To Destroy a Raven

Chapter 6 - Spiced Duck Confit (Sam)

Sam was sitting at a secluded two-seater dining table, tapping her fingers to the beat in her mind as she watched the antique clock, ticking closer and closer to the start of her date. She wasn't dreading it necessarily - on the contrary, she was quite excited to get started - but she still felt uneasy. She'd always worked behind the scenes in life, quietly; Sam had never been one to perform. Now she felt like a puppet to her own scheming; though there was little to do for it. Revenge wasn't designed to be a comfortable business to partake in.

Her earliest plans had been centered around making Henry so miserable that he simply gave up on his bet. But the more Sam turned it over, she realized that it wasn't enough; that would be the easy way out. She couldn't be too crazy or it would end too soon; she was in it for the long game. But in the meantime, until the big reveal, she was going to have some fun. Henry had planned to lead her on for a month before pulling the rug. He deserved to eat his words. To have regrets. To experience how much it sucked to find yourself the pawn of someone else's game.

A throat clearing broke her chain of thought and she glanced up, startled, to find Henry standing beside the table. His eyes were dark in the low lighting of Jeden's restaurant as they bounced all over her, from the loose curls falling gently over her shoulders to the length of the tangerine wrap dress she wore.

"You look gorgeous," he smiled, taking her hand once she'd risen to greet him. "Is your favorite color orange?"

"Maybe," she said. "Or maybe I thought it would help you notice me. Pretty crowded in here, don't you think?" She cocked her head slightly with her own smile.

"Sure," he answered slowly, his brows bunching.

She indicated their table with an arm, "well, let's sit."

"Yes," he shook his head, "Everybody raves about this place, but it stays booked and it's so secluded out here. How did you manage to get seats on short notice?"

"Oh that's easy, I work here," Sam stated as she passed him a menu, conveniently leaving out the fact that it was owned by her family. The best liars never lie, her father's voice echoed in her mind like a bad dream that left a nasty taste.

"No shit?"

Sam shook her head, dislodging the bitter memories. "Nope. I grew up about an hour further south with my sisters, and I suppose that is still home, but I live just around the corner from the restaurant now."

He nodded as he scanned the menu, "That makes sense, with the gym being here also. How did you end up in the city last week? That restaurant was almost as fancy as this one. Did you have a connection there also?"

"You could say that," she said. "I was in the city to visit my sister at the university. Do you live there?"

"No, I'm about forty minutes north of here, a little more than an hour from the city. I was just there for, uh, a business meeting," he said reluctantly, his eyes dropping back to the menu.

"Interesting," Sam rested her chin on the back of her hand, watching him closely. "Did it go well?"

"Yes, fine, great," Henry said, scratching the smooth skin on his jaw as Sam tracked the movement. She imagined it was a normal habit when he had scruff, but if it turned out to be his tell, it would be a boon that she'd clocked it early.

"Good evening," a familiar voice said above them, and Henry breathed a sigh before sucking the air back in as he looked up at Nellie. He glanced between Nellie and Sam several times with wide, olive eyes. "Are we ready to order or would you like a few more minutes?"

"Do you have a twin?" Henry blurted.

"I think I'd know if I had one of those." Sam glanced up at her sister, who wore a bored expression as she tapped a pen against her notepad impatiently. "Are you saying our waitress looks like me? She's got blue eyes, mine are brown," Sam scoffed as she folded up the menu.