“What’s your question?”
“Levi?”
He thought for a second and then asked, “Well, what do you think about Levi?”
“I like him.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know,” I smiled. “Enough to want to kiss him again.”
“Fair answer. So do you consider Levi to be your boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Then you’re not taken. What’s the problem? Diner Boy asks you out on a date, you say yes.”
“Do I tell Levi? I mean is that something that he should know? We’ve kissed, Grandpa, that’s it. What if he feels like we’re a couple now? And will I make it seem that way if I talk to him about it?”
“Then I guess you have to make sure he doesn’t think that. Unless you want to be.”
“I don’t really know.”
“Then you need to go out with Diner Boy and find out for sure.”
“His name is Austin,” I smiled.
“And where does Austin live? What does he do for a living? What’s his family like?”
“Why don’t you come in and interrogate him for me.”
“Would love to!”
We were both smiling at that, and there was few seconds of silence as we watched a flock of birds pass overhead.
“All I know about him is that he’s twenty-three and he’s in ‘business.’ ”
“Business?” he scowled. “Well that could be anything.”
“I know. And his buddies kind of chuckled when he answered that, so I have no idea what it means.”
“Hmm.” He was silent for several seconds before he asked, “And you say he comes in on Fridays?”
I nodded.
“Hmm,” he said again. “Maybe I’ll have to switch my diner lunch from Wednesdays to Fridays now.”
With a laugh I said, “I’ll tell him you want a lunch date with him and I’ll seat you together.”
“Okay, but you and Phoebe will have to take turns because I can’t miss having her wink at me every time she flirts with me.”
“Ooh, she says you flirt with her, Gramps. Who’s making up stories?”
“Well, maybe it’s mutual. But I think she started it.”
“You know she just wants a bigger tip, right?” I teased.
“Oh, I know. She’s half my age.”
“You could be her Sugar Daddy.”
He grunted. “With what money? If I were rich I’d send you off to your vet school and give Meryl the money to hire more employees. Instead, my stubborn daughter pays for her bankrupt father to have a nice place to live. If I could go back and change things, I would.”
“I know. But we’re doing just fine.”
He grunted again. “I wish I could make things easier for you. I screwed that up a long time ago.”
“Grandpa, I’m very happy right now. I have family around me, I have my café family, I’m getting some school in… It’s all working out. The schooling is going slowly, but maybe there’s a reason for it. You always say that everything happens for a reason, right? My dad left when I was five and my mom died when I was nineteen. Totally altered my life and how it could have been, but apparently that’s how it was meant to be.”
He didn’t respond for several seconds, but when he finally did and said, “And where is deadbeat dad these days?” I wished he hadn’t said anything at all.
“I don’t know,” I sighed. “The last I heard from him he was still in Boston.”
“And he still hasn’t sent you a dime, has he,” he stated angrily.
“No, but I don’t want his money anyway. I don’t want anything from him.”
“I don’t want him in your life, he’d better stay far away, but he at least owes you something. Maybe a little piece of your education?” He shook his head and said, “Boy, I wanted to deck him that day. Many days before that, but that was the last time I saw him.”
I knew he was referring to my graduation day, when my father actually came after not seeing me for four years. My dad wasn’t allowed to be within fifty feet of my mom or I, but my grandpa had a very long, very intense chat with him about helping my mom pay for college. My dad claimed to still be unemployed, and that really made my grandpa mad because he knew he was making money somehow, particularly to pay for his drug habit.
“Well, all is well Gramps. It’s better that he doesn’t have a part in my life. The last thing I need is for him to have some sort of hold over me or something.”
“I know. But at the time it would have helped your mom out. She worked two jobs and that abusive coward didn’t have the decency to help her out. Not even a measly fifty bucks.”
“Like I said, it’s probably for the best. I’m doing okay, and I really don’t believe my life is going to be hard all the time. I have a lot to be thankful for.”
He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. “You are one of a kind, Nova. One of a kind.”
Chapter Four
“He’s here, Nova,” Robin said the second I came in the next Friday.
My heart instantly thumped because I knew to whom she was referring to. From the kitchen I peeked into the dining room. I’d just barely arrived and was putting my apron on at the same time.
“How long has he been here?” I asked.
“Just got here about ten minutes ago. I think he’s got your schedule down pretty well.” She was taking my apron off while she spoke.
“What are you doing?”
“You’re going to go talk to him. The crowd is manageable right now, and if it gets hectic, you know where to find this,” she finished, hanging up my apron. “Now go.”
After a playful push forward, she gave me a fierce look and returned to her duties.
I took a deep breath. Well this is it, I thought. At least I’d just arrived for work and was still fairly fresh and clean. I checked myself in the mirror anyway, just in case, and then made my way through the dining room as casually as I could. Robin smiled at me as I passed, and I think it made me even more nervous. But I had to recover quickly when he glanced up and saw me coming. There was no smile, no expression whatsoever, and he just watched me slide into the seat across from him.
“Hey,” I said.
He did have a couple of papers in his hand, but he slowly put them down on the seat next to him. “Hey,” he replied. Then he glanced around the café for just a second and asked, “Uh, you’re not working today?”
“Not right now. I figured I’d come hang out with you for a few minutes. If you don’t mind,” I added.
He took a brief pause before he barely shrugged. “Sure, if you can find the time.”
“I just did.”
And there was the little smirk at the corner of his mouth.
“So how come you took away my option two weeks ago?” I asked right away.
“Excuse me?”
“My date with you. I was given a choice, money or a date, and you made the decision for me. That was a little presumptuous, don’t you think?”
He didn’t say anything right away, and I was beginning to think that his pauses were a way to give him some sort of an edge. He was playing it cool, almost too cool, and it was making me feel insecure—especially because of the careful way he was studying me at the same time.
“Well,” he finally said. “I made a quick assessment of the situation and decided to make it easy on you.”
“And you feel you assessed correctly? You concluded that I’d rather take your money?”
He kind of chuckled and studied me for a few seconds again. “That’s a different way of putting it, but… Yeah, I guess so.”
“Well I’m kind of offended.”
“Are you?”
“Yes.”
Again he chose silence, and it was lengthier than before. I wanted to blurt something out, just to fill the awkward pause, but I decided to match his poise and just wait it out.
Finally he said, “If I was wrong about you, then I’m sorry. So I guess that mean
s you’re asking me out right now, correct?”
I scoffed. “Is that what you’re hoping for?”
“Mmm, not really.”
I actually felt my heart drop a little, but I hoped it didn’t show on my face. I already felt unmatched against this guy and I didn’t need to be handing him the advantage without even earning it.
“What does it take to get some service around here?” he asked with a smile, looking around.
I was thankful for the light moment and replied, “Robin is shorthanded because I’m here, sitting with you.”
“Then you should get back to work.”
“Is that what you want?”
He paused for a few seconds as he eyed me again. It made me nervous. “No, it’s not,” he finally said. “But I would like to apologize for taking away your option two weeks ago. If you’d like that option back, I’m sure we could work something out.”
“I already spent the money,” I lied.
He chuckled. “Damn, I guess you’ve made your choice already.”
I smiled and tried the whole pause-thing for myself. It was kind of hard though, because as I was trying to study him, he was doing the same to me. I wasn’t brave enough to face that kind of interaction with a guy, especially when that guy had beautiful green eyes that were trying to read my mind.
I had to look away, and then out of pure insecurity I said, “I’ll be right back,” and left the table.
“Oh, what am I doing?” I growled to myself on my way to the counter. I automatically grabbed two glasses and filled them with ice water. “Breathe, Nova,” I murmured. “You got this. Don’t let him do this to you.”
“Quit talking to yourself and get back over there,” Robin hissed at me.
“I’m about to freak out.”
“I see that. What the heck is the matter with you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well is it, like, a good kind of freak out? Or do you just want to strangle the guy?”
“I want to strangle him,” I replied, “and I want to kiss him at the same time.”
“Oh, my,” she gasped with feigned astonishment. “And I thought you were one of those nice girls,” she teased with a smile.
“You know what I mean.”
She smiled sympathetically and said, “Yeah, I do.” She took a moment to bite her lip and then said, “Can’t you just ask him out? Then you might actually get to the strangling and kissing.”
I kind of smiled but shook my head. “He said he didn’t want me to ask him out.”
“What?”
“But maybe he meant—”
“What in the world are you two doing?” Meryl asked us both. She was putting on an apron and looked at each of us with confusion.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Let me go clock in—”
“No you’re not,” Robin said, grabbing my arm. “Meryl, this girl needs some personal time. If you could just fill in for her, she’ll be ready to go in about an hour.”
Meryl didn’t even allow time for me to protest, and she already had a pot of coffee in her hand to hit the tables.
Robin looked at me and said, “You go back to that table with him.”
I felt like a nut job, but she didn’t give me a chance to argue when she left me standing there with two glasses of water in my hand.
Since Meryl was now slaving away for my benefit, I figured my only option was returning to table two to make sense of Austin…whatever his last name was.
“Uh, everything okay?” he asked when I returned. He thanked me when I set down a glass of water for him.
“Yeah, everything’s fine. What’s your last name?”
There was actually a depiction of surprise on his face. Hmm, it is possible to catch him off-guard.
“Gaines,” he finally replied.
“Austin Gaines.”
“Oh, so you actually know my first name?”
“Yes, I know your first name. It was established a couple of times when you guys were in here.”
“And you remembered?”
“Do you remember my name?”
“Uh, yes,” he smiled. “You sort of wear it on your apron, you know.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that. Just thought maybe you’d forgotten.”
“Oh I haven’t forgotten,” he smiled.
But it wasn’t just any smile. It was one of those toying smiles meant for flirting. I’m sure it made me blush, and I know I turned a few degrees warmer.
“And Nova is a pretty interesting name,” he added. “Are you named after anything in particular?”
