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I give her a look that says to give me a second, I’ll get her food, and head to Noah’s table. I go over about a million catchy, flirty things to say. Things that maybe he’ll replay back to himself later tonight. But when I arrive at the table and he looks up and sees me, all that comes out is, “It’s been a while.”
He smiles and I want to knock myself unconscious with the plate.
I lower his food to the table. The exact omelet I watched him eat three months ago and a stack of pancakes. “I’ll go grab some syrup.”
“Why don’t you have a seat? Like you said, it’s been a while.”
I bite the inside of my cheek. “I’m not sure why I said that. It’s not like you owe me anything.”
He laughs. “I kind of like that you missed me.” He uses his boot to kick out the chair opposite him. “Sit.”
“Mandi!” Nikki whisper-shouts my name as if she’s on the edge of sanity.
“I have a really demanding pregnant guest. Give me a minute.”
He nods. “Sure thing.”
Nikki says my name again and I raise my finger, heading into the kitchen.
Luckily, Nadia has Rachel all fixed up. “Thanks, Mandi.”
“You’re welcome. I need some muffins and fruit for Nikki out there.”
“Put in the order,” Francois says, not even bothering to look at me.
“I’m not putting in the order. She’s going to order something else for her meal. This is to tide her over.”
“I cannot prepare if I do not have the order. It would ruin inventory when I have to reorder. I know you like to run this place like your personal kitchen, but it cannot be done.”
I blow out a breath because I’ve been hearing the same thing from Francois over and over since I left the dishes in the sink three months ago and he knew I cooked in here late at night.
“Do you have any idea that you’re not the boss?” I ask.
“I am the boss of the kitchen.” He thumbs his chest.
“Stop using the fake French accent.” He straightens his back, but I shake my head and go out onto the floor once more, snagging a basket of muffins and one of the carafes of coffee on my way. I set them both on my sisters’ table. “Here.”
“I can’t drink coffee,” Nikki says.
Thankfully, Rachel approaches them right after me and takes their order.
I see that Noah is now on a phone call, so I take a breather in the lobby.
Chevelle joins me a minute later and rubs my arm. “What am I missing? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just overwhelmed. I mean, I’ve only met that guy once before.”
“And?” Chevelle’s face lights up as though she already knows what I’m going to tell her.
“It was literally one hour with him one night. Nothing big. We didn’t exchange numbers or anything. I think he’s kind of like a drifter or something.”
“So?”
“So what’s the point if nothing can happen long term?”
She scrunches up her face. “Mandi, who cares about the Noah thing? Nikki will get over it.”
I shake my head. “No, it’s because he travels so much for work.”
