One & Only (Canton) by Viv Daniels Read Free Book Online

they’d had each other.
    I also had a sister, but she was a stranger.
    “Well, even if you’re right,” I said at last, “and he was trying to rub it in my face a little, it’s done. And actually, I’m happy for him. I was the one who walked away, remember? He didn’t do anything to hurt me. He deserves to, you know…”
    “Sleep with lots of girls and have rich, blonde girlfriends with BMWs?” Sylvia asked.
    I winced. Did we have to keep repeating it? “Exactly.”
    Annabel swung by again. “Look lively, girls. The Ladies Who Lunch are back.”
    “Who?” I asked.
    Sylvia groaned. “Bunch of bitchy Canton sorority girls. They like to stop here after they’ve maxed out their daddies’ credit cards shopping.”
    Annabel nodded. “They come in, only make special orders, and then complain about everything.” She shrugged. “On the plus side, they usually tip well.”
    “Of course they do,” said Sylvia. “They aren’t paying the bills.” She considered me for a moment. “I think this will be your first assignment. Go fill their water glasses and give them their menus.” She handed me a pitcher. “Not that they’ll use them.”
    I snagged a bunch of menus from the hostess stand on my way to the table. It was still early, so there weren’t many people in the restaurant, and the table of the Ladies Who Lunch was obvious to spot, given the shopping bags clustered around their chairs and the chattering of the occupants. Verde was located in what had once been an alley between two buildings, so the restaurant featured soaring glass ceilings like a greenhouse, brick walls, and industrial details like metal rivets and exposed pipe. Real trees lining every aisle softened the picture and lent an explanation to the restaurant’s name.
    “Good afternoon, ladies,” I said as I started to pass out the menus. There were five of them, all blondes, all with giant designer sunglasses shielding their eyes from the light filtering down from the glass ceiling. Three took the menus and actually paged through them. Two more had their noses buried deep in their phones. I started filling glasses with water.
    “Oh my God, Hannah, look. He’s texting me again.” One squealed and pointed her cellphone at the blonde beside her.
    My grip tightened on the pitcher. It was Hannah. Dylan’s Hannah. My Hannah.
    “Oooh,” Hannah teased her friend. “He wants you bad .”
    I retreated to the kitchen at the fastest pace appropriate for a waitress.
    “How’d it go?” Sylvia asked. “Did they ask you to pledge?”
    “Syl,” I choked out. “It’s her. Dylan’s girlfriend. She’s a Lady Who Lunches.”
    Sylvia and Annabel piled over to the pass-through and peeked out at the table. I kept my distance.
    “Which one?” Annabel whispered.
    “The blonde.”
    Sylvia turned around and glared at me. “Honey, they’re all blonde.”
    “Who is it?” Annabel asked. “I’m going to go out there and tell them about the specials.”
    “The one in the coral jacket,” I said begrudgingly. The slim, stylish one in the designer sunglasses and the two-hundred-dollar shoes. The one with the perfect fall of silky hair and the eyes that look exactly like mine.
    “Awesome.” Annabel straightened her apron. “Off to do some recon.”
    As soon as she was gone, I turned to Sylvia. “I don’t want or need recon,” I said. Everything there was to know about Hannah Swift I already knew. She was my father’s real daughter. She was dating the boy I’d lost my virginity to. End of story. “I don’t care who he dates.”
    “Did she recognize you when you went over there?” Sylvia asked, still staring out the pass-through.
    No, thank God. I didn’t want us being friends. “She didn’t even look up from her phone,” I said. And it was a good thing, too. Who knew what would happen if she started contemplating how similar our eyes were?
    Sylvia snorted. “Figures. Bunch of snobby little rich girls who can’t imagine their