Page 49 of Hold the Pickle
“I’m sorry, Jeannie,” Max says. “I know you don’t like non-employees in here.”
“Wash up or I’ll cut off your hands!” She waves the knife at them, and both Max and Hex scurry to the sinks along the wall.
I bite back a smile. Jeannie is a force of nature.
When the two men are clean and dry, Jeannie looks up from her pickles. “What brings you two in here?”
“It’s for Nadia,” Max says.
I look up. Me?
“Whatever for?” I ask.
“I feel like I should have noticed you were in distress,” Hex says, holding his outrageously bear-like hand over his chest. It rests on the words, “Pound or get pounded” on his T-shirt.
“How would you have known?” I ask. Dang, this guy is huge. He’s wider than the chopping table. Jeannie pays him no mind now.
“We were talking when you left in such a hurry,” Hex says.
Right. I had been. I forgot that he and Luca were having a Nadia pissing match.
“It’s fine.” I wave my knife as if to push away the thought. “I think I’ll revert to my weekends at home for a while.”
Max nudges his arm.
Hex clears his throat. “I was wondering if you’d give me the honor of a date. No drinking necessary. Unless you want to. I mean, in moderation.”
Jeannie stops chopping to look at me.
Oh, gosh.
“Hex, I mean, wow, you’re great, but I want to lie low for a while. If that’s okay. I think I should, you know, take a breather from going out.”
Jeannie bites her lip like she’s trying not to laugh at the big lug trying to be contrite.
“Not a problem,” Hex says. “I shot my shot.” He turns to Jeannie and says, “I apologize for disturbing your very clean and organized kitchen.”
Dang, the jolly giant can be a gentleman.
Jeannie frowns at him. “Fine. Now the two of you get out of here!” She picks up her knife again.
But Hex is watching her with amusement. “Do you always threaten bodily harm on people?”
“Only when their un-aproned, unapproved, sweaty bodies are near my prep space!”
“I also cause bodily harm to people.”
That stops Jeannie in her tracks. “Really?” She turns to Max. “And you let him ask out your cousin?”
“It’s not like that,” Max says.
“Out!” Jeannie says, moving her knife closer. “Out of my kitchen, you brutes!” She shakes her head.
“We should go,” Max says. He pushes Hex out the door.
As soon as they’re gone, I start laughing.
“What?” Jeannie asks.
