Free Chasing Chaos: A Novel by Katie Rose Guest Pryal Page A

watched him go, thinking of ugly memories, of a pool of blood
that wouldn’t come clean.
    When
she turned back to Rivet’s entrance, Marlon and Ricky were still chatting.
Joining them, she heard Ricky mooning over Sandy’s car and over Sandy. Ricky
still hadn’t let anyone cross Rivet’s threshold, though.
    “Ricky,”
Daphne said, interrupting his gushing. “We’re coming in now.”
    “What?
Right. Sure.” Ricky led the way into the building.
    As
she followed Ricky inside, Marlon chuckled over her shoulder. Her back
stiffened. She had trouble reading Marlon, and she could read nearly anyone.
She walked quickly, putting space between her and him.
    Inside
the restaurant, servers prepared for the dinner shift, changing linens and
setting tables, engaging in all the prep work that goes on behind the scenes in
fine restaurants before the patrons arrive.
    She
nodded to the bar manager, Quentin, who had worked at Rivet for almost a
decade. She put Quentin in his mid-thirties, and she’d always found him
handsome, with his black hair and bright hazel eyes. Quentin had watched the
restaurant change hands five years ago, and considering the fierce loyalty he’d
shown to the new owners, he seemed happy with Rivet’s evolution. The new owners
were far more trusting of their employees than the old ownership had been. For
a bar manager, that trust meant more responsibility and also more freedom.
    “Daphne!”
Olivia came striding out of the manager’s office and gave her a hug.
    When
Daphne had first moved to Los Angeles, she’d met Olivia. They’d worked together
under very different circumstances. Back then, Olivia had seemed quiet and shy.
But Olivia was also very observant. When Rivet had needed a new manager, Greta
insisted they give Olivia the job. Turned out Olivia was only quiet and shy
when she needed to act that way to survive.
    “Can
you believe it?” Daphne said.
    “I
cannot! But I’m so excited. Keeping it a secret from Greta is going to be
impossible, even for three days.”
    “We
can do it.”
    “Can
we?” Olivia nodded toward Ricky, who was rolling silverware into linen napkins
for the patio and bar place settings.
    Just
then, Daphne remembered who’d come with her. She stepped to the side, revealing
Marlon.
    Before
she could introduce Marlon to Olivia, he held out his hand. “It’s good to see
you again,” he said.
    “You
too,” Olivia said, blushing, the pinkness spreading up to her natural blond
hairline.
    Daphne
turned to Marlon. “I thought you never came to eat here.”
    “I
don’t.”
    “Sometimes
we cater meals at Sandy’s,” Olivia said quickly. Too quickly. The catered meals
were a truth, but they weren’t the whole truth. Olivia, it seemed, had a small
crush.
    Daphne
let the matter drop and returned to the business at hand. “Speaking of
catering, what are we going to do for this wedding?”
    They
sat at the bar, and Quentin made them spritzers with lime juice and some other
mysterious ingredients from unlabeled bottles. Olivia had already come up with
some ideas, and she laid out her plans on the bar. Daphne and Marlon sat on
either side of her, examining the sketches and menus.
    Marlon,
despite having avoided Rivet as a patron, knew an awful lot about what kind of
food the restaurant could produce. Sandy had been right to send him. After an
hour, they were done. Marlon’s knowledge of the floor plan of Sandy’s house
allowed Olivia to design the arrangement of buffet tables and bar stations. His
knowledge of food, and Rivet’s food in particular, allowed him and Olivia to
put together a meal Daphne would be proud to serve Greta and Timmy.
    She
watched Marlon, his head tilted toward Olivia’s, and she felt grateful, even
warm. She thought about what Carrie had told her, about how he’d spent his teen
years without parents, living in Carrie’s home, and she wanted to know more.
    “Ready?”
She turned to him once Olivia had headed back to her office to set their