Tales of a New York Waitress (The Sibby Chronicles Book 1)

by Samantha Garman

  If I was going to the woods, I wanted to be prepared. Better prepared, anyway. I didn’t know why Aidan wanted to take me on what would’ve been a really fun boys only trip. This was what happened when your husband actually liked you and wanted to spend time with you.

  I added a bunch of things to the L.L. Bean shopping cart and paid for express shipping. If I was trekking into the woods, I at least needed to look the part.

  Chapter 2

  #prayforwine #sos

  “What do you think?” I asked, turning so Annie could get a good look at me.

  “Is that a Halloween costume?” she asked. She was trying to hold in a laugh, but she wasn’t doing a good job. “I think you look like a hipster Elmer Fudd.”

  I took off the red hunting hat and threw it at her. She caught it and fell back onto the gray comforter, snorting and guffawing like a loon.

  “Oh, my God!” She struggled to sit up. “Where did you go to get those clothes? And how much money did you spend?”

  I scowled and turned back to my reflection. “That army and navy store on Manhattan Ave. And L.L. Bean.” I thought I looked pretty good. “Look at my hiking boots! They have pink stripes.”

  “And the Mom jeans? What’s up with those?”

  “They’re loose enough so that I can wear gatkes.”

  “Gat-what?”

  “Long johns,” I clarified.

  “Right.” She gestured to my shirt. “And the flannel? Is that a man’s shirt?”

  “It’s Aidan’s,” I growled.

  “I like the pigtails.” She handed back the red and black plaid hunting hat, and I stuck it on my head. “You still could wear that as your Halloween costume.”

  “Screw you,” I said lightly. “I’m trying to get into this. For Aidan.”

  “For Aidan!” she cheered.

  I rolled my eyes. “There are things we do for those we love.”

  “Jeez, Sibby, you sound like you’re going to war.”

  “I am going to war. War against dirt and bugs and frizzy hair.”

  “Your hair is always frizzy.”

  “Why are we best friends again?”

  “Uhm, history? Oh, and because it would take you too long to break a new one in.”

  I nodded. “Right. And the best friend divorce papers are a bitch.”

  “You’re so weird.”

  Pointing to the hunting hat on my head, I nodded.

  “When are you guys going upstate?” she asked with an amused grin.

  “This weekend. Aidan is in full-on prep mode.”

  “What does that mean? Like dooms-dayer stuff?”

  I shrugged. “I dunno. He’s buying all these meals in bags.”

  “Uh, what?”

  “Dehydrated meals. Apparently hikers eat them.” I looked at her in horror. “I didn’t think about hiking. Am I gonna have to hike?”

  “You mean actually move your body? Probably. You did buy the boots. Come to think of it, they are kinda cute.”

  “I need chocolate. Like pronto,” I said, running out of the bedroom. I hauled it to the kitchen and pulled out a chair so I could reach the top shelf of the cabinet.

  “What’s in the stash?” Annie asked.

  I pulled out a box and threw her a grin over my shoulder. “Entenmann’s chocolate donuts.”

  “Double chocolate?”

  “Nope. The yellow cake donut with chocolate frosting.”

  “Oooooh, I love it when you talk dirty. Gimme one of those.”

  I climbed down from my perch and opened the box. “If I give you one of these, you have to stop heckling me.”

  “Not a fair trade, but I’ll try.” She plucked a donut and stuck it in her mouth. I did the same and then made an inappropriate sound.

  “Just make sure you have this in your survival bag,” Annie warned. “When your blood sugar gets low, you get crabby.”

  “Cold, hungry, tired, I get crabby.”

  “Donuts for hunger. Pack a fifth of bourbon. That’ll take care of the warmth problem.”

  “What happens if I get tired?”

  Annie swallowed the rest of her donut. “Tell Aidan to pray.”

  Annie had to go grocery shopping for her diabolical boss, so she left after she helped me polish off the donuts. Aidan was still at Veritas, no doubt making sure everything was in order for his two-week absence. Though the trendy wine bar was doing well, it was still young, only a little over a year old. Restaurants and bars came and went frequently, but I knew Caleb and Aidan had real staying power. Still, I worried he was taking off too much time, but if he felt good enough leaving the business for a couple of weeks, then that was his concern.

  After straightening up the living room and changing the sheets on the bed, I put on some water to boil and threw in the pasta just as Aidan walked in the door. “You’re cooking?” he asked by way of greeting.

  “I am.” I poured him a glass of red wine from the open bottle on the kitchen counter into one of the wine glasses from our wedding registry.

  “What did I do to deserve this?” he asked with an adorable smile.

  I picked up my wine glass and clinked his. “It’s an apology dinner.”

  He raised his eyebrows and took a sip of wine. “Nice.” He sniffed. “You opened one of the good bottles we got in Italy.”

  “The Chianti,” I said with a dreamy sigh. For our honeymoon, Aidan and I had gone on a two-week wine tour of Italy. We’d come home with a few cases of wine—I’d wanted to bring more, but we’d recently moved into a two-bedroom apartment and didn’t have a ton of storage.

  “So let’s get back to why this is an apology dinner,” Aidan said, shrugging out of his light black jacket and hanging it on the back of a kitchen chair.

  “I wasn’t that…supportive. Of the camping trip.” I leaned back against the counter, wine glass in hand.

  He crooked a grin. “I know.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You know why I like us so much?”

  “Why?”

  “Because we force each other out of our comfort zones.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You’re taking me camping, which I admit is way out of my comfort zone. But what do I do for you?”

  “You make me think differently.”

  “I do?” I asked.

