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“I wasn’t about to let you stomp off into the forest on your own,” Nolan says.
“That’s so sweet,” Andi tries. She looks like she’s not sure if she should be speaking, though. “He was worried about you. Aw?” She whispers that last part as she winces, like she’s expecting Nolan to chuck a pita bread at her forehead for daring to speak.
“So sweet,” Caroline agrees, voice uncharacteristically quiet and meek.
I fold my arms and sit back in my chair. “Weird, though,” I say, locking eyes with him. “Since you told me I couldn’t leave to go stay with Andi and Jesse since ‘they’d want their privacy’. But it sounds like the rest of the team is staying with them. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have minded one more.”
Andi sinks lower in her chair, lifting her hands to shield her eyes like she’s trying to hide.
Nolan chuckles. “I didn’t know where the guys were staying. I assumed–”
“Right,” I say. “So I guess you’ll leave here and join them, now that you know you don’t need to be stuck bunking with me?”
Nolan takes a bite of his food, chewing with no particular hurry before he swallows and finally answers. “I think I’ll stay here.”
I clench my silverware. I wonder how smug he’d look if I threw my fork at his head. With an ego his size, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t miss. The gravitational pull alone would probably suck the fork in for a direct hit.
He’s smiling at the look on my face. “Maybe you should go, instead?”
“No,” I say reflexively. “I’m not going anywhere.”
The corner of his scar-crossed lips curves up. “Alright. Glad we settled that.”
“Great communication,” Caroline agrees. “That’s key, really. Communication is a cornerstone of…” she trails off, as if she didn’t know where she was going with that.
Nolan takes another bite of his food, then lifts his eyes to mine. “Did you brown the butter?”
I hesitate. “Yes.”
He nods, takes another bite, then nods again. “That was smart. This is good.”
“Great!” Andi says a little too loudly. “We’re friends again. I like it when we’re all friends.”
Caroline lets out a sigh that blows away a strand of her curly hair. “If this is you guys as friends, I’d hate to see you as enemies.”
I focus on my plate as my cheeks flush. I’m not sure if they’re flushing from anger with him or flattery at his compliment. Once again, Nolan Saulters has managed to utterly baffle me.
8
MIA
“Think you’re ready?” Zander is smiling with those straight white teeth of his, showing off his dimples. He’s dressed in a well-fitting black chef’s coat and his matching dark hair is pushed away from his forehead.
“I think so,” I say. Then I realize I need to be more confident. “Yes,” I say, smiling.
He matches my smile and reaches down, fingers uncomfortably close to my stomach as he undoes the knot on my apron and re-ties it. “Shorter tails on your knots, alright?”
“Okay,” I say, wishing he would’ve simply asked me to fix it myself. If circumstances were different, I’d see his familiarity for what it probably is–just a confident guy who isn’t used to people not wanting to be close to him or touched by him. He probably doesn’t even mean it as flirtatious.
But in the back of my mind, I know how Nolan would see it. Every time Zander gets close to me, I feel like I should be pushing him away in case Nolan happens to appear and see it.
“Don’t want our dirty apron strings dipping in sauces and on customer’s plates, right?” Zander asks, tugging the knot on my apron tight.
“Makes sense.”
“Alright, let me give you a quick run-down on what to expect today. We’re having a small test run tonight. Grand opening is in one week. A few friends and family of the staff are going to come in, but we’re going to treat it like they’re real customers. This is a chance for everybody to work out the kinks before the real thing next week.”
I nod my head, following as he leads me toward the back, where I can hear the bustle of activity.
