14

THE NEXT DAY, the staff was summoned for a meeting. Ariane was the first to arrive. She hesitated at the entrance to the dining room. At the far edge of the room, with their backs to the bay—the bay behind them as a backdrop, like a rear-projection scene in a low-budget movie—stood Mr. Murray, Renée, and someone new, a young man, tall, in a dark double-breasted suit. ...

A HANDSOME STRANGER walked into the Tropicale Grill one night, and Renée showed him to one of Ariane’s tables. ...

CURT BURGER, the owner of the Babbington hardware store, came in one night with his wife, Arlene. Renée showed them to one of Ariane’s tables. By the time they sat down, they were in an agitated state.

“SO, I WANT TO SHOW YOU how a little insight can be dangerous. I watched Renée, and Renée watched me. I think she did a better job, because I didn’t know just when she was watching me, but I’m quite sure she knew when I was watching her.” A knowing smile came to her lips.

THE FIRST EVENING that the Tropicale Grill at the Sunrise Cove Resort Motel was open for paying customers was the kind of evening that Ariane had imagined weeks before, when she had stood in the skeleton of the dining room and pictured it as it might be. ...

“SO I STARTED out as a waitress,” she said. She crossed her legs at the ankles, stretched them out in front of her and leaned back against the back of the sofa. “But I had hopes of becoming the hostess, and I acted as if I was already being groomed for the job. Actually, I was being groomed for the job; I was doing the grooming. ...

     Ariane spun around and strode into the Sunrise Cove, head up, a new confidence about her, as if she were the older sister in the picture, not the ingenue. ...

“I TALKED DENNY into driving me to the resort for my first day on the job. The place wasn’t really ready yet, and there were contractors and carpenters and electricians swarming all over the place plying their trades. A very handsome sign was going up out front. ...

     “Aren’t you at least interested in finding out what it might be worth to me to get you to stay?”

     “You’ve made up your mind. I see. Well, you must be right, then. Go ahead, go. Don’t let yourself listen to what I’ve got to say, because if you were to start to negotiate, then that ironclad determination you have to make a break, to get out of here at any cost, would be gone.”