Page 62 of How My Fake Alien Boyfriend Learned to Cook and Saved the Family Business

I twined my fingers through my damp hair, twisting it into a lazy braid, and willed myself not to think about it.

That night, Kal slept on the couch.

Lola

I found Kal the next morning standing by the front door, already stuffed back into his human suit, hugging a travel mug of coffee to his chest. He handed it to me with a small smile. This had become part of our new daily routine, as natural as anything.

I took the mug and cupped it gently.

I’d slept terribly. It’s funny how quickly you get used to sleeping next to someone, and how jarring it feels when they’re not there with you.

Even alien men need space.

I was true to myself last night, though. I gave Kal space.

Which meant I also had space—loads of mental space to worry about what would happen next. Would the judges like my food? Even more importantly, would the customers? People didn’t always take kindly to changes in a small town like Roswell Falls. They liked things to be reliable, steady. I was positive that was why Southern Charm’s classic Southern cooking did so well for so long.

I worried most about our regulars (which, to be frank, meant Ollie) and how they would react to the updates. What if all of this just ended up alienating our best customers and not bringing in new ones? I had worked so hard to strike a delicate balance, and I hoped it was good enough.

To say I was taking a chance would be an understatement. I was going all in. I wanted Southern Charm to go back to the type of restaurant where the whole town gathered around tables piled high with good food done right.

Although he looked distracted, like he’d gotten about the same paltry amount of sleep as me, Kal did grace me with a smile. A genuine one. I just wished it didn’t look so sad.

“Ready?” Kal waved Grandma Gladys’s recipe book in the air, brandishing our unofficial battle banner. I relished the fact that it wasn’t just her recipe book anymore; it was mine, too. A palimpsest of recipes and instructions, loving notes (and some critical ones), and all the ingredients that made up a damn good home-cooked meal.

I twisted my freshly unwrapped wrist between us, now healed and ready. “As I’ll ever be.”

My heart fluttered as I watched Kal’s small, sad smile creep into a full-blown half moon. There he is, I thought. He’s still here with me.

At the risk of running late, I couldn’t resist poking that button on the back of Kal’s neck that unfastened his suit. I pulled the material away from his face—Kal’s real face—and held my hands on either side of his jaw.

I took a moment to look at Kal, really look at him. My eyes traced the spray of dark freckles on his sea-green skin, the shock of wavy, corn silk-smooth hair. Eyes as brilliant as a distant planet, but more beautiful. I kissed him softly. Just once more for good luck.

“Thank you,” I said.

“For what?”

“For…” I waved my arms around expansively.

How could I possibly have explained how much having him in my corner changed everything for me in the last few weeks? How could I have told him I wished for exactly this? Not in so many words, because I didn’t know I could have something this good, but I had wished for it all the same.

And then there was Kal, and everything changed.

I couldn’t say all of that because we didn’t have enough time for me to convey the truth of it. So I settled on the most tangible thing I could think of.

“For saving my family’s restaurant.”

Kal cocked his head to the side. “But I didn’t do that.” And it sounded more like a question than a statement.

“I mean, yes, technically the restaurant isn’t saved yet, and there’s still a lot of stuff to do before we’re out of the woods. And, yeah, I basically used up all my savings to keep the place afloat, so this contest and grand reopening is sort of a last resort, but…”

My thumb stroked along Kal’s jaw absentmindedly. “I couldn’t have done it without your help.”

Kal’s hair tickled my cheek as he shook his head. “I don’t believe that for one second, Lola. You were always going to figure out a plan, because you’re you.”

Heat ballooned in my chest. It seemed so unlikely that someone who hardly knew me could have so much confidence in me—even more than I had in myself. I suppose I wanted to believe Kal saw something in me that was truly special, even though I was just a regular human trying to make it in this world. There was nothing special about that. Right?

“I mean, I would have tried, but—” I was cut short by the tip of a tentacle pressed gently to my lips.