Page 53 of While You're There
“Plain bagel, lightly toasted, butter,” Jake chimed in before she could respond, rattling off her usual order.“What do you want from the restaurant, baby? I’ll text Cory right now.”
“Just my usual salad, no fries.”
Fielding pulled out a chair from an empty booth across from them and positioned it between the two tables, forming a triangle so they could all chat as they ate. “So how’s it going?” he asked as they dug into their bagels.
“Good. We’ve been swamped,” Tori said. “Market Day only goes for another hour, though, and it looks like a lot of the usual vendors are already sold out and done for the day. It should slow down now that it’s lunchtime.”
Fielding nodded toward all the papers spread out in front of Jake. “What are you passing out? Menus?”
“Menus, grand opening flyers, and applications.”
“Applications?”
“Yep, I need to hire a dishwasher and at least two more bartenders. Dude.” Jake’s eyes lit up. “You should totally apply.”
Fielding reached across the table and picked up each one of the papers stacked on the table. He scanned the menu before looking over the application and shaking his head.
“Nah, think about it, man. If we both worked at The Oak, we’d only ever see each other at The Oak. Either one or both of us would always be working. Then who’d be in charge of keeping an eye on this one?” He slow-rolled his neck in Tori’s direction and gave her a pointed look. Very few people had the gall to tease her the way Fielding did.
“But,” he amended, turning back to the other man. “Dempsey might want to apply. He’s been bitching all summer about needing to mix things up. I think he’s itching for a change with our mom out of town for so long. I bet Cole and Teddy would apply, too. Cole was thinking about picking up another job, and Teddy and Anwar have been at each other’s throats lately, so I could see him wanting to break away from the valet gig.”
“Ohhh. Rich boy drama at the Valet House?” Tori asked in mock fascination.
“Don’t try to get any gossip out of me, Victoria Thompson. You’re the one who ditched us these last few weeks and missed out on my epic pool party.”
She gave him a tight smile, not feeling quite confident enough to snark back about how she was a little busy on her honeymoon. The joke might have landed okay, but she didn’t want it to come off as cruel.
“Order up, kids!” Cory called out to them as he approached with their food. He set everything down in front of Tori before turning back on his heel. “I wish I could stay and chat, but I’ve gotta get back. We’re super busy in there.”
“Cor, I’ll text you later so we can make plans for next week,” she called after her friend.
“Deal!” he hollered over his shoulder before crossing the road to get back to Clinton’s.
“Speaking of next week,” Fielding interjected, “when are we finishing those canvases?”
Tori dropped her eyes to her salad and spread a blob of dressing around to delay responding. Field had eagerly agreed to help her finish the prep work for Camp New Hope, but she felt a slight uneasiness about making plans in front of Jake.
“I have to work Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday next week. And I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday,” she explained, avoiding the specifics of what exactly the appointment entailed. It was the first appointment to kick off the egg retrieval process. She knew the next two weeks were going to be busy and emotionally charged because of all the hormone injections, hence why she wanted to get everything done for camp sooner rather than later. “Want to plan for Wednesday or Friday?”
“I want both,” Fielding declared.
Tori cocked an eyebrow at him, continuing to avoid looking at Jake over Fielding’s shoulder.
“What?” Fielding asked defensively. “If we plan to hang out both days, the canvases will definitely get done, and we’ll get to actually hang out, too, instead of just sweating to death in your dad’s garage. Plus, you still haven’t been to my mom’s pool yet. We can work on the canvases on Wednesday, then go swimming on Friday. I’ll make you breakfast.”
He wagged his eyebrows for emphasis, which made Tori laugh. They both knew damn well that if they were together, she was cooking, although Fielding was great about setting the table and cleaning up. He was surprisingly domesticated for a privileged trust fund fuckboy.
“Fine,” she relented. “But we have to hang out earlier in the day on Friday. I want to go to The Oak that night for the grand opening.”
“Ahhh, that’s where you’re wrong, Victoria Thompson. I also plan to be at The Oak for the grand opening, so we will, in fact, being hanging out all day on Friday. I can DD in case you want to go wild and sip on half a beer.”
She didn’t bother arguing with him. Plans had officially been made.
Chapter twenty-two
Rhett
Itwasn’thardtospot them on the opposite side of the Green. It also wasn’t surprising to see Haas wedged between them, casually chatting with his wife and his best friend, his eyes seeming to linger on Tori whenever she spoke. He was too far away to hear what they were talking about, but whatever it was must have been riveting based on how Haas seemed to hang onto her every word.
