"Why?"
"Your sister has it worse than I do. I'm sitting here thinking it's the end of the world, and all I need is a giant sum of money to fix all my problems."
"I didn't mean for you to take it like that," she said.
"No, but it's true. You're having to switch lives with your actual sister, and it puts things into perspective. You had to pick up her life and come here to help her out. All I have is a Hollywood version of that and about twenty people that I have to let down."
"Letting down one person is never easy, so I can imagine it feels bad letting down twenty of them."
"Still. Your story gives me perspective. I hate to put it that way, but it does. How long are you going to stay? What are you going to do if your sister doesn't get better?"
"Those are two questions I ask myself all the time. I could help her out for the rest of the summer, but I have one more year of my master's programstarting this fall back in Denver." She stayed quiet for a few long seconds before she continued. "I see those eggs in my sleep. Worse yet, I see them when I'm awake. I have nightmares about letting them go too long or popping them all over the dish."
"How did you learn to do them like your sister?"
"She taught me," she said. "She showed me how to do it on the stove at her house when I first got here."
"If she showed you how to do it, then she can do it herself," he said, feeling oddly protective of her.
She let out a little laugh. "You would think," she said. "I don't know what will happen with her." She paused and pointed at her coffee. "I shouldn't have any more of that. It will keep me up," she said.
Alex looked at her cup, noticing that she drank half of it already. He had hardly touched his. "Can we get the check?" he asked, looking at her instead of the bartender.
"I'm actually going to pay for all this," she said. "I've got a tab that comes out of my paycheck, and I'm going to tell Patrick to take it out of that."
"No," he insisted, shaking his head.
"Yeah, I get a discount, and I ate this whole meal, anyway."
He shook his head. "I'm not letting you pay for food I ordered."
"Not only am I paying, I'm giving you this back." She reached into her purse and came up with the wad of cash Alex had given her earlier thatmorning. She set it on the table between them. "Can I call you a ride?" she asked.
Alex knew she thought he had been drinking, and he didn't deny it. In that moment, he said what he needed to say to arrange a stay in her presence. "Could you just give me a ride?" he asked. As soon as he asked the question, he knew his desire was to be next to her. One minute, he was thinking of what a nightmare the day had been, and the next minute, all he could think about was a way to stay next to this woman. She was a comforting person, and he needed comforting.
"Where's your car?" she asked.
"Here."
"You drove here?"
He shrugged. "My hotel's right down the street. I can just walk."
"I can give you a ride and you can walk back for your car tomorrow."
"That sounds great, thank you."
Within minutes, the two of them had paid the tab and took off for his hotel. Alex didn't let her pay, nor did he take back the money he had given her that morning. He was exhausted, and he had a dazed feeling from all the thoughts and emotions his day had brought. He had already been planning and strategizing about where and how to obtain the money. And now he found himself attracted to a woman. It was an odd day with odd feelings, and now there was a woman involved, which made iteven weirder. Alex rode in the passenger's seat of her car, contemplating everything. He wasn't acting drunk, but he was quiet, and she still assumed he was.
They made it to the hotel, and she tried to leave him in the parking lot, but Alex told her he wanted to walk her back to the restaurant so they could get his rental. She went for it. They walked back to the restaurant together, got in his rental, and drove back to his hotel.
"I'm happy we ran into each other," he said when she parked for the second time. "Thank you for this."
"Me too, and you're welcome," she said, turning off his car. She didn’t get out right away.
"Do you want to come inside?" he asked, gesturing to the hotel.
"No, that's okay. It looks like a nice place, but I'll be heading home. It was so nice getting to know you. I'm so sorry your grandpa told you he would pay for the story, and now he's leaving you hanging."
