Page 84 of Firecracker

She considered it. That was…true. “How many people?”

“Twelve.”

She pursed her lips. That sounded…doable. “What kind of food did you have in mind?”

“I got nothin’.” He shrugged and picked up a piece of chicken tikka masala with his fork. “This is really good, by the way.”

“Thanks.”

“It just has to be breakfast. You can get creative.”

“Where’s it being held?”

“At our office.”

She nodded. “But how would I get the food there? I don’t have a car.”

“You can use mine. I usually take the ‘L.’”

He did. It was amusing, since he was probably rich enough to have a chauffeur drive him to the office.

Arden tapped her fingers on the counter. Ideas were already popping into her head…frittatas, muffins, cheesy hash browns, fruit…

“Breakfast won’t interfere with your job,” Jamie added.

“What day is this breakfast?”

“Not for another few weeks.” He gave her the date. “Eight o’clock.”

She nodded. “Okay. I guess I could do that.”

Jamie’s smile beamed. “Awesome. Thank you.”

She smiled too. This was something fun to plan and look forward to. And yeah…she could use the extra money. “How much are you paying me?”

“Hell, I have no idea. Figure out what you need to charge to cover the food and your time, and make a profit.”

“I have a few questions. Like…do you want this served on actual dishes and cutlery, or paper plates? Any theme? Any food allergies with people? Vegetarians? Vegans?”

“Jesus. I don’t know.”

Arden grabbed a note pad and they spent the rest of the meal talking through the plan. Jamie truly hadn’t thought much about it, but that meant Arden had lots of freedom to do what she wanted, which was cool.

“So…” She set her cutlery down on her empty plate a while later. “I have a question for you about something else.”

“Okay…”

“How would you feel about…” She hesitated. “About me going out with Tyler?”

“Going out where?” He stood. “Can I have more chicken?”

“Sure.” She watched him move over to the stove and help himself. “Have more rice too. I mean, go out…like, on a date.”

He went still, his hand holding a spoon poised over the pan. “You want to go out on a date with Tyler?”

“Um, yeah.”

He turned and eyed her. “Why?”

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