I took a few seconds to compose myself and replied, “What’s the first thing that you think of when you hear the name ‘Nova’?”
“Uh, a car.”
I smiled as if to say “Well there you go.”
“You were named after a car? I mean not that that’s bad or anything, but is there a story to it?”
I could feel my cheeks warm again. It was kind of weird because he seemed to chuckle knowingly, like he figured it out. I’d never really had anybody catch on right away, and I was a little unnerved.
“Is it the same reason why my parents named me Austin?” he smiled.
I looked at him for a second, and then we both started laughing.
“You were made in Texas, huh?”
He slightly dipped his head to confirm. “Yes, ma’am.” I smiled at the added southern drawl and asked if he was from Texas. In his regular voice he replied, “Mm, my parents moved here just before I was born, so no, I was born in California.”
“Why’d you move to California? I mean why did your parents?”
“Uh, my mom’s sister lived in Bakersfield and told her about some land that was for sale. My parents were ready to expand their business.”
“What kind of business?”
“They run a horse ranch. They board, breed, compete…all that stuff. My sister is big into competitions and other shows.”
“What’s your sister’s name?”
“Sam. Samantha.”
“How old is she?”
“Uh…nineteen, I believe.” He paused and did some math in his head. “Yeah, nineteen, almost twenty.”
“Is she your only sibling?”
“No, I have another sister and a brother. They’re both younger than me. Jeff is twenty-one, Katie is sixteen.”
“So is that where you live, too?” I asked. “Bakersfield?”
“Nope. I live in Arcadia.”
I had to think for a second. “Near Pasadena?”
“Yep.”
“So…is that where you work?”
“Uh, I work in Irwindale.”
“And what’s in Irwindale?”
“The Toyota Speedway.”
After a brief pause I asked, “The racetrack?”
He smiled. “Yeah.”
“So what do you do there? You said you were in business, right?”
“Uh…yeah, I’m part of the marketing team there. We take care of all the sponsors and all that stuff.”
“Hmm. You like it?”
“Yeah it can get pretty busy, but I like the scene.”
“Racing?”
“Mmhmm.”
He took a drink of his water, but his eyes never seemed to leave mine. Mine left because I looked away, and then I was glad that Robin arrived to take his lunch order. He looked at me first—maybe to see if I was going back to work, I’m not sure—but Robin said, “She’s eating too.”
And that’s how I had my first lunch date with Austin Gaines. Okay, so technically it wasn’t a “date” because it wasn’t exactly planned, but we had lunch together.
I did learn a few more things about him, even though it seemed like he was sometimes hesitant to answer my questions. But I found out that he travels to Bakersfield almost every weekend to do some work for his parents’ ranch. Business stuff, I guess. My cowboy vision of him was kind of squashed when he admitted that he didn’t really care for being around the animals. That was
a red flag to me, being that I wanted to spend the rest of my working days treating them. But I didn’t argue the issue, and he clarified that he took care of some of the financial and accounting aspects of the business for his dad. My mind jumped back to the conversation with the girls at the bowling ally, and Autumn’s insistence that accountants were boring.
“So I think I’m done answering your questions,” he eventually said. “I’ll be honest and say that normally a girl wouldn’t even get half of that information out of me, but I figured you’re kind of the bargaining sort. Since I shared with you, I’m sure you feel a little more inclined to share with me. It’s only fair.”
I watched him for a few seconds, thinking it over, and said, “Okay, what do you want to know? You know my name, my age, and where I work. There’s really not more to it.”
“Hmm, I’ll be the judge of that. Let’s start with your last name,” he smiled.
I chuckled and said, “Reynolds.”
“Nova Reynolds. Okay. Family?”
That’s where I paused naturally. But I figured I didn’t have anything to lose. The guy didn’t like animals; it would never work between us.
“Well, my dad was pretty much a loser from day one. His family is a bunch of druggies and ex-cons—you know, the Jerry Springer-type of family gatherings. He left my mom and I when I was five, and then finally left town when I was ten. I’ve only seen him six times in my entire life since then.
“My mom was amazing. Besides hooking up with my dad as mistake numero uno, she pretty much spent her life making up for it. She worked hard—she always had two jobs. She was seventeen when she had me, so we lived with my grandparents for most of my life, but after I graduated from high school she insisted that I go to college. She worked at a grocery store by day and was a waitress at night, and we moved into an apartment that was close enough for me to go to school. I got a part time job—against my mom’s wishes because she wanted me to focus on school—but really just that extra few hundred bucks a month is what fed us. My mom didn’t even know I took the job, she just thought I was at the library studying, but I knew it was the right thing to do. I paid for things that she wasn’t aware of so she didn’t have to worry about it.
“But…one night it all changed when she died in a car accident coming home from work. No one really knows what happened, but in the police report they put that she’d fallen asleep at the wheel. So…a few months later, I eventually moved here with my aunt and uncle. Meryl owns this place and…that’s how I started working here. That’s how I got my restaurant career.”
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