steadily and slowly so she wouldn’t have to run for the bathroom to either throw up or cry.

another thing—” Frank shouted after her. are you lettin’ me get away with talkin’ to you like that? I wouldn’t have gotten away with talkin’ to your dad that way!”

to hell,” Kate whispered.

one more thing besides,” he called.

Fists clenched, Kate turned and saw him leaning over the bar, his face red with anger. ’s wrong with your eyes that you didn’t notice the lemons and limes I’m puttin’ out are old? Why aren’t you storming outta here on your way to the kitchen to see who the hell is letting that produce company get away with giving us this crap?”

Kate refused to reply, but she did notice that the ma d’, Kevin Sandovski, still wasn’t at his post at 11:25, when she walked by his desk at the entrance. In the kitchen, she found him, Louis Kellard, and several waiters who should have been busy with last-minute details in the dining room, standing around joking with the kitchen staff. ’s going on in here?” she asked in what she hoped was an authoritative, disapproving voice.

Sandovski levered himself up from a stool, but she thought he rolled his eyes at the waiters. Louis Kellard looked at the bulge in her abdomen, smiled sympathetically, and said, , I’ve been through two pregnancies with my wife, and I know how hard it is on a woman emotionally and physically to deal with that, along with the stress of holding down a job. Try not to upset yourself.”

’m not upsetting myself,” Kate said, unsure whether he was genuinely trying to help her or patronizing her. O’Halloran said we’re getting inferior produce. Is that true?”