teased.
He laughed delightedly “no, no, no, she is actually here tonight and you will finally meet her!” he showed them to a table in the middle of the restaurant and asked as he held out a chair for her “would you like the usual or would you like menus?” it sounded like he didn’t like the word menus .
Karin grinned as she sat and he held out a chair quickly for Miranda as her daughter’s sat themselves. “I think, as my guests don’t know your excellent cuisine, that we will require menus. However, I could use a cool glass of some red wine.”
“Ah, not just any red wine, one of my best!” he assured her as he gestured to a waitress to bring menus. “And for you madam?” he turned to Miranda.
Miranda was startled, she wasn’t used to this kind of attention and Karin watched her amused “I’ll have what Karin has” she got out weakly.
“And for the young ladies?” he addressed Miranda again and the girls gaped.
“Girls, would you like some soda?” Miranda asked them to divert the attention from herself.
Mr. Martonelli went away to get their drinks humming happily to himself.
“They have the most delicious Tortellini” Karin mentioned as a waitress handed them menus. “Thank you Carmen” she smiled at the waitress who immediately smiled back.
“Welcome back Ms. Myers” she said shyly before leaving them to examine the menus.
“They seem to know you here” Jana said laughing.
Karin smiled “yes, this is like a home away from home, they take good care of me and I’ve brought clients who spend a lot of money here. Last Christmas they got to cater the dinner for my work which brought them a lot of business. It’s all about you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours. I’m good at networking. The Christmas dinner alone brought them a lot of business. They are planning on expanding into the next shop when it becomes available I hear, although not because of what I’ve done.”
Carmen brought two red wines and some sodas for the girls. “Do you know what you want or would you and your guests like a few more minutes?” she asked politely.
“A few more minutes please Carmen” Karin said without even glancing up.
“I think I’m going to have the Ravioli” Jana said as she looked over the menu.
“That sounds good but I was thinking it might not be enough” Molly said as she unknowingly agreed with her sister, not a common occurrence.
“What are you having?” Miranda asked Karin as she looked over her menu at her.
“I’m going to start with a salad and then have a small portion of fettuccini and then another small portion of lasagna” she informed her.
“Is that on the menu like that?” Miranda asked as she looked at the menu again.
Karin shrugged “I have no idea, I rarely see their menu.”
Dinner went well. Several people came by the table to greet Karin casually, one tried to engage her in small talk but she put him off by telling him she was out with out of town guests and he smilingly told her he would call her.
“You flirt a lot?” Molly asked.
Karin looked at her in surprise. “I have to know a lot of people for my job. Flirting or chatting them up is part of the job. I’m good at it and it makes them feel good, so why not.”
At the end of their dinner a beautiful Italian woman came out of the kitchen and made a