“I’ll be back, baby. I have to go in.” I planted a kiss on his forehead before grabbing the remote from off the bed and handing it to Zoey. “He’s fine to watch cartoons. I got him to drink some juice earlier, but I’m holding off on food just in case this moves to his stomach.”
Zoey nodded as she took the remote from me. “Makes sense.”
“If he gets too hot, give him some Tylenol and then have him take a cool bath. If it gets over 103, call me.” I slipped my phone from my pocket and held it up. “I’ll drop everything and come.”
“We’ll be fine,” she said as she nodded toward my bedroom door. “Go. I’ve got things covered.”
“You’re a lifesaver.” I blew a kiss to Jasper and then ducked out of my room. After slipping on my shoes and grabbing my purse, I half walked, half jogged out to my car and climbed inside. I made the normally ten-minute drive in half the time.
“I’m here, I’m here,” I called as I hurried into the kitchen and dumped my purse in my small office off the left side of the kitchen. I glanced around my desk to see if anything had been left there for me before movement by the door drew my attention up.
Breia was standing in my doorway with wide eyes.
“What?” I asked, dread filling my chest.
She shook her head. “Nothing, just glad you’re here.”
“Is he here?” I asked, not looking up as I rifled through the stack of invoices that Brody had left me. These could be looked over tomorrow.
“Yep.”
I glanced up at her. “Is it going well?”
She shrugged. “I’m glad you’re here, if that tells you anything.” Her attention moved to the side before she snapped to attention. Her reaction told me everything I needed to know.
Cole had just walked into the kitchen.
“Table ten needs their drinks refreshed when you’re finished doing whatever…” Cole’s voice drifted off as he appeared in the doorway and glanced in at me. His eyebrow went up.
“Table ten. Drinks,” Breia repeated as she stepped around him and disappeared.
“I’m glad you decided to finally join us,” he said as he folded his arms and moved to lean one shoulder against the doorframe.
I took in his light-blue button-down shirt with rolled sleeves and brown slacks complete with dress shoes. Did this guy own anything other than business attire? He definitely stuck out like a sore thumb in this small town.
He shifted his weight, which made me realize that I was staring. I snapped my gaze back up to meet his. He had an amused look on his face, and my cheeks burned from embarrassment.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I had a busy morning.” I pushed away from my desk and headed toward the door. “But the good news is I’m here and ready to work.” I gave him a quick smile and waited for him to move out of the way, but he just stood there, staring down at me.
“You know, if you’re not going to take this place seriously, I’m more than willing to buy you out.”
I paused, my entire body heating from anger. I kept my gaze forward as I assessed what I should say. Part of me wanted to go off on this man. Sure, I was late. But what he hadn’t seen were all of the mornings I was here before anyone else and the nights I’d stayed long after everyone had left.
I hated that he was so determined to judge me off this one morning.
“I take this place seriously,” I said as I steeled my nerves and turned to face him head-on.
“Your actions would say otherwise.”
“You don’t know me. You’ve been here a day, and you think you can make an assessment of me?” I glared at him. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go out and take care ofmydiner.” I didn’t wait for him to move. My shoulder bumped his as I pushed past.
I didn’t look back to see if he followed me. Instead, I grabbed an apron from the hook and headed into the dining room, which was in full breakfast swing.
Thankfully, the diner remained full the rest of the morning. After the normal breakfast crowd left, we got the church-goers who were fresh out of church and ready for brunch. Then there was the lunch crowd. There was a small lull after lunch, but I stayed in the dining room with Breia and Patricia to wrap utensils with them.
Hours had passed since our conversation, but I still couldn’t get what Cole had said out of my mind as I sat there, holding a fork, a knife, and a spoon together before wrapping them in a napkin. I sighed, and Breia looked over.
“Everything okay?” she asked as she grabbed a fork from the grey tub in the middle of the table.
