Page 32 of Just Another Meet Cute
We worked as a team for the next half an hour. It wasn’t that bad. Like Mr. Alan said, all I was really doing was delivering the food to the right tables. Everyone got their own drinks and utensils from inside and cleaned up after themselves. And I’d slip the tips they handed me in the tip jar by the rusty keyboard in the corner.
When the last order went out, Ian shut the empty containers with a loud snap and wiped at the sweat on his brow. “And we’re done.” With a sigh, he sat down in the seat across from me. His foot propped up on the chair in front of him.
“Not yet.” Mr. Alan suddenly appeared at our table and dropped two plates with a sizzling steak in front of us. “You can’tnotfeed your lady.”
“I’m not his lady.”
“She’s not my lady,” Ian said at the exact time.
“Either way, a girl’s still got to eat. Especially when she’s been working so hard.” He gave me a quick wink and held up the half-full tip jar. “Consider it my treat since I got extra tips because of you. The customers barely give us anything when it’s just ol’ Ian here helping me.”
I laughed as Ian glared at the older man. When he turned his glare on me, I pretended to be absorbed in my steak. Which wasn’t that hard. It was medium rare with a crisp blackened edge, exactly the way I liked it.
I didn’t realize how starved I was until I took my first bite.Oh God.I forgot how delicious steak could be. So soft and almost buttery. We didn’t eat much beef anymore because of Dad’s high cholesterol. Mom even tried to make us vegetarians at one point, but I had to draw the line somewhere.
Closing my eyes from the delicious bliss, I let out a heavy sigh and dug in. Within minutes, I was almost done with my piece while Ian barely ate a third of his. “So how do you know Mr. Alan?”
Ian took a long sip of water before answering me. “He was my piano teacher for two years. And he grills here for Shamrock. They buy all the food, and he cooks it for them in exchange for the tips. Last year, I started helping each week for some extra cash until I moved, but now I help him for fun whenever I’m in town.”
“So you don’t get any money?”
“Nah, I don’t need it.” He glanced over his shoulder and leaned toward me. “At least not as much as Mr. Alan does. His mom is in a fancy nursing home in Florida that he pays for.”
My hand paused for a second. “Oh, that’s … nice of you.”
“Icanbe nice, you know. Sometimes.” Ian gave me a mock insulted look. “But it’s my turn to ask questions. How did you and Ryan start dating?”
“Uhh …”
Instead of answering, I shoved the last bite of steak in my mouth and occupied myself with chewing. With a raised brow, Ian leaned back against his seat and crossed his arms. The chair squeaked a bit with his rocking.
A full three minutes went by. I was reluctant to swallow the steak, but I had no choice. By now it was practically liquefied in my mouth. And he was still watching me with a tiny grin and thoughtful eyes. “I thought you already figured it all out.”
“Kind of. But I wouldn’t mind hearing the whole story from you.”
I let out a sigh. “It’s not that special. Linh figured out what gym you went to from the key fob, so we went there. Found out Ryan’s name but nothing else. Then I staked out the coffee shop next to the laundromat until he showed up. That’s it.”
“That’s it, huh? And how many days did you stake out the coffee shop?”
Wincing, I turned my head to look away. “Just one or two days.”
“Was it one or two?”
“Actually, it was closer to three days.”
I have no idea why I was telling him the truth. I could have lied and said one day. Anything I told him now would just be more information that he could use against me later on.
To my surprise, Ian let out a low whistle. “Three days. Wow, I guess I should be honored that you spent so much time and effort looking for me. Plus, I should be lucky that you didn’t hack into my library card or something.”
“Oh, I would have. But that’s kind of against the law.”
“So that’s where you draw the line? Committing a crime?”
Despite the fact that I was still dying of embarrassment, I couldn’t help breaking into a small smile. “Pretty much. Going to jail is where most lines are drawn, or at least it should be.”
He tossed his head back and laughed. “Good to know. Those guys, Kevin and Todd, asked about you and Linh when I picked up the keys.”
“Who … oh, the gym guys.”
