She glanced at him, her reddened eyes narrowing slightly. “Marguerite, as in the produce lady?”
“Yeah. Her. Well, I’ve been seeing her for a few weeks now.”
“I figured something was putting you in a good mood. Had to be a woman.”
“The thing is, I’m crazy about her. Do you think it’s too soon to tell her I love her?”
Melissa stared at him for a moment as though he’d spoken a completely foreign language. He replayed his words in case he’d been so excited he’d spoken in Greek, but he was pretty sure he’d said the words in English. Then, to his shock and utter dismay, his prep cook’s eyes filled with tears and spilled over down her face. She put her hands up to cover her emotional outbreak and then turned away mumbling, “I’m sorry.”
All thoughts of Marguerite were forgotten. He dropped the damp rag and came up behind Melissa. “Hey,” he said gently. “It’s okay.” She was sobbing now, noisy dragging soul-sucking sobs. They’d never been the hugging types, but he went on instinct and pulled her in against his chest. Leaning out with one hand he pulled the shutter down, effectively closing the truck to give her some privacy. Then he began to rub his hand gently up and down her back.
After a few minutes, the painful crying eased and she raised her head. “I just got dumped. Like, last night. I just, you talked about love, and I — I, I feel like I’m never going to get there.”
He lifted her chin so he could look her right in the eye. “You will. Any woman who was stupid enough to dumpyoudidn’t deserve you in the first place.” And then, when she gave a very little smile, he leaned forward and gave her a brotherly peck on the lips.
At that moment, the door opened and Marguerite stepped inside. Melissa gave a little gasp of horror and pulled away from him, turning away, probably so that Marguerite wouldn’t see her tear stained face. He shifted his body a little, helping block her from Marguerite’s view. And said, “Hi. I wasn’t expecting to see you until tonight.”
“Obviously,” she said. She didn’t exactly spit the word but it was clear right away that she had witnessed the world’s most innocent kiss and misunderstood it. She dumped a box of something green on the floor. “I guess I should’ve called first.” And then she turned and headed outside again.
He followed her. “Marguerite!” He said to her rapidly retreating back. “Hold up!”
“I don’t think so.” And she kept right on walking.
He couldn’t believe she wouldn’t stop and hear him out. “Come on, would you please let me explain what’s going on?”
He followed her, jumped down off the back of the truck and jogged so he could catch up. “Hey.”
Now she turned and he could see the blaze of anger in her eyes and a cold, disdainful expression pinching her mouth. “I have eyes. I could see perfectly well what was going on.” And then she let out a sound of fury. “I am so stupid. I keep believing your stories about women hitting on you and trusting that you aren’t interested, but you weren’t brushing off Melissa. You were kissing her! I thought you were different. I believed in you.”
He was starting to feel a little hot under the collar. “You can trust me. Nothing is going on with me and Melissa.”
“I think our definitions of nothing are a little different. I get that you can’t help it, with your looks, you can have every woman you want, so obviously you help yourself like we’re some endless box of chocolates. But I can’t do this. I can’t be with a man I don’t trust.”
He was so stunned he felt as though she had slapped him. After all they’d shared, did she really think he’d cheat on her? He shook his head, “You really think I’m that guy?”
“Oh do not pull that,” and then she lowered her voice and shook her finger, “‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman’ crap. I don’t have time for it.”
A family of four approached the truck, puzzled, looking at the closed shutter on an otherwise obviously operating food truck and then turned to him. They were regulars and they knew him. Tom, the dad, said, “Hey Alex, you open for business?”
He was about to ask them to give him five minutes when Marguerite said, “Oh don’t you worry, he’s always open for business.” And then she stomped off.
This time, he let her go.
