Page 14 of Falling

“It’s not sudden,” Andre said. “And it’s because you deserve to have a love life. If you want one.”

Did I want one?

I didn’t not want one. It wasn’t as though it was something I actively avoided.

There was a reason the bar was called Faith.

“And you’re not getting any younger,” Andre added, laughter in his voice.

“Ouch,” I said.

“You know what I mean. We get eighty, ninety, a hundred years at the outside on this little blue rock. Might as well suck the marrow out of them.” He shrugged.

“Where’s all this wisdom coming from?”

“Age.” He grinned at me. “Are you trying my hard work, or not?”

“Tell me what I’m looking at and I might.”

Andre snorted. “The burger is free-range local ground pork and Honeycrisp apple, the bun has some of that sage butter on it, the cheese is thinly-sliced Camembert and there’s an oven-baked kale crisp in there for crunch. I’m wondering if the whole thing needs a little kick of heat, though. Sweet potato fries on the side.”

“How are you thinly slicing Camembert?” I asked.

“Freezing it for ten minutes first. If you approve it, I’ll pre-slice it before service and keep it in the fridge. On your next plate is prosciutto-wrapped baked chicken breast stuffed with the sage butter and served on sweet potato and garlic mash. I think the colors really work but I also think it wants something.”

“And the third one?”

Andre lit up in a broad smile. “Something a little sweet. Pumpkin pie dumplings, deep fried to perfection, rolled in cinnamon sugar. Hayden’s got that elderflower ice cream for the fall, I’d like to whip that and serve it with them as a kind of dip.”

Before I could tell Andre what a genius he was and that he could have all three of these on the menu if he wanted, the door behind me swung open.

Miles poked his head through it, holding a coffee from Grinding in each hand.

“Oh,” he said, glancing between us. “Umm…”

“Miles! Come in! This is Andre,” I said, waving him over. “Andre, Miles, the new librarian.”

“Nice to meet you,” Andre said. “I’d love to stick around and chat, but I have a lunch break appointment to get to. Ask him what he thinks of the dumplings,” he added to me.

Then Andre was gone, and I was alone with Miles. Again.

Not that I hated that. Even if he was standing in the middle of the bar looking kind of lost.

“I, umm,” Miles began. “Coffee?” he asked, holding a cup out to me. “Iggy said this is your usual.”

Something in my chest shifted at that. He’d asked about me. Lots of people just knew how I took my coffee, but Miles had gone out of his way to find out.

“Research librarian,” he said, just as my phone buzzed on the bar.

Andre:

third date

he’s cute by the way.

but I already know you have great taste

that’s why you like my cooking