Table 17

Elmo's on the Lake was packed by 6 pm Friday, and the staff was already rushing to fill their guest's orders.

Crash!

Celeste lost control of a tray of drinks. Beer, wine, and margaritas toppled onto the floor into a heap of foaming liquid, ice, and broken glass.

"Go reorder the drinks. I'll clean this mess," said Sarie as she grabbed the broom, dustpan, and a mop.

She was hostess for the night, dressed in her best black evening gown, and hoped she didn't look too much like a witch as she swept up the muddle with the broom. There was someone coming that she wanted to impress.

Tonio wolf-whistled at her when she emptied the debris into one of the kitchen's trash bins. He was garnishing plates and readying them for pick-up.

"You got a date tonight?"

"With my cat," she smiled.

The truth was, she was nervous. She glanced at the clock and the empty Table 17 with its black and gold reserved sign and bottle of champagne chilling in the silvery ice bucket. Sean Rominger would arrive any minute. She'd taken the reservation herself.

Table 17 was known as the Engagement Ring Table. It was a table for two with a view of the sunset over the lake. There was even a special on the menu called Sweetheart 17, which included a four-course meal, champagne, a photographer, and a bouquet of red roses for the future bride to take home. Sean had reserved the special, along with the table.

"For an extra charge, we can save you a table in the club next door for some after-dinner dancing—providing all goes well. It doesn't always," Sarie had added.

Sean Rominger had been her brother's friend in high school, and Sarie had been secretly in love with him for as long as she could remember. While she'd tried her best to get him to look her way at the time, he never did.

"Is this Sarie Davison, Greg's little sister?" he'd asked on the phone when she answered and introduced herself.

As Sarie led a party of four to their table while explaining the evening specials, her heart began to pound. Sean was here. She'd spotted him when she'd glanced toward the door. He'd arrived alone.

"Hello, Sean," she smiled as she returned to her post.

"Hello," he'd answered tentatively. "I have a reservation."

He didn't recognize her.

"Of course you do. Remember me? I'm Sarie."

"Oh, hello. I'm sorry, I'm just so nervous. How is Greg?"

"Greg has a wife and two children," she said, leading him to the table.

Sarie hid her disappointment. She'd envisioned him saying she looked wonderful, beautiful, or something similar, finally noticing her after all these years. He still looked dreamy to her with his dark hair and eyes.

"When will your friend arrive?" she asked.

"What friend? Oh, Margot is running late. She should arrive in thirty minutes or so."

"Are you planning to present the ring yourself, or would you like it to arrive on a tray or a covered plate with dessert?" she smiled.

"As a dessert. Yes, that would be nice."

His hand shook with nerves as he handed her the little box that held the ring. Sarie peeked at it as she took it to Allen for safekeeping in the manager's office safe. It was expensive. More than a carat or maybe even two. She was green with envy for Margot.

"Sarie, the table of four for Nelson has two extra guests."

"Sarie, we're running out of silverware. Can you grab those boxes in the storeroom and take them to the dishwasher?"

"Sarie, grab a broom. Table 13's children dropped more than half their food under the table, and we can't reseat it in that condition. Who brings kids to a place like this?"

"Hostess, can we move to a different table? The people beside us are making too much noise."

"Sarie, I just seated your ex and his new girlfriend at Table 5. Joey asked for you. Says he wants to introduce you to Nella."

Never again, Sari thought to herself as she carried the boxes of silverware to the kitchen. Never go to a fortune teller. If you do, don't listen to a word they say.

"You will meet an old love."

It hadn't even been a real fortune teller. Just one of those machines they use in movies. She'd been desperate to believe in something at the time. It was daylight, and there were no falling stars to be seen. No flower petals to toss into the wind. No wishing fountains or straws to grasp. Just a smiling plastic gypsy head with a missing tooth and a palm that professed to hold the future. The machine had taken her five dollars and fed her the lie she wanted to hear.

Her heart had soared when Sean Rominger called the restaurant that very same day.

And what is your heart doing now? she thought to herself. Did it really soar, or had it been trying to escape? 

"Are you alright?" Tonio asked.

Tonio had blue eyes like Joey.

"I'm great," she answered. She grabbed the broom for Table 13 and brought it with her to Table 5. She hoped she looked as witchy as all get out.

"Hello, Joey," she said without smiling. "Celeste says you wanted to see me. I'm busy. You have thirty seconds."

"Sarie, you look so beautiful tonight. How have you been?"

"Twenty seconds."

"This is my fiancé, Nella. I wanted her to meet you. Show her the ring, baby."

