Comfort Object Read Online Free PDF Page A

tired old girl,” Guillermo chided from behind the bar. “This frown on your face, it drives the customers away.”
     
    “Does it?” I shrugged. “It's almost closing time anyway.”
     
    We both turned as the bell on the door rang. Shit . It was eight forty-five. Guillermo seated the lone customer at a small table in the corner. Of course he'd come in to eat. He couldn't just grab a quick drink at the bar and go home. Now I'd be here until ten o'clock waiting on him. Guillermo looked at me apologetically.
     
    “Do you mind, Nellie?”
     
    “Nell,” I muttered under my breath, crossing to the customer with a menu. He looked up with a tired smile.
     
    “Is it too late? Is the kitchen closed?”
     
    “No,” I said, unable to keep the edge of irritation from my voice. But he looked tired and hungry. And familiar.
     
    I handed him the menu, softening. “What can I get you to drink?”
     
    He looked up at me again. “A beer. Whatever's on tap.”
     
    I suddenly realized why he looked so familiar. He was an actor, an A-list actor. I think he'd been up for an Oscar last year.
     
    “Sure!” I hoped my sure didn't sound too obsequious. A real movie star! I started back to Guillermo with a goofy, excited smile.
     
    “Jeremy Gray would like whatever's on tap, boss. Make it snappy.”
     
    “Jeremy Gray!” Guillermo practically simpered. “In my own little restaurant here. You tell him this is all on the house. All of it. Maybe he'll let us take a picture!”
     
    I looked over at Buona Italia's “Wall of Celebrities,” which consisted of a “Like a Virgin”-era Madonna hugging Guillermo's wife.
     
    “Maybe. Got your camera?”
     
    Guillermo bustled away in a panic.
     
    I went back to Jeremy Gray's table to find him still scanning the menu.
     
    “Is the chicken parmigiana good?”
     
    “No one makes chicken parm like Guillermo.”
     
    “Bring it on.” He smiled. “Nell,” he read off my name tag. “Unusual name. Unusual hair color. Is that natural red?”
     
    “Yes. My parents' fault. I'll go put in your order. What kind of dressing would you like on your salad?”
     
    “Surprise me,” he said.
     
    “How about Italian, since you're at an Italian restaurant?”
     
    He pretended disappointment. “That's not much of a surprise. Can't you do better?”
     
    My God, Jeremy Gray was flirting with me. It almost made getting fired from Eden all worthwhile. Jeremy of the sandy blond hair, the cerulean blue eyes, the ridiculously hard body. He was pushing forty, but it only made him sexier and worldlier and hotter in a naughty-daddy kind of way. Up close and personal, he was even hotter than he was on-screen. He had those sexy older-man lines around his eyes.
     
    “Raspberry-walnut vinaigrette?” I suggested.
     
    “Better.” Sexy, fortyish, sugar-daddy hot man. I wanted him to spank me like the bad, bad girl I was. But this wasn't Eden, this was Buona Italia, so I went to the kitchen to put in his order instead.
     
    “Make it good,” I said to Guillermo. “Then all the big movie stars will come to your restaurant.”
     
    “From your lips to God's ears,” he exclaimed. “Let it be so!”
     
    Later, when Jeremy Gray had finished his parm and insisted on paying for his meal, he agreed to pose for a photograph. Since Maria Rose, Guillermo's wife, had already gone home, Jeremy suggested I be in the picture with him. He put his arm around me and Guillermo crowed, “Say cheese!”
     
    I obediently said “cheese,” but Jeremy said “provolone” and looked over at me, so it ended up looking like he was giving me a kiss. We laughed as we crowded together over the small digital-camera screen to look at the photo.
     
    “I'll print it out tonight!” said Guillermo. “Next time you come, you sign!”
     
    The whole way home I couldn't get the solid, warm feel of his body against mine out of my head.
     
    * * *
     
     
    He did come back, just a few days later, right before closing