Page 46 of The Charming Checklist
“I own a restaurant. What do you think?”
“That makes sense.”
“Do you want to go grab a bite there?”
She came into his arms, her head fitting so snuggly under his chin. “I would cook for you, but I don’t have much to work with here.”
“Okay, then we’ll go.” He grabbed his keys, and started to lead her to the door, then stopped. “Ava, there’s something else you need to do for me.”
She looked up at him, a bit uncertainly, her green eyes shimmering. “Okay.”
He took her hands in his and adopted his most sincere look. “You’re going to have to tell that Colombian farmer he should give up on you.”
She burst into laughter. See, he could be funny, too. Sometimes.
Half an hour later, they were seated side by side in a booth at the Salty Dog, and Ava perused the menu like she’d never been here before.
“What do you usually have?” he asked.
“Um, I don’t ever have breakfast here.”
“Oh, right. Of course, you’ll have some coffee.” At her blank stare, he grew confused. “I know I’m just getting to know you, but it seems like you can’t really have your fill.”
“Um...”
“What is it? Tell me.” He threaded his fingers through hers.
“I don’t want to hurt your feelings.” She bit her lower lip.
“You won’t.”
“I didn’t want to say anything but the coffee here...it’s really, really bad. Horrible. The only way I can stomach it is with Kahlua but it’s a little early in the day for that.” She winced.
“Why didn’t you say something before?”
“Well, Cole...he’s always so happy-go-lucky. How could I tell him that and ruin his day?”
“First, I think you underestimate Cole’s resilience. Do you have any suppliers you can recommend?”
She sat up straighter, brightening. “I’ll look into it.”
He played with the soft hairs on the nape of her neck, somehow unable to stop touching her. “And when you get your coffee company running, you might be able to supply us with what we need.”
“I wouldn’t want you to do that because we’re—”
“Sleeping together? You didn’t let me finish. If your beans are reasonably priced, we’ll talk.”
“Hmm. You can’t sacrifice quality.”
Just then the waitress arrived to take their orders, a little slow in his opinion. Joanie wasn’t their best waitress, a teenager who only worked weekend mornings, their slowest time.
“Hey, Max. Wow, I haven’t seenyoufor a while.”
Joanie carried the coffee carafe with her, and now that Ava was here, he considered that could be a little too “pancake house” for their brand.
“Coffee?”
Ava covered her cup. Joanie blinked, and poured coffee in Max’s cup.
