Page 44 of Monster Diner

“I don’t know.”

Vivianne scoffed again. “That’s a shitty answer. You know exactly what you want.”

Lizzy blinked at her for a moment. Vivianne gave her a look as if daring her to argue.

“I dunno if I’m brave enough,” Lizzy said to the countertop.

“If Victor rejects you, I’ll kick his ass myself. It’s obvious he’s head over heels for you.”

“You think?”

Vivianne gave her another withering look, and Lizzy laughed.

“Don’t let him get away. Or I’ll kick your ass too.” Vivianne paused. “Or I’ll push another discount out on our socials. Whatever’s worse.”

“Goddess forbid.”

She and Vivianne laughed, but by the end of her shift, she knew what she wanted.

19

VICTOR

The diner was jam-packed, and there was a line out the door. It was the day before Halloween, but Victor had never seen it this crowded. It was all-hands-on-deck. Everyone who was free had come in to run orders, and the POS was moving so fast, Victor feared it might catch fire. By some miracle, the appliances were holding on, and there hadn’t been a mechanical failure in days. The air was perfumed with the scent of maple, bacon, and fries. Even without the ice cream machine, they were making huge sales numbers.

They’d gone through an entire box of hamburger patties in just two hours of service, when usually it would last them all night.

“I’ll grab another box of patties,” Victor told Clyde.

“Yep,” he grunted, his focus on the packed flat top.

“Door,” Victor said as he pushed open the swinging doors to the kitchen. But he ran into Lizzy, literally. She yelped, and he grabbed hold of her by the waist on instinct, and she looked up at him wide-eyed. He expected her to recoil, repulsed, or at least pull away first, but she laid her flat palm against his chest.

“Thanks. I should have moved quicker.” She smiled up at him.

Her kindness somehow made it all worse. After Halloween, she’d be gone. And he’d be left to pick up the pieces of his broken heart.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said.

Their close proximity made his chest ache, but he didn’t move to pull away as he should have, and neither did she.

“If you’ve got time to flirt in the hallway, then can I be cut?” Trudy asked, coming in from the dining room with a large pitcher of iced tea in her hand.

He and Lizzy broke apart, and there was a pretty flush on her cheeks.

“No one is getting cut,” Victor said. “We’re slammed.”

“Uh-huh. Well, as soon as it slows down, I’m going home. The babysitter is charging me by the hour.”

“Noted,” Victor said.

“You can go home. I’ll cover your tables,” Lizzy told her.

“Are you sure?” Victor asked. “Don’t you need to pack or something?”

Lizzy waved off his question and instead took the pitcher of iced tea from Trudy and shooed her towards the lockers. Before Lizzy returned to the dining room, she gave him one last smile.

He didn’t want to hold on to hope. It would only disappoint him in the end. But his sensible brain wouldn’t listen to his heart, it seemed.