Nella held out a triumphant hand without smiling.

"Congratulations! Have the best life possible," Sarie told the two of them before flying off to Table 13 with her broom.

Joey was a cheater. She forgave him once, but not twice. He probably thought she'd cheat with him while he was engaged to Nella. Poor girl didn't know what she was in for.

"Do you want me to spill something on her?" whispered Celeste.

"For what? I should tell her I love her. She's taken away the trash."

Sean was still alone. The waiter replaced an empty martini with a full one.

"Bring some bread to the table," she whispered to the waiter.

"Have you heard from Margot?" she asked Sean.

"She's still delayed. I’m sure she’ll come, won't she?"

"Of course, she will. What do you do these days, Sean? I'm guessing you’re a lawyer."

"An accountant," he answered. "Margot is the lawyer. She's finishing up a deposition with a client. That's why she's so late. I should have made the reservation for Saturday. What was I thinking?" He tried to smile—took a sip from his glass.

A crash sounded from the kitchen. Tonio's problem, not hers.

"Let me know if you need anything, Sean."

Look, I have this ring. I ordered the special. Maybe you could stand in while I get down

on one knee? And how do you like your steak?

Her daydreams had always been outrageous.

The time flew as she led guests to their tables. When things began to slow down, Margot had still not arrived. Sarie envisioned her into a cold cruel woman as Sean looked more and more woebegone. At last, she convinced him to order his entree.

"An empty stomach is hard on the nerves. You'll want to be at your best when you propose to Margot."

Tonio was collecting five-dollar bets from the staff. Most of them thought Margot was going to be a no-show, including Sarie. Others thought she'd arrive at the last possible moment only to turn him down. Only the staunchest romantics, like Celeste, and surprisingly, Tonio, believed the couple would leave Table 17 engaged to be married.

"I never took you for a romantic, Tonio," Sarie told him.

"I’m just rooting for the guy, is all.”

The romantic summer sunset came and went.

By now, Sarie and Sean were old friends. They knew each other's favorite movies, the name of the book he'd read three times, and the song she sang whenever she was out of hearing distance from the rest of the world. She knew his dog was a black lab named an unimaginative Jet. She'd told him Chesheira, her cat, walked through walls and mentioned that if things didn't work out with Margot, she'd won tickets to see Ed Sheeran the following weekend.

It made him cry.

"What are you doing?" Celeste asked her.

"If Margot doesn't show, he'll need someone to pick up the pieces."

"He’s not your type," Tonio said.

The stars were out with a brilliant moon. Sarie could see it shining over the lake through the windows.

A drunken Joey kissed her goodbye to Nella's disdain. Sarie watched through the window as he turned his head to look over a woman who stepped into the restaurant with a smile. A perfect woman with a perfect smile.

"Welcome to Elmo's on the Lake. You must be, Margot."

"I'm not too late, am I?"

"Of course not."

Sarie led Margot to Table 17.

Sean rose to embrace her, and Margot stood on her toes to kiss him. Without Margot knowing anything about the Sweetheart 17 special, she said she’d eaten a sandwich at the office. They ordered dessert, and Sarie hurried away to fetch the ring. Now that Margot was here, and not at all what she'd envisioned, she wanted everything to go as planned.

When Sean got down on one knee, the staff watched the event play out from the crack in the kitchen door. Margot said "yes" loud enough for the remaining restaurant guests to hear, and everyone clapped and smiled at the newly engaged couple. Tonio, who was also the photographer, caught them just as Sean slipped the ring onto Margot's finger. Celeste brought out the roses.

"Thank you, Sarie, for taking such good of him," Celeste told her.

The couple left the restaurant hand in hand, and one by one, the customers went home.

As the restaurant closed for the night, Sarie took a seat at Table 17. Tonio joined her.

"He was her type," he told her.

Sarie smiled.

"I was just wondering what it would be like to have someone love you enough to go through all that trouble."

Tonio got down on one knee.

"Sarie, would you have a drink with me?"

Sarie was shocked.

"What would Angelina say?" she answered coldly. He'd never seemed the cheating type.

"We're not together anymore. She found someone else before she even left me. It happened months ago. I'm over it."

Tonio's blue eyes still held a little sorrow. Somewhat like mine, she thought.

"I didn't know. In that case, I would love to."

"I know a place," he said.

The evening was starry. By the time they reached their destination, she knew Tonio's favorite movie, and she'd told him all about her cat.

She laughed when they arrived.

"What?"

"It's just a funny name for a pub," she answered.

Tonio took her hand as they entered. The sign above the door read:

"An Old Love."