“Listen, anything bottomless? I am in.”
Chapter Twelve
Carlson’s was never not busy.
“I’ve probably been here for brunch or lunch or dinner upward of twenty times,” Cherry said to Ellis as they stood in a small crowd by the door near the greeter’s podium. “It’s like this every time. Packed. No matter what time. And I always feel like I somehow get the last table left.” Owned by the Carlson family, duh, the restaurant had been a fixture in downtown Northwood for nearly fifty years. It was an area of the city that started out a bit sketchy when the restaurant first opened, then improved as the years went on, and was now part of Jefferson Square, one of the trendier Northwood neighborhoods. Carlson’s definitely had staying power.
As usual, when she and Ellis arrived, the place was overflowing with people, and it looked like they’d have to wait. But the greeter waved them her way, grabbed two laminated menus, and ordered them to follow her to a small table for two in the corner by the window.
“See?” Cherry said in awe. “Again. Last table left. Every time.”
“It’s clearly a tradition you need to uphold,” Ellis said as they sat.
“I mean, I can try.” She caught Ellis’s eye and it held. That sizzle ran between them, leftover from both last night and this morning when they’d gone into the bedroom to gather Cherry’s things and had ended up back in bed. Cherry shifted in her chair, felt a subtle soreness in the muscles of her inner thighs, and she liked it. A lot. She could feel a slight heat in her neck, her cheeks.
“Flashing back, are you?” Ellis asked quietly, eyes on her menu, but a smirk on her beautiful face.
“Maybe,” Cherry said, drawing the word out.
“Glad to hear I’m not alone.” Ellis flipped her menu over. “What’s good here?”
“Honestly, a better question would be what’s not good here. And the answer to that would be nothing. I’ve never had something here that I haven’t enjoyed. Ever.”
“Well, that narrows it right down. Thank you for your help.”
“Always happy to be of assistance.”
The waitress came by, looking slightly haggard but smiling anyway, and took their orders for food and mimosas. The drinks arrived only a couple minutes later, and Ellis said, “I wonder if they have a pitcher of them made up back there.”
“Can you make a pitcher of mimosas?” Cherry asked. “I guess I don’t see why you couldn’t. I just never thought about it before.” She arranged their glasses so they were next to each other, but one was slightly in front. Then she moved the little bud vase on the table so it was behind the glasses, its single daffodil giving the photo a pop of color and accentuating the color of the orange juice. She angled her camera so the sunshine from the window next to Ellis created a ray shooting through, then bouncing off the glasses. “Gorgeous,” she said quietly as she snapped the photo. She could feel Ellis’s eyes on her. She liked that.
“Always after that perfect photo, huh?” The voice came from behind Cherry and startled her enough to make her whole body flinch. When she turned her head, Andi was standing next to her, her hand grasped in Julianne’s. “Hey there.”
Cherry felt her heart jump in her chest. Like, literally felt it bang into her ribs at the sight of Andi, who was now looking from her to Ellis and back. “Hey,” she managed to croak out.
Andi stuck her hand out toward Ellis. “Hi. Andi Harding. This is my wife, Julianne.”
Ellis’s smile was warm and friendly. Of course it was. Why wouldn’t it be? She shook Andi’s hand, then nodded toward Julianne. “Ellis Conrad. Nice to meet you both.”
The waitress showed up then—thank freaking God—with two plates of food, and there was a bit of a traffic jam, given the people coming and going, and Andi gave her a sympathetic look.
“Sorry! We’ll get out of your way,” she said, then ducked underthe plate the waitress held up and gave a quick wave. “We’ll talk another time.”
And then Andi and Julianne were gone, and food was on the table, and Cherry felt a relief like she’d never known. And she hated herself for it.
“Oh my God, this looks so good,” Ellis said, looking down at her Belgian waffle topped with strawberries and whipped cream. As she picked up her fork, she asked, “How do you know those guys?” She used her chin to point in the direction Andi had gone.
“Through work,” Cherry said, which wasn’t exactly a lie. “You’re gonna let me have some of that whipped cream, right?” Yes, it was a massive change of subject, but Ellis didn’t seem to mind.
“Maybe they’d let us just take it home and then we can do other things with it.” Ellis winked at her.
“Maybe they will. Or maybe we can make our own.”
“Or buy a can ourselves.” At Cherry’s puzzled look, Ellis added, “Easier to spray than to spread, if you get my drift.”
And that was all it took for Cherry’s mind to run away with her, imagining being in bed with Ellis, spraying whipped cream on her naked body, then licking it off…
“You did catch my drift, judging by that dreamy face you’re making.” Ellis forked a bite of waffle into her mouth and looked very, very pleased with herself.
