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"Hello to you, too," I said, smiling at him.
He glanced at me as he walked. He was headed to the only open spot at the bar, and I said," Becca's going to be right with you."
He hesitated.
JD hesitated, pausing in mid-motion, and looking at me like he might shift gears and go somewhere else. "Okay," he said, shaking his head a little. He still went for the barstool, but there were a few seconds where I thought he might not. I thought he might ask for my section, and I got a hot, liquid, gushing feeling in the pit of my stomach because of it. JD Alexander had hesitated, and for whatever reason, maybe it was his expression, but I thought it was because he liked me and wanted me to be the one to wait on him.
My heart raced the next few times I walked by JD. I had to do it every time I walked from my station to the kitchen.
He looked at me and leaned back a little when I walked by this last time. Everyone else was hunched over the bar, so I easily noticed JD as he leaned back to get my attention.
"How are you doing, Mister Alexander? I love your father, by the way. Did you know your dad and I love each other? I'm just, I… I just love your dad. I think he's a good person and we get along great."
"Thank you," he said, looking at me, staring at my face.
I was hesitating near the back of his stool, and he was staring at me in such a way that held me there.
"Did you need me to get you something?" I asked.
"Why are you dressed like that?" he asked instead of answering my question.
"Because it's Valentine's Day. And Isaac said as long as I was wearing my apron and dark pants, it didn’t matter what shirt I wore. I moved into my new apartment yesterday, and I found this when I was putting up some of my stuff."
He reached up and touched the back of my hair—my ponytail.
"What?"
"Nothing," he said. His dark eyes were completely unreadable, and I didn't know what to say, so I shrugged and turned and kept walking to the kitchen.
James David Alexander was not a man who typically stared at me for no reason. He wasn't a man who wasted time by reaching out to touch my hair. I had been around him enough and I knew enough of their family dynamics to know that he took after Samuel, Isaac and Claire's dad. They were both brilliant businessmen and investors. JD had gotten his first job at fifteen, and by eighteen he had made a million dollars. (That part I heard as a rumor from a customer, and not from family. But it checked out with other hints I had gotten since I had been there.)
JD definitely wasn't the type to get lost staring at me or anyone else for no reason. Not just that, but he seemed to be looking at me with a different expression tonight.
My heart hammered in my chest, and I found it extremely difficult to concentrate on my work after that interaction. I stayed on track with my tables, being careful to avoid conversations with JD when I walked past him.
He finished his sandwich and was still sitting there when a couple of places opened up at the counter. Jim came out of the kitchen and sat next to his son. "Are you about done?" Jim asked as I walked behind them.
"I am done," I said. "I just gave Becca my last table." I stopped near the back of their stools, and they both turned to face me.
"I called my son up here and I really think you two should get something to eat together."
"Dad, wh-, no, I've already eaten. I just ate."
Neither of us expected Jim to say that, but JD instantly rejected the idea and I felt hurt by it, so I nodded and smiled as I started to walk off, headed toward the kitchen. I was having certain feelings about him, and that stung. I had to play it off.
"Yeah, that's cool. I might just eat something here. I would have eaten with JD, no problem, but he's busy. He's already too full. Thanks though, Mister Jim. I'll eat here or get some food on my way home."
I grinned widely as I left them, passing off the moment like it had been a casual suggestion on Jim's part. I acted really unaffected and aloof as I continued walking to the kitchen, but my heart was pounding, and if I was being honest, it was slightly broken.
Chapter 9
James David "JD" Alexander
"What are you doing, Dad?" JD asked when Jordan turned and walked away.
Jim shrugged casually, taking a sip of coffee and not even bothering to look at his son. "You're the one paying the girl's rent," Jim said. "I figured you'd want to take her to dinner. It is Valentine's Day, after all." Jim spoke quietly over a cup of coffee, and JD just stared at his father.
"Who told you?"
