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“Hello, darling. You want something to eat?” Beatrice, Carl’s wife, came to her table to ask.
“Just some pancakes, please.”
“You look like you need someone to talk to.”
Maddie smiled. “I’ll be fine. Just lost my job.”
Beatrice winced. “Crap, Maddie. If I’d known that was on the cards, I wouldn’t have hired the two girls I just did to help out around here. You know I would have you in a heartbeat.” She put her hand on Maddie’s. “I will go and get those pancakes. I’ll get Carl to do his special on them. You may not have a broken heart, but you are upset. Oh, I think that could be a thing. Upset pancakes. What do you think?”
She couldn’t help but smile. “They sound right up my street.”
Carl had made it a thing right after Valentine’s Day to offer food with broken or sad names that were so heavy in fat, salt, and sugar, no one could resist. Of course, he also participated in detox months, offering soups. He was an all-rounder when it came to the food he offered.
The diner was a home in itself, a family.
Sipping at her coffee, she had no choice but to finally flick open the newspaper and start looking for work. Rent wouldn’t pay itself. She had a little put away in savings from the sale of her parents’ house, and she had donated some of it to help build new kennels for the animal shelter she volunteered at. She had already called them to see if there was an available payable position, which unfortunately, there wasn’t.
Glancing through the list of jobs, she reached into her handbag and pulled out a marker. She started to cross off the definite nos, circled the yes jobs, and then left a question mark by the maybes.
Beatrice came out with a stack of pancakes. They appeared to be dripping in maple syrup, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, sprinkles, and chocolate chips.
“This will give you the energy you need to start looking for that dream job.”
“Thank you.”
“On the house, sweetheart. You call me if you need anything else.”
Cutting into the stack of pancakes, Maddie took a bite. They were so sugary, but she didn’t care. The last diet she had been on failed. Who in their right mind gave up carbs? Bread and pasta were just some of the best foods out there. Not to mention pizza, and so many other good things.
There had been no weight loss, as usual.
Chewing on the pancakes, she pulled her cell phone out and started from the top of the yes pile to see which job was still available. The first three were not available, so she had no choice but to cross them off the list, and so it began. The hunt for a job wasn’t going to be easy. The job scene was always scarce.
She ate her pancakes, taking her time so she didn’t end up in a serious sugar rush. She had just finished a call with the sixth job and put a cross through it when someone sat down at her table.
Lifting her head, she saw Bull had taken a seat opposite her. She’d been so engrossed in her call and food, she hadn’t paid attention.
She turned her head toward the windows, and sure enough, there was a line of bikes. The rest of his friends had gone to sit in the middle. Some people left, which was just strange. Yes, Chaos and Carnage was not always a nice group of men, but it had been a long time ago that they started a fight, and if her memory served her well, it was with a bunch of tourists who weren’t being very nice to begin with. Bull and his men dealt with them, sending them out of town.
“Do you want me to move?”
“The pancakes look good,” Bull said.
Maddie frowned. She held on to her fork, then slid the plate across to him. “Have a try.”
He reached across the counter, took her fork, and cut into one of the fluffy but heavily drenched pancakes.
She watched a little too mesmerized as he started to chew on the sweet dessert.
Nibbling on her lip, she refused to think of his face or the simple action of chewing food as highly erotic, but she couldn’t help it, he made it seem so.
“Why are you eating the upset pancakes?” Bull asked.
“You know what they are?”
“Not from personal experience, but a few of the guys at the club knew about them. Talked about them as well. They’re what Carl offers to someone with a broken heart or sad news. You’re not upset about that guy standing you up, are you?”
“Wow, could you have shouted it any louder? I don’t think the people in the back heard you.” She hated that he pointed out so bluntly the lack of desire men had for her. It wasn’t blatant, but seeing as her date didn’t show, she could only assume the same thing. Her face slowly heated up under his scrutiny. This sucked.
