“I’m sorry.” The words came out even before she’d made a conscious decision to say them. They sounded clipped and hollow to her own ears, but she didn’t respond well to feeling trapped.
“I didn’t want an apology. I wanted an explanation.”
“We don’t always get what we want, Quinn.”
“Have I asked you for anything?”
“Other than an explanation?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, other than that. Have I asked you to do anything that made you uncomfortable?”
“No.”
“Did I say something that offended you?”
“No.”
“Did I break some unwritten foodie rule like eat pizza with a fork?”
Hal almost smiled, but even that frustrated her. If Quinn would just be more of a bitch, this wouldn’t be so hard. “No, you’re fine.”
“Fine?”
“Yeah.”
“Then why are you still holding me at arm’s length?” Quinn pressed.
“I don’t know what you mean.” It was a stupid, cowardly comment, and the flash of disgust across Quinn’s face showed she knew it. She was keeping her distance, and maybe she’d been a little unfair in the process. Quinn hadn’t pushed a single time over the past two weeks. She’d been patient and inquisitive without being intrusive. She’d respected Hal’s schedule and her space. And she’d been a quick study whenever Hal gave her half the chance. Maybe that’s what Hal found most frustrating. Every time she allowed Quinn even the smallest of openings to be personable, she took it. She could really start to like her, and that couldn’t happen. She needed her to be pushy and problematic in order to remember that she was going to leave someday soon, and that was a good thing.
“I never saw you as a bullshitter, Hal.”
She hung her head. “I’m not good at this. I like to do things my own way.”
“Have I gotten in your way?”
“No.”
“What then?” She wouldn’t let up.
“You’ve been better than I expected,” Hal finally admitted.
“And?”
“And I don’t really know what to do with that, okay?” She pushed her hands through her hair, holding it up for a second before letting it feather back down across her forehead. “I was kind of expecting a fight from you. I thought you were going to be a pain in my ass. I didn’t want to like you.”
Quinn relaxed visibly. “But you do?”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Hal said. “I just don’t really know what to do when you’re nice. I had this image of you, and you’re not fitting into it.”
“Interesting.” The corners of her mouth curled up.
“Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“Act like you have some sort of upper hand now.”
“But you do like me.”
“I never said that. I don’t even know you.”
“And you don’t want to because you’re afraid if you do, you’ll like me?”
Was that true? That would be pretty shitty of her to be rude to a woman just because she liked her. What was she, in fourth grade? Maybe she should pull her hair. No, it wasn’t like she’d treated Quinn like she had cooties. If she had, she wouldn’t admit it, not with her looking so smug again.
Quinn leaned back with her hands against the counter. The move caused her chest to stand out, proud and alluring. Damn it, this was exactly what she wanted to avoid. Quinn wasn’t capable of hearing something genuine without spinning it into something she could use for leverage. She had to get this back under control.
“Fine.” Hal shrugged. “What do you want to know?”
“Excuse me?” Quinn blinked at the quick redirect.
“You’re here because you want something. You want to learn something about the business.” Yeah, good, pull it back to business. “And you think I’ve been less than forthcoming.”
Quinn rolled her eyes. “Stonewalling’s more like it.”
“I won’t argue. You want to cut the bullshit. Tell me what you really need to know.”
“How did you meet Sully?”
Nope, that wasn’t going to happen. Her past wasn’t for sale. “Don’t push, Quinn. I’m on your payroll, not in your pocket. What do you want to know about the business?”
To her credit she didn’t pout or even hesitate. “What are the drawbacks of a truck?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why would someone choose a restaurant over a truck?”
It was a smart question. A legitimate business topic that would also give her the ammo she’d been searching for to try to lure Hal away. That’s what she wanted. Neither of them had pretended otherwise, but so far she hadn’t had either the angle or the opportunity to make her case. Hal knew the argument was coming, but she hadn’t expected to have to help her make it.
Quinn edged closer, or maybe it just felt like she did. “If I am going to try to entice a food truck operator into a commercial kitchen, I need to know what I can offer them that they can’t get on their own.”
“Yeah, I got where you were going with that,” Hal said curtly.
“It’s a business question, Hal.”
“And I’ll answer it in kind.” She rubbed her face and muttered, just business. “Space, for one. I’m sure you’ve noticed we don’t have a lot of it.”
“Things do get . . .” Quinn seemed to search for a word. “Tight.”
Hal’s cheeks flushed, and she thanked God Sully wasn’t within earshot of that little gem. “Right, but I’m not talking about people. I’m talking about food. I don’t have the space to prep on sight. I don’t have the space to store extra ingredients. When we’re out, we’re out.”
“Like in the park. When you were going to have to turn people away.”
Way to remind me of how you bailed me out. “Yes.”
“And that bothers you.”
“Of course it bothers me.” Hal hung her head. “I can’t stand to turn people away hungry.”
She didn’t say she didn’t want to lose business, Quinn noted. The comment was more personal than economical. When Hal was frustrated, she revealed little things like that. Maybe Quinn needed to keep her off balance more often. “What else?”
