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No matter how much Sarah wanted to hang out with Grant, I knew that making sure I was okay was a greater priority for her. I smiled at her warmly, happy in the fact that there was one person on this earth that truly cared about me. "No, it's okay. Stay. I'll go back with Marcus."
"And me," Simon added stubbornly.
As Grant opened his mouth to argue, Joel stopped by the table. "Hey guys," he said. "Happy to see the new band together."
"Hey Joel," Grant replied. "Can we go over some things for next Saturday? Simon has some new equipment and we want to make sure that you guys are equipped to handle it." Grant turned to Simon. "Let's go over this stuff now, man."
Simon frowned and glanced at me. "Can't we do this another time?"
I pushed Simon's arm gently, the past couple of hours making me more comfortable with him. "Stay. Marcus and I are fine. I promise to protect his reputation and make sure he gets home safely."
Simon smiled but still looked uncertain. "Well..."
"C'mon, Simon," Grant urged. "Better to do this now than wait, in case we have to jimmy the set-up."
"It's cool, Simon," Marcus said. "I'll make sure Caitlin gets home safely. It's a good idea for you to go over the equipment."
Simon relented and sat back down. Grant started talking about the new equipment as Marcus and I said our goodbyes and walked to the door, holding our breath as the cold air greeted us. I looked behind us as the door was closing and saw that Simon was still looking in our direction.
CHAPTER THREE
My shift the next day at Colette's was busy. It was a popular place for breakfast and I was balancing the demands of all the tables in my section. I had worked at Colette's since my freshman year, so it was a rhyth
m I was used to and did it with ease.
"Caitlin, can I get some more maple syrup?" called out a regular at one of my tables.
"Sure thing, Clive," I replied, swinging behind the counter and grabbing another bottle of maple syrup. Colette's blueberry pancakes were famous and a popular order at the cafe, although I'm not sure how they were French. As a result, we went through gallons of maple syrup.
I sat the syrup on the table and smiled. "Need anything else?"
"Nope," Clive said. "All I need is syrup and your beautiful smile."
I laughed easily. "Then you're easy to please."
I continued making my rounds, making sure that everyone had what they needed and refilling cups of coffee along the way. The cafe was small and we only needed two servers, even when it was busy. There was no hostess due to the limited size. Every time the door opened with a chime from the bells attached, one of the servers greeted the customers and seated them. Emily, the other waitress on duty this morning, and I seemed to instinctively know when the other was too busy to seat and took turns covering the new arrivals without having to speak.
I heard the bells and turned around to see who the new customers were. My insides quivered a little when I saw Grant and Simon standing there, grinning at me. Emily was busy taking an order so I made my way to the front of the cafe.
"Hi guys," I said, ignoring the quiver. "Don't I know you two from somewhere?" I wondered why Simon seemed to bring out the lame jokes in me.
"I was telling Simon that Colette's has the best blueberry pancakes, and wouldn't you know it - he's a sucker for blueberry pancakes," Grant said with a wink.
I laughed as I grabbed two menus from the front desk that served as an impromptu hostess station. "Well, you've come to the right place. And you're lucky because we have one table left."
I directed them to an empty table and laid the menus down in front of them. "Emily will be right with you," I said. "I'll try and stop by later to chat."
Simon frowned. "Won't you be waiting on us?"
"Nope, sorry," I replied breezily. "This is Emily's section." Inwardly, I thanked God that the only table available was in her section. Or so I told myself.
"She'll be right with you," I repeated and then made my getaway.
I busied myself with my tables but I was acutely aware of Simon. I could hear Emily laughing as she was taking their order and I forced myself not to try and make out what was being said.
I was behind the counter, grabbing a couple of extra napkins for a customer when Emily walked over.
"I think your presence is requested over at table eight," she laughed, nodding in the direction of Grant and Simon's table. "Your friend's cousin insists that he has to order from you."
