by Caroline Lee
Toni took a deep breath, then nodded firmly. “Well, I hope you learned your lesson. If this hot guy happens to smile at you again, and especially if he happens to ask you out again, you say yes! You grab on and don’t let him go.” She glanced off-screen again. “Oh shoot! I gotta go, or I’ll be late for my shift.”
Her sister’s words triggered a yawn from Lin. “Have a good day. Don’t you go making a fool of yourself with any hot princes!”
Toni grinned saucily. “Well, if one happens to ever ask me out, you can bet I’ll say yes!”
Lin smiled in return. “Love you, Toni.”
“Love you too, Lin-Lin. Good-night.”
Lin sat motionless in the light from her laptop’s screen, the Tupperware of noodles resting on her lap. Her sister was right; if a hot guy ever asked her out again—especially one she got a special vibe from, and especially one with such a nice smile—she should agree in a skinny minute. After all, there’s no telling what something like that might lead to.
She sighed and forced herself up off the couch. The noodles were no longer appealing, but she was pretty sure she had a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer. Tonight seemed like a night for a sappy movie and some ice cream.
Because, after ten years living and working in Riston, she knew tourists came and went all the time. Brandon Chin wasn’t a local—she was sure of that—so he must be a tourist.
Nice smile or not, she was never going to see him again.
CHAPTER THREE
Oyster sauce. Oyster sauce…Where art thou, oyster sauce?
Brandon frowned as he scanned the shