Free Scrumptious by Amanda Usen Page A

headache was coming back.
    “Have you lost that lovin’ feeling?” Joe’s light blue eyes danced above the barest curve of his full lips.
    “Fuck off. I hope the worms bite you.”
    “They’re dead.”
    “Too bad.” Marlene didn’t pause until she could hear that Joe was all the way back in his station on the line. Still, that was just on the other side of the dish room wall, and she could hear him humming the tune to “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” the bar pickup song from the Top Gun soundtrack.
    Sense memory flooded her body and Marlene felt it again, his lips, their kiss. Perfect.
    She must have imagined it, or better yet, it was an alcohol-induced hallucination. She put her palms on the raised rim of the stainless steel table to support her weak knees. When the heat waves didn’t subside, she gritted her teeth and threw herself into scrubbing a stockpot. She’d wash every pot in the kitchen if it would cleanse her traitorous memory of Joe’s amazing lips.
    She set the pot in a rack and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket to dial the night dishwasher. Jacques was happy to come in early, thank God, although it still took her forever to get out of the kitchen. It always did. There were so many details to be communicated, so many racks to check and things to label before she left for the day. Since Olivia was on the phone with her lawyer, Marlene had to answer Joe’s questions and deal with the waiters too. Would this day never end? By the time she reached home, she was ready to collapse.
    She dragged herself into the bathroom and poured a more than generous amount of bubble bath into the steaming torrent of hot water. “Ahhh,” she sighed, easing into the water. Tears pricked her eyes as her muscles relaxed, telling her just how tightly she’d been wound all day.
    Her telephone was ringing, but there was no way she was going to get out of the tub until her churning brain slowed down. The answering machine caught the call, and she heard her mother’s bright voice. “Hi, baby, it’s Mom. I’m home tonight. Give me a call if you want me to do your hair. I brought foil home from work. Love you.”
    Marlene’s desperate desire to crawl into bed had dissolved in the bathwater. She was too wired to sleep, and it was only seven o’clock. A night with her mom and some new highlights sounded like the perfect antidote to her crappy day. She shifted to keep her hair dry, glad she had put it up before she climbed into the tub.
    Just as she rose from the tub, someone started banging on her back door. No peace for the wicked, it seemed. “Hang on,” she yelled, toweling off and pulling on a robe. She was not surprised to see Danny on her back step, looking for all the world like a deer standing in the middle of the road staring at a semi-truck. “Oh, for God’s sake, get that look off your face. Get in here.” She opened the door and gestured at her fridge. “Have a beer if you want. I’m going to get dressed.”
    “Not on my account, I hope,” he said, hopeful invitation shining in his glossy brown eyes. She looked at him for a moment and thought about it. He was really cute, with his long, dark blond hair loose around his face, and his beat-up jeans and worn T-shirt emphasizing the strength of his tight and toned body. Even though summer had just begun, he was tan, probably because he had skipped work and spent the day in the sun. God, he was such a puppy. The five-year difference in their ages yawned wide, and she didn’t feel her usual desire to press herself against his warmth.
    She shook her head in exasperation. “Do we have to go through this again?”
    “Hey, hope springs eternal. I figure if I keep coming around, one of these days you’ll decide to keep me.”
    “That’s not the way I operate, Danny. You know that.” He was fun and they were friends, but she’d never led him to expect more than that.
    He ducked his head. “You mad at me about last night?”
    “No, I’m not