  He set his wine glass down and sauntered toward me. Plucking the wine glass from my hands, he glanced at the timer. “I’ve got about twenty seconds.”

  “For what?”

  He gently put my glass on the counter, wrapped his arms around me, and kissed me. It was a good kiss. A great kiss. Our kisses had only gotten better with time. Being married totally had something to do with it; I was sure of it.

  The oven timer beeped, and I sighed at our perfect moment being interrupted.

  “You sit down,” I told him. “I got this.”

  I tore into my piece of garlic bread and set it aside to let it cool. “How do I make you think differently?”

  Aidan grated Parmesan over his bowtie pasta while he answered. “Because of you, I opened Veritas with Caleb.”

  “I can’t take credit for that,” I said. “That was your idea.”

  “True. But it came about sooner rather than later.” He held up the grater and cheese wedge, and I nodded. He got up from his seat and grated cheese onto my pasta.

  “Oooh, baby, you can grate my cheese anytime.”

  “I’m an expert grater,” he said with a grin. He sat back down and put his napkin in his lap.

  “As you were saying?”

  His fingers pinched the stem of the wine glass, but he made no move to drink. Blue eyes rested on me, his face thoughtful. “You deserved better,” he said.

  I frowned. “Better? Better than what? You? There is no better than you.”

  A ghost of a smile flitted across his mouth. His dimples popped up like little happy beacons. “When we met, I was…I don’t know, content with being a restaurant manager. Content is not really the right word. It was enoug
h—for me. But then I met you, and I knew you were it. And I’m probably not explaining this right, but there comes a time in a man’s life when he meets the woman he’s supposed to be with, and suddenly, he wants more—needs more—so he can provide for her. I needed to be able to provide for you.

  “Owning the bar with Caleb, I feel like I can look your father in the eye and stand proud. That I can provide for his daughter.” Aidan fell silent, his eyes still on mine.

  I blinked away the tears that were gathering in my eyes. He was just so damn perfect—and he got me. In a way no one else did.

  “I made you cry,” he said with small smile.

  “No you didn’t,” I lied. “I’m allergic to emotion.”

  Aidan laughed.

  I raised my wine glass. “Aidan Kincaid. Good at marriage.”

  “Sibby Goldstein-Kincaid. Good at compromise.”

  “Let’s eat, before it gets cold.”

  The week passed in a blur. Whenever you dreaded something, time seemed to speed up. But when you were looking forward to something, time seemed to move backward.

  Suddenly, it was the weekend, and we were upstate. Every time I was around Aidan’s family, I was always amazed at the differences in how we’d grown up. Aidan’s family understood boundaries, had bonfires in the backyard, and they all loved the outdoors. My parents had no filters, enjoyed Puerto Vallarta, and camping wasn’t even in their vocabulary.

  “You guys are basically an REI store,” I marveled when Aidan showed me his parents’ garage.

  He laughed. “I love all this stuff.” He touched a massive blue hiking backpack, and I prayed to Moses that was his.

  “You’re not gonna make me”—I gulped—“hike. Are you?”

  Aidan chucked me under the chin. “There’s a really cool walk I want to take you on. Easy, very little incline, and at the end, a waterfall.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Don’t think you can easily substitute the word ‘walk’ for the word ‘hike.’ Call a spade a spade, okay?”

  He wrapped his arms around me. “I promise it will be worth your while.”

  “How are we gonna stay clean? Two weeks with out showers—”

  “Got it covered.”

  “And using the bathroom—”

  “Got that covered too.” He kissed the end of my nose. “Trust me. I got this. I also got you a present.”

  “You did?”

  He nodded and released me. Grabbing my hand, he tugged me to the corner of the garage where a cardboard box rested on Aidan’s father’s worktable.

  “Go ahead,” Aidan said, looking excited.

  I reached for the cardboard box and managed to get it open. Inside was a knife in a pink carrying case. Aidan picked it up and clipped it to my belt.

  “See? You’re all decked out, ready to go. You’re practically a wilderness girl.”

  I struggled to unsheathe the blade, but once Aidan showed me how it popped out and locked into place, I got the hang of it.

  “You really trust me with a knife?” I asked in wry humor.

  “Valid point. Please be very careful. It’s wicked sharp.”

  “I feel like Crocodile Dundee,” I said in excitement. “What other stuff do I get?”

  “For now, you’ll borrow everything you need. If…”

  “If what?”

  He cocked his head. “If I can get you into this, then we’ll go full throttle and get you all the gear.”

  I must’ve blanched because Aidan laughed. “Right, baby steps.”

  “I know you have an agenda,” I said.

  “The not-so-secret agenda can wait.” He smiled. “Come on. Mom’s making dinner. We’ll leave first thing tomorrow.”

  Read on, Sassy Pants!

  Other books by Samantha Garman:

  Season of the Shadows (Dandelion Dreams Duet Book #1) (women’s fiction)

  A broken man finds solace and redemption in the arms of a woman suffering from her own loss.

  Season of the Sun (Dandelion Dreams Duet Book#2) (women’s fiction)

  The sequel to Season of the Shadows

  Secrets of a Heart (historical romance)

  A destitute woman encounters her wealthy, mysterious new neighbor. It’s only a matter of time before she realizes he may not be what he seems.

  The Defiant Lady (historical romance)

  A penniless earl falls for the illegitimate daughter of a duke. Can he convince her they’re perfect for one another?

  About the Author

  Samantha Garman was a waitress in Manhattan for many moons. On her last day of work she did the Chicken Dance. It’s possible there’s a video of it on YouTube.

  For more information visit:

  www.samanthagarman.com

  samantha@samanthagarman.com