Suite Dreams Read online

  “Lys?” Jude’s voice was tender, which should have helped, but all it did was make me want to cry more.

  “He was my boyfriend,” I admitted. “But we decided to separate for a while. Take things easy, remain friends. I’m having a hard time defining what we are, because it just sorta came out of the blue right before he left. And it’s just left me confused.”

  “Do you want to get back together?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. I thought maybe, but”—I shook my head—“I don’t know. Rick was my first boyfriend. I guess I haven’t really dealt with our decision. God, I haven’t even told anyone.”

  “Why not?”

  “Hello? Failure city.”

  “You’re not a failure. Sometimes relationships just don’t work out. It’s nobody’s fault.”

  He sounded so reasonable. It was the same argument Rick had used with me. I needed to process. But right now I didn’t have time.

  “I really need to get to work.”

  I picked up my pace. Jude fell into step beside me.

  “You should talk about it,” he said.

  “I know. And I will.” I glanced over at him. “Don’t worry. I won’t lay it all on you.”

  “I don’t mind. Maybe on the walk home—”

  “You came here to have fun, not to listen to my breakup woes.”

  “As hard as breaking up is, it’s better than staying together if things aren’t working.”

  “Are you talking from experience?”

  “Maybe.” He grinned. “Can’t share with you if you won’t share with me.”

  It was amazing. Just a few words from him and I felt better already.

  “All right. Maybe later,” I said hesitantly.

  “As long as I have use of your couch, I’ll be around.”

  When we arrived at The Chalet, Jude gave a little whistle. “Nice. I can see why those veggies are so expensive.”

  The restaurant was designed to resemble something you’d find in the Swiss Alps. Evergreens had been strategically placed so there was no view of other buildings that might be in the area.

  “So I should come back when? Around eleven?” Jude asked.

  I grabbed his arm. “First, come around to the back. I have a surprise for you.”

  “What kind of surprise?”

  I was practically giddy at the thought of finally sharing the news. I wasn’t usually good at keeping surprises, but I’d wanted to wait until the right moment to spring this one. “A free meal.”

  His eyes widened. “How’d you manage that?”

  “The quick phone call I made before we left? It was to my boss. The employees always get a complimentary meal before we open, and he okayed one for you tonight.” I’d gone to my room because I hadn’t wanted Jude to hear the call, just in case Paul had said no.

  “You’re amazing.”

  The sparkle in his eyes when he looked at me made me feel amazing, and my earlier confusing feelings about Rick melted away.

  “Come on.” I took him around to the back. We went through the door into the kitchen.

  Chaos abounded inside. While we set up for the night, the chef would prepare our meals. He wasn’t haughty, but he did insist we call him Chef. Our restaurant was the kind that hired chefs, not cooks.

  I led Jude to the back office where Paul worked. The door was open. Still I knocked.

  Paul looked up from whatever he’d been studying, probably next week’s schedule. I smiled at him. He had a face weathered by the cold, winds, ice, and snow. He was a volunteer mountain rescuer. Legend had it he’d climbed Mount Everest. I couldn’t imagine how awesome it would be to stand at the top of the world and look down.

  I made introductions.

  “Sorry, I’m too busy at the moment for chit-chat. Alyssa, give Jude a menu and have him select his dinner with our compliments.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Jude said. “I really appreciate it.”

  Paul nodded and went back to his papers.

  I escorted Jude to the dining room. The lights were turned low. Soft music played in the background. I caught sight of Mel lighting the candle on a nearby table.

  “Hey, Mel,” I said.

  Without turning to look at me, she growled. “Two of the busboys called in sick. Can you believe it?”

  Sick? I thought. Yeah, right. The first Saturday after finals? Did they think we’d all been born yesterday? Tonight would be more insane than usual.

  “Listen, I have someone I want you to meet.”

  She spun around, looking flustered and PO’d. Then she looked astonished and smiled at Jude. “Oh, hey.”

  “Mel, this is Jude. Jude, this is Mel Gibson.”

  Jude released a burst of laughter, then apologized. “Sorry.”

  “Hey, I get it all the time,” Mel said. “My parents have a warped sense of humor. They named me Melinda but they had to know people would call me Mel, so what can you do?”

  “Now I’m going to go back home with all kinds of great stories. No one’s gonna believe I’ve met Mel Gibson, but in fact, I have.”

  She pointed her finger at him. “You’re an Aussie.” She looked at me speculatively, eyebrow raised.

  “It’s a long story. I’ll explain later. Right now I need to get Jude situated.”

  I sat him at one of our larger tables, one that most of us usually sat at while we ate. I grabbed a menu and handed it to him. “Look it over. I’ll be right back.”

  I returned to the kitchen, removed my jacket, and hung it on the coat rack near the door. I fished my apron out of my pocket and had barely finished tying it in place when Mel grabbed my arm and spun me around.

  “Okay, give me the short version of the long story,” she demanded.

  “The couch Rick is sleeping on? It isn’t exactly free, as it turns out. He swapped his here for that one there, and in typical Rick fashion forgot to tell anyone, except Jude. So I’m playing tour guide.”

  I almost laughed at the astonished expression on Mel’s face. “He’s one hot Aussie. So what are you going to do with him?”

  “What do you mean?”

  She made a little snorting noise. “I think he thinks he has a chance with you.”

  “No.”

  “Yes. He doesn’t take his eyes off of you.”

  What was she talking about?

  “Of course he does.” He’d run into things otherwise. “I need to get his food order going, so I’ll catch you later.”

  She grabbed my arm before I took two steps. “Since you’re not back in study mode yet, consider this: Boomer’s band is playing a gig at a club near here. I wondered if you wanted to go with me. You can bring Mad Max.”

  Mel was into apocalyptic movies and the real Mel Gibson.

  “What—tonight?”

  She laughed. “Yeah. It’s open-mike night, but he doesn’t go on until eleven, so I figure if we clean up really fast—another reason I’m mad at Tweedledee and Twiddledum for not showing—we can hoof it over there and maybe catch a song or two. Then we can just hang around and listen to the other bands. It’ll be fun.”

  “Maybe. I have to check with Jude, see if he’s interested. I don’t know what his plans are.” He probably didn’t have any, but I didn’t know him well enough to know what his likes and dislikes were. I grabbed my menu pad and headed back into the dining room.

  Jude was leaning back in his chair. The menu was closed. I had just a moment to fantasize about what it would be like to have dinner here with Jude—dinner as in a date, not free food. I wasn’t sure there’d be anything more romantic.

  I shoved the fantasy aside and approached the table.

  “So what’ll you have?” I asked in my very best waitress voice, pencil poised over my pad.

  “You weren’t kidding about the veggies,” he said. “This stuff is out-of-control expensive. I can’t eat here.”

  Exactly the way our customers preferred it. For some, eating here was a status symbol.

  “Paul is totally ok