Page 38 of Just Another Meet Cute
I popped the chocolates into my mouth and let out a happy sigh as the smooth, sweet candy melted in my mouth, washing away all traces of the taro. If only all problems could be solved as easily.
As the threat of vomiting passed, I came back to the counter. “Can I get another drink? Same taro as before.”
Even though she obviously saw me dump the drink just a minute ago, the cashier girl didn’t ask questions as I pulled up Ian’s number again.
I gnawed on a piece of Twizzler as I figured out what to do. This was getting complicated. Not only did I have to worry about letting something slip, now I had to worry about Ian slipping up, too. Whether intentionally or unintentionally.
The thing is, I knew that the more I dragged things on, the worse it would be when Ryan finallydidfind out. And the longer I lied to him, the more I was afraid that he wouldn’t forgive me anymore. No matter how nice he was.
Plus, now that Ian was involved, I didn’t even know how to start explaining.
The cashier girl spoke up, interrupting my thoughts. “Good news, with all the points you just earned, you have a free drink! Do you want to use it on this one or get something else?”
Finally, something good, even if it was just a free drink.
I should use it on Ian’s new drink. After all, I did toss his perfectly good—although using the wordgoodmay not be correct—drink away. The right thing to do would be to give him the free one. It was the nice thing to do.
I dug the gift card out of my pocket. “I’ll get another one. Regular milk green tea with herbal jelly. You can charge the taro on this card.”
I’ll be nice tomorrow.
Arrogant.
Wham!
Irritating.
Wham!
Conceited. Ass.
Linh’s eyebrows rose higher and higher as she watched me pound at the dough on the counter. Finally, she pushed my hands away with a heavy sigh. “I asked you to help me knead the dough. Not murder it.”
I brushed my bangs off my forehead with my arm since my hands were covered with flour. “What do you mean?”
“I mean—” She poked at the dough with her finger and it didn’t budge. “Unless you want my customers to break their teeth biting into this, I think you should have stopped ten minutes ago.”
With a frown, I glanced over at her perfectly bouncy, pillowy dough. In comparison, my dough looked like a dry pile of Play-Doh that had been left out a few hours. “Sorry, I guess I got a little carried away.”
“Really carried away. Hopefully I can still revive it later. If not, then half the lunch boxes will get plain toast tomorrow. Hopefully no one complains, because I don’t have extra money for refunds this week.” She carefully wrapped both of the mounds of dough up and placed them in separate bowls before stowing them away in the fridge.
Three times a week, Linh made boxed lunches to sell. At first, she just made a box or two for Aunt Sarah and her friends from work, but soon it grew into a full-fledged side business as she cooked for the entire accounting department and a couple of neighbors.
Sometimes it felt like all she did was cook or work to buy fancy gadgets and groceries. But Linh never seemed to mind, since it all brought her one step closer to her dream.
I wish I had her focus and drive, but there was no point if there was nowhere to drive to. I felt like I was on a road trip with no road signs or GPS. And my empty gas light just turned on.
“They wouldn’t dare complain. Everyone loves your cooking.”
“I hope so, because I don’t exactly have a plan B.” Her voice was a little high-pitched and was missing that overconfident smugness that she usually had seventy-five percent of the day.
That was weird. With concern, I leaned against the counter toward her. “What do you mean?”
She paused with one hand still on the fridge. “Everyone knows that cooking is my thing and I love it. But half the time, I feel like I don’t really know how todoanything else. And if for some reason this doesn’t work out, or ifI don’t get that internship next year … I honestly don’t know what I would do next.”
This was the first time that I ever heard Linh sound so vulnerable. She always complained that she couldn’t cook without me, but I never thought that she ever actually doubted her own talent. Or what it meant to fail at something you want. Maybe having a passion in life wasn’t always so great after all.
“You don’t have anything to worry about. Your cooking is awesome.” My smile widened as I crossed my arms. “There’s a reason I’m never hungry whenever you’re around. Your food is too irresistible.”
