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Luke got to work on the computer while Hannah and Willis tended to the customers. Food came out at a rapid clip once Willis was able to devote all of his time to cooking and Hannah was able to deal with the guests. A few people still came in despite the “cash only” sign on the door and they handled them too. Still, the system being down put them way behind preparing for the dinner rush.
From time to time, Hannah glanced over at Luke, who was deep in concentration at the register, only moving to push his glasses up on his nose. The little furrow in his brow made him look more serious than she ever saw him.
“Yes!” Luke said, grinning and standing up straight. “Fixed it.”
“You did?” Hannah whipped around the counter to see. Sure enough, everything looked normal again. “How?”
“I had to uninstall, reinstall, and update something, to not get super technical about it,” he said. “If you keep the software updated, which I’ve automated, you won’t run into the issue.”
“You’re the best, seriously. Thank you so, so much, Luke. You saved us. Now we just have to catch up on everything.”
“It’s no problem at all.” Luke smiled. “Do you need any more help?”
“Not unless you want to bus tables.” Hannah laughed, even though looking out on the utter chaos of the restaurant made her sweat.
“I can do that.” He shrugged. “Just tell me where to put stuff.”
“Seriously?” Hannah brightened, even through her disbelief.
“Yeah. I’m all yours.”
Hannah waited a beat to see if he was kidding, but he wasn’t.
“I really, really owe you. Let me get you an apron.” Hannah reached under the counter and grabbed one for him. “Let me show you where to put stuff and our system for cleaning.”
She guided him over to a table close by and they gathered the dishes, taking them to the dishwashing station. Then, she armed him with a spray bottle of cleaning solution and a rag and showed him the efficient method she used to get it all done. He picked up on it quickly, clearing and cleaning tables. Now that the system was back up and she had taken down the sign on the door, more customers streamed inside.
“You’re good on the bussing?” Hannah asked, running her damp hands down her apron.
“Yep, all good.” Luke lifted a bin filled with dishes, pushing his glasses up his nose with his arm.
“Thanks!”
Hannah manned the register again, taking orders before going back out to help Luke. He had cleared a bunch of tables in record time.
“Wow, you’re fast,” Hannah said, finally standing still and taking it all in. “You swoop in, saving the day with the computer and bus the tables like it’s nothing? Are you a superhero?”
“I wish.” Luke grinned, his smile brightening his whole face. “I’m just your regular neighborhood tech guy.”
“What, you aren’t hiding a secret identity behind your glasses?” Hannah nudged him with her elbow.
“Nope.” He adjusted his thick, dark frames. “And you’d totally know if I took them off because I can hardly see a thing without them.”
“Maybe that’s what we need to do: put it on hard mode.” Hannah smiled at the customers who came in, walking backward toward the register. “No glasses. A restaurant filled with tables to be bussed.”
“Only if you try it blindfolded.” Luke followed her, stopping on the customer side of the counter. “It’ll basically be an even competition.”
They both laughed. Luke went outside to check if any of those customers left while Hannah took more orders. Her eyes drifted to Luke when he came back inside, his arms loaded down with empty dishes. His eyes were really nice underneath his thick lenses, bright green and intelligent, framed by long lashes.
And when she thought about the Superman comparison, it worked in a weird way despite him having light brown hair. He had the nerdy exterior of Clark Kent, but he also had a strong jaw that was evident even under his trim beard like Superman. How had she missed how good-looking he was when they first met? Now she couldn’t not notice at every angle.
Finally, the lunch rush slowed to a trickle, then a stop. Hannah flopped down into the closest seat and stretched her legs out. She was definitely going to treat herself to a hot bath tonight.
“Is that it? I think that’s it,” Hannah said, holding up her hand to Luke, who gave her a high-five. “We did it.”
“We did.”
Luke sat down on the seat next to Hannah’s, stretching out as well, his long legs extending past hers. Willis came out of the kitchen, cleaning his hands on a rag.
