Page 27 of Make Me Swoon

His phone starts to ring again and I let myself into my apartment, smiling at him one last time before I close the door and he answers his phone.

Friday can’t come fast enough.

NINE

I peruse the menu even though I’ve been to this restaurant at least a dozen times in the last few months and I always get the same thing.

Madelyn is running late, so Iris orders her food for us when the waiter comes over to ask us if we’ve decided yet. We split a large pepperoni pizza and two orders of breadsticks. Iris gets the mozzarella sticks with extra ranch dressing for Madelyn and we order a round of Cokes to drink.

The waiter nods, scribbling down our order still as he turns and heads back to the kitchen.

“How was your day?” Sutton asks Iris and I lean my elbows on the table, my face in my hands as I wait to hear her answer.

“It was fine. Slow,” she says with a sigh.

“The Mystery Cabin was too,” Sutton tells her, squeezing her shoulder slightly in comradery.

“It’s probably because of the weather,” I add and they both nod.

“I’m sure that it will pick up soon,” Sutton tells her.

It’s got to be stressful running your own business. I wonder if I would like to do that. I have no idea what I would sell though. What am I passionate about that I wouldn’t mind looking at it every day for the rest of my life.

I’m not sure that I could handle the stress or pressure either though. Iris is so smart and she is great with money. She’s more business savvy than I am. I bet that I would be bankrupt in months if I were in her position.

“Sorry I’m so late!” Madelyn says the next minute as she hurries over to our booth in the back of Mancini’s Pizza Parlor.

“No worries. The food isn’t even here yet,” I tell her as I slide over in the booth to make room for her.

“Busy day at the market?” Sutton asks her and she nods.

“Yeah, there was a problem with the delivery today and it was a big headache. Enough about work though. Tell us all about your date with Hudson!” Madelyn says, turning to me with a big grin.

“It was nice,” I say with a smile.

They all groan and I laugh.

“You have to give us more than that,” Sutton complains and I take a sip of my Coke.

“We went over to Lilac Harbor, to the Blue Plate,” I say, nodding at Iris.

“Oh, what did you eat?” she asks excitedly and I see Madelyn look at her like she’s crazy.

“What did they eat? No, tell us the good stuff!” Madelyn says, and I’m saved from having to answer by our pizza and breadsticks getting delivered.

Everyone takes a slice and I take a bite of the cheesy goodness.

“So? What did you guys talk about?” Sutton asks.

“We talked about his restaurants and some of the jobs that I’ve had. He told me about growing up in New Orleans and his parents and then going to culinary school in New York.”

“He still has a restaurant there, right?” Iris asks and I nod.

“Yeah, he’s got places all over.”

“Then what happened?” Madelyn asks.

“Then we got ready to go and my mom called. She wants me to go to Chicago for my stepsister’s wedding and bachelorette party or something.”

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