Page 3 of Starting Over in Cedarwood

“You don’t look your age.” So Kevin was roughly forty-one, too? Only a year or so younger than him.Good.“What do you mean, he’s picky? Being selective is good.”

“He doesn’t date anyone who isn’t approved by his cat,” she said. “You hate cats, so you’d better just have one beer with him and cut your losses, now that I think about it.”

“I don’t hate cats.” He hadn’t found one that liked him, but that was beside the point. “Are he and the cat that close?”

“Very.”

Shaun shrugged. Cara was probably exaggerating. She tended to when she discussed something dramatic. The car accident was always the worst she’d ever seen or her kid scoring a goal was always the best goal ever in the history of eighth grade hockey. “I’ll give him a chance.”

“Who?” Warrick found them and sat beside Shaun. “Dave? Don’t date Dave. He’s full of himself. Plus, you’ll smell like you’ve bathed in his cologne.”

Shaun shrugged again. Their co-worker, Dave, did tend to wear his aftershave a bit on the thick side. Everyone who hugged him tended to smell like him.

“Shut up,” Dave said. “I heard our Shaun gave Kevin Keiser his digits.”

“Keiser? He’s so quiet,” Warrick said. “He’s gay? Oh wait. I knew that. He had a guy…Kyle someone or another. I guess they had a falling out.”

“Over the cat,” Cara said.

Shaun gritted his teeth to keep from speaking. Kevin’s personal life wasn’t their business. “You need to leave him alone.”

“Why? He had a fight with a guy over a cat. The critter hated Kyle, I think,” Warrick said. He shrugged, then downed some of his beer. “If I can’t find a woman to get along with Patrice, then it’s a nonstarter.”

“Your dog?” Dave snorted. “It’s just a dog.”

“Might be to you, but she’s a good dog,” Warrick said. “She’s more loyal than you’ve ever been.”

Shaun snorted. “You two.” He ignored the rest of the conversation in favor of the baseball game. “Kevin seemed nice and I went out on a limb. It might not work, but I won’t know unless we go out, so there.”

“You should give him a shot,” Cara said. “You’d be good for him. You’re quiet and smart like him. Maybe you’d bring each other out of your shell.”

“Maybe.” His thoughts turned to Kevin. He hadn’t felt sparks like that in ages and he liked the rush. He missed the delight of being with someone and being wanted. Hell, he liked being part of a relationship.

Besides, he was tired of the one-night stands and pretty boys who only wanted him to pump up their ego or be their sugar daddy. He was only forty-two, but sometimes he felt ancient. He worked hard for his money and the paper. Could Kevin be the one he’d been looking for?

He hoped so.

* * * *

Kevin pushed the cart of soggy buns to the food prep station in the bowels of the stadium. The silly mistakes, like overheating and allowing the buns to get soggy, wore him out. Why couldn’t the workers do their jobs? No one seemed to listen to him and he’d worked too hard to make the concessions decent dining. Granted, hot dogs and chili dogs weren’t high cuisine, but he refused to sell soggy buns.

“What happened?” Kevin tossed the rack of buns into the food bin. “I can’t sell these. Can’t give them away, either.” He closed the bin door. “We’re measured by the quality of the food, and this isn’t quality.”

Gus shrugged. “I messed up and listened to Buzz. He said to set the warming rack too high and the condensation got to those buns. I thought they’d dry out, but they didn’t.”

“No, they didn’t.” Kevin hated being on the floor. He hated having to interact with the customers, too. His forte was numbers and stats. How to make the food better and how to get the bigger bang for the buck, that was his thing. He tended to get too emotional when the product wasn’t right. Right now, the buns being soggy weren’t his issue. Mistakes happened and he understood that. What aggravated him was wasting food and the sloppy mistakes. He’d told Gus a hundred times not to set the warmer too high and the tray of ruined buns equaled a sloppy mistake.

Nedra shook her head. “That’s what we get for letting Buzz help. It’s on me and I’m sorry. I thought he’d learned, but no.”

“Put him back on dishes and cleaning.” Kevin tossed the second tray of buns. “I had to explain to the people from the paper that we made a mistake. It was embarrassing.”

“I’m sure.” She wiped the trays down. “To make matters worse, you’re going to have to help with the after-game banquet. Nathen Clarke quit and we don’t have anyone to do the beer chest.”

“Of course.”Fuck.“Okay.”

“He said he got a better offer.” She shrugged. “He gave no notice other than leaving.”

Kevin sighed to center himself. Getting angry would only increase his blood pressure. “Let’s start setting up for the banquet. It’s already the ninth inning and we don’t have much time.”

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