“It also means I can’t carry all the tools I want with me.”
“Like what?” Now that she had the answers flowing freely, she intended to keep them coming.
“Blenders, food processors, canners. All those things have to be used ahead of time or not at all.”
“Is that really a big deal?”
“Obviously not big enough to stop me from turning down your offer for a restaurant.”
“Touché.” She’d walked right into that one, but she mentally tipped her hat and moved on. “What’s the big ticket item?”
Hal opened her mouth, then hesitated. The answer was there, but she was smart enough to know she should worry about handing it over.
Quinn gave her credit for the natural defense, but she wouldn’t let it hold. Stepping closer, right to the edge of Hal’s personal space, she met her eyes and held them, silently challenging her to show her cards.
“Ovens,” Hal finally said.
“Ovens? That’s it?” Had she started bullshitting again, or was that really the word that had almost died on her lips? “You can’t have an oven in a truck?”
“Oven’s aren’t small. They give off a ton of heat. The people who use them usually have trailers, not trucks.” Hal pushed off the counter and began to gesture with her hands while she continued. “The trucks that do have them sacrifice a lot of space and energy for a small one. You can only do one thing at a time, and usually you can’t even do that well. They’re glorified toasters.”
“Wow, tell me how you really feel.”
Hal snorted and shook her head. “You asked, you got an answer.”
She got more than that. She got passion, she got a personal reaction. She got a spark where there’d only been a brick wall before.
More importantly she’d gotten her in. “Thank you, Hal.”
“What?”
“I said ‘thank you.’ You gave me an honest answer and some knowledge to help me as I look for a professional-grade kitchen.”
“Are you really in the market for one already?”
“Absolutely. And I had a pretty good idea what was needed to do the work you do in the truck, but now I also know what I’d need to take it to the next level.”
“Glad I could be of service,” Hal said slowly and in a tone that made it clear she wasn’t at all sure she meant it.
Quinn smiled and laid her hand on Hal’s shoulder. “And that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“Easier than pulling teeth, I suppose.”
“You sure know how to charm a lady.”
Hal finally grinned. “I get that a lot.”
“Dude, what happened in there tonight?” Sully asked as soon as the door closed behind Quinn and Ian.
“I don’t know. I think maybe we cleared the air.”
“You don’t seem very clear on it right now.”
Hal flopped onto the couch they’d dragged two blocks from the curb it had been left on a year ago. Intellectually she understood that nothing left on a curb should ever be flopped onto again, but it was more comfortable than crashing on the distressed hardwood floor of their first-story apartment. “Quinn is complicated.”
“High maintenance.”
“I don’t know, man. I think it’s something more than that.”
“More woman than you can handle?” Sully scoffed. “I’m disappointed in you.”
Sully’s estimation of her skills had always been highly inflated, but Hal didn’t like admitting that, so instead, she stared at the ceiling.
“Why are you letting her jerk you around?”
“I’m not.”
“You are. You have all the power here. She needs you. She wants you.”
“She wants a name, she wants a restaurant, she wants to make money.
“She’s going to dump me the minute she has what she’s after.”
“So what? Get what you want before that and let her go, unless of course the only thing you want is for her to stay.”
The word hit her like a punch to the gut. “Don’t be daft.”
“Daft? Have you been watching the BBC again?”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re a moron.”
Sully shrugged. “Probably not. It also doesn’t change the fact that you’re letting this woman jack you around.”
“No one is jacking, or jerking, me in any direction.”
Sully laughed. “Maybe that’s your problem.”
“Yeah yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “Sex. That’s what it always comes down to, right?”
“You got a problem with sex?”
“No,” Hal said, then thought some more. Maybe she did. She hadn’t had any in a while, so that could be a problem. A bigger one might be the way every conversation about Quinn led back there, and so quickly. Was she really that hard up, or was Sully driving that part of her brain? Actually, Quinn didn’t do anything to break up those associations either. She stood way too close, and what was with all the arm touching? She found an excuse to do that almost every time they were together. Was it a move that came naturally to her? Was it meant to be soothing? Or was it part of her practiced persona, a well-rehearsed gesture to make her seem sincere and interested? “That’s the thing with her, though, you know?”
“No. I have no idea,” Sully said.
Had she said that last part out loud? “Nothing.”
“I call bullshit.” Sully calling bullshit was like a ten-year-old boy calling shotgun. There was procedure to it that only they could understand, but that didn’t stop them from expecting it to be honored.
“It’s just that I never know what’s real with her and what’s some ploy to get under my skin.”
“Who cares if it gets her under your sheets?”
Hal sat up. “Thanks for all your help.”
“No, wait,” Sully said, her tone growing serious. “I just meant that she’s going after what she wants in this relationship or whatever it is. She’s never lied or led you on. Why can’t you do the same?”
“The same what?”
“Go after what you want. Use each other for mutual benefit.”
“What do I get out of the trade-off?”
“Whatever you want. You want business? Do business. You want sexy? Do sexy. She’s got money, she’s got connections, she’s got a good business mind and a sharp tongue. Then on the other side she’s got a rockin’ body, a fiery temper that you know is going to set off fireworks in bed, legs that go on forever, and, well, a sharp tongue. Put the tongue thing in both columns.”
Hal chose to ignore the last part and focus on the bigger picture. Quinn did have a lot more to offer than sixteen dollars an hour. She was smart on multiple levels, she was fun to spar with, and there was no use trying to deny she tripped a lot of physical triggers, too, but what was she supposed to make with all of those building blocks?
“I don’t know what I want from her.”
Sully raised her eyebrows.
“I know you have a hard time believing this, but I really haven’t spent the last few weeks entertaining sexual fantasies about her. I think I’ve been so busy trying not to get burned, I never really thought of anything other than how she could hurt me.”
“Maybe it’s time to relax a little bit and let yourself consider some new options.”
Hal didn’t respond. She didn’t want to give Sully any false hope, or dirty joke fodder, but as she returned to staring at a hairline crack in the high ceiling, she had to admit, if only to herself, she did like the idea of having options.
Chapter Six
“Are you going over to Hal’s?” Ian asked from his spot on the couch. He had to sit in the corner farthest from the coffee table so he had room to extend his long legs. He could stay there for hours, his laptop resting on his thighs like a security blanket. The couch cushions had become a lopsided reminder of his imprint even when he got up for something, which had happened more often lately. He’d worked with Sully and Hal four times since Tuesday, sometimes at lunch and sometimes into the night, but Quinn had fought off the silly urge to tag along. She had made some slight inroads with Hal last Friday, and she wanted to give them both space to process that. Plus she had other cards on the table she wasn’t yet ready to reveal.
The separation must’ve worked, because this time the invitation had come from Hal. When Ian had delivered the message that Hal wanted Quinn to come help her can some tomato sauce, she could tell he was as surprised as she was, both at her inclusion and at the news he could take some time off. She understood the consternation in his face at the rare disappointment of being given a day off. Having been in his role all week, she felt a little bad for him, but not bad enough to invite him along.
“Yes, but remember we’re not going to be in the truck, so no chicks to score.”
He relaxed just a little at that reminder. “Is Sully going to be there?”
“I honestly don’t know.” She sort of hoped not, but she knew from Ian’s constant chatter about his newfound heroes that they lived together.
“Oh well, tell her she can come hang out over here, or something like that if she’s bored or whatever.”
It wasn’t a great invitation, but the fact that he’d extended it showed progress. He clearly admired Sully a lot, and while she wasn’t exactly the role model Quinn would choose for her little brother, his showing any interest in being social had to count for something. “I’ll mention it.”
It took her a few minutes to get to Hal and Sully’s house since they lived only on the other side of Allentown. The houses in this area were bigger, grander, remnants of a more prosperous age in Buffalo, but many of them had been broken up into apartments. Hal’s was on the ground floor, with an entrance toward a driveway just big enough to hold Cheesy Does It.
/> “Hey, Quinn,” Sully said, opening the door wide to let her in. She wore jeans, loose and faded, along with a T-shirt featuring stacked silverware with the message “Spooning leads to forking.”
“Good morning, Sully. What’s on our agenda for today?”
“Your agenda features canning, which means my agenda doesn’t have to.” She grinned and slipped past her. “So I’m going to make myself scarce. Remind me later that I owe you one for that.”
“Oh, I do like the idea of you being indebted to me.”
“I thought you might.”
“If you want to be even more indebted, you can go hang out at my place. There’s a fridge full of food, a big screen TV, and a nineteen-year-old boy who thinks you’re so cool, he’d do pretty much anything you told him to.”
Sully grinned. “Sounds like a pretty sweet joint. I might have to go check it out.”
Quinn went up three stairs and through another door Sully had left open. Hal was already so busy at work she didn’t look up right away, giving Quinn a chance to watch her.
She stood with her back to the door, clad in a plain black T-shirt and dark blue jeans that showcased a very nice set of glutes. She rose up on bare tiptoes to peer into a giant pot on the industrial-grade, six-burner stove, and Quinn felt a wash of affection surge through her. That was a new feeling, and she didn’t enjoy the way it tightened her chest. Attraction she could handle; flirting was not an uncommon way for her to get a job done. But the mix of sexy and homey stirred something more personal, and personal generally meant counterproductive in her world.
She cleared her throat loudly. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for the barefoot in the kitchen type of woman.”
Hal didn’t turn around. “Does it offend your feminist sensibilities?”
“Not at all.” Quite the opposite. “Unless you expect me to follow your lead?”
Hal finally glanced over her shoulder long enough to look at her quickly before returning her attention to the stove. “No, those shoes will do fine enough for today.”
Quinn glanced down at her brown leather business loafers, wondering what made them fine for today, but possibly not for the future?
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