His expression changed at once, because she had challenged him in front of someone who could hear.
“I don’t care whose money paid for it,” he snapped.
“You’re fired.”
The word struck Lily harder than his raised voice.
Three weeks earlier, she had signed a renewal agreement for her tiny apartment above a tire shop, and its first higher payment was due on Monday.
Her mother needed help paying for a prescription, and her little brother had started a job training program that required two bus fares each day.
Lily had promised both of them that she could manage.
She swallowed, looked at the tray, and tried to explain that she had not taken anything from the restaurant.
Victor repeated the order and told her to surrender her apron before returning inside.
The old man rose slowly from the wall.
“So you fired her for buying me lunch?” he asked.
“Yes,” Victor said.
“Final decision.”
“Are you sure?” the man asked.
Victor laughed and turned his head toward the window where two employees had stopped working.
“Who do you think you are?”
The man slipped a phone from the inside pocket of his worn coat.
He selected a contact without looking at the screen and waited while the call connected.
“Eleanor,” he said, “cancel every contract tied to Harbor Table until I understand exactly who authorized this operation.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“What contracts?” he demanded.
The man ended the call and looked at Lily instead of answering.
“What is your name, young lady?” he asked.
“Lily Bennett,” she said.
“My name is Samuel Rowan.”
Victor dropped the clipboard, and the metal clip struck the pavement with a sharp crack.
CHAPTER 2: AN UNWANTED SPECTACLE
Lily had never heard the name Samuel Rowan, but Victor reacted as though somebody had opened a locked office and found him inside.
He demanded to see identification and reached for the older man’s phone.
Samuel stepped aside and told Victor not to touch him.
The manager stopped just short of making contact, suddenly aware of the employees watching from the kitchen window.
Marco came outside holding Lily’s jacket and the apron she had left near the register.
“She paid for it,” Marco said, raising the duplicate receipt.
“I watched her enter the transaction.”
Victor ordered Marco back to work, but Marco stood still beside the door.
Samuel asked whether the restaurant allowed employees to buy meals for other customers.
Victor said there was a company policy against encouraging loitering, although he could not produce a written copy.
