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For a second, Devin’s heart lurched into his throat.
No way. Zoe had just texted him from the bakery, and even if she hadn’t—they hadn’t exactly talked about it, but the one time he’d tried to bring up how he’d prefer to keep whatever they were doing together quiet, at least for the time being, she’d just rolled her eyes.
“Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me,” she’d said before kissing his cheek. “My brother murdering you would be a real bummer.”
And then she’d started kissingotherparts of him, and well, that’d been the end of that.
Long story short, she wouldn’t just show up at his work unannounced, and Bryce wouldn’t know to call her his girlfriend.
Before he could work himself up any further worrying, he spotted Han’s car in the lot—not Zoe’s. Relief swept over him, even as a new kind of nervousness started to intrude.
Flipping Bryce off for being a homophobic prick, he started crossing the site toward the lot. As he approached, Han got out of his car and held up one of the same chopped-up liquor boxes he used for Jade Garden deliveries, and Devin managed a smile.
“Hey, buddy,” Han said as he hauled the food over to the picnic table by the trailer, where they usually ate.
“Hey.”
He and Han did this once a week or so. Their schedules didn’t match up much better than Devin’s and Zoe’s. Lunch on the job site was one of the easier ways to get together most weeks.
As Han started unpacking the containers he’d brought, Devin pulled apart a couple of paper plates. His stomach growled as the mouthwatering scents of whatever Han had cooked up today hit him.
“The mango pork’s new,” Han said. “And I tweaked the ginger on the veggies.”
“Yeah?”
Han might’ve had to drop out of culinary school when his dad died, but you’d never know it. He cooked all day, and then he cooked some more on his days off. He tried out new recipes—fancy “fusion” stuff that he and his mom had agreed didn’t fit with the Jade Garden’s brand, though he did manage to sneak a few of the tamer test recipes into the Chef’s Specials “secret menu” now and then.
As Han plated up the food, he tipped his head toward the guys eating sandwiches and leftovers at the other tables. “So, how’s it going?”
Devin rolled his eyes. “Same as usual.”
“AKA, Bryce is being a jerk?”
Devin glared, but he knew there had been no one close enough to hear Han. “Yeah, pretty much.”
Han scooped meat and vegetables onto a bed of noodles, then went ahead and sprinkled sesame seeds and scallions and drizzled some sort of orange sauce over it all, because the parking lot of a construction site was a five-star restaurant in his eyes. He passed the plate over, and Devin smacked his lips.
“I’m telling you.” Han opened a set of wooden chopsticks and pointed them at Devin. “You gotta stand up to guys like him.”
The same old discomfort churned in Devin’s gut, but he pushed it down. “Sure, just like you did with all the mean kids back in high school.”
“Shut up, man.”
Neither of them had gotten picked on too badly when they were kids. Han stuck out, one of maybe four Asian kids in the school at the time, but he’d been as charming then as he was now—the bastard. Devin had held his own. He never started any fights, but when any came his way, he finished them. The two of them and the rest of the gang they ran with—they were fine.
But Han’s girlfriend, May, had gotten savaged by the mean girl squad. She acted like it was no big deal, but whatever had happened, it had been bad enough that May had taken off after graduation. She’d come back for Han’s dad’s funeral and a visit or two here and there, and that was it.
Han scowled and nodded at Devin’s food. “So? You gonna eat or just give me crap about things that happened a decade ago?”
“Like I can’t do both.” He tore open his own chopsticks. He’d never be as good with them as Han was, but he managed okay. He eyed the food. “Nice presentation.”
“Obviously.”
He tried the pork first, because how could he not.
“Get some mango with it,” Han urged him.
Devin raised a brow. He didn’t ignore the advice, though. He scooped up a noodle for good measure and shoveled the whole thing into his mouth.
