The Waitress She Humiliated Was The Restaurant Owner

Chapter 2 - The Girl Brooke Never Forgot

Brooke tried desperately to recover.

"Daniel, this has nothing to do with our deal."

Claire looked at her.

"Really?"

Brooke turned toward her.

"We had problems in high school. We were teenagers."

Claire nodded.

"That's true."

For a moment, Brooke seemed relieved.

Then Claire continued.

"But you recognized me immediately."

Brooke stopped breathing.

Claire had noticed it the second Brooke said her name.

She hadn't asked, "Are you Claire?"

She knew.

Brooke had recognized her old classmate standing in front of her and still chosen to humiliate her.

Daniel pulled out a chair for Claire.

"Sit."

Claire shook her head.

"I'm working."

Brooke gave a nervous laugh.

"You're the owner. You don't need to serve tables."

"One of my servers went home sick."

Claire removed her stained apron.

"So I helped."

Daniel looked at Brooke.

"Interesting, isn't it?"

"What?"

"You thought her job determined how you were allowed to treat her."

Brooke's face reddened.

"That's not what happened."

Claire finally sat down.

Brooke and Claire had attended the same private high school.

But they had lived in completely different worlds.

Brooke's father owned hotels.

Claire's mother cleaned them.

Claire attended through a scholarship.

Brooke made sure everyone knew it.

She mocked Claire's secondhand clothes.

Called her "housekeeping girl."

Once, she invited Claire to a birthday party only to tell everyone she was there to serve drinks.

Claire never told her mother.

Her mother already worked too hard.

After graduation, Claire promised herself she would never again allow someone else's money to decide her worth.

She worked restaurants through college.

Started as a hostess.

Then a server.

Then manager.

At twenty-seven, she borrowed everything she could and bought a failing neighborhood restaurant.

Five years later, she owned four.

The restaurant Brooke was sitting in was the flagship.

Brooke looked around the room differently now.

The handmade fixtures.

The waiting list.

The packed dining room.

The awards framed near the bar.

"Why didn't you say anything?" she asked.

Claire gave her a small smile.

"You didn't ask."

Daniel almost smiled too.

But then Brooke's phone lit up on the table.

Claire happened to see the message.

MASON: We need Carter's signature tonight. If he checks the property files, we're finished.

Claire's expression changed.

Brooke immediately grabbed the phone.

Too late.

Daniel noticed.

"What property files?"

Brooke's face went pale.

And suddenly the spilled wine seemed like the least important thing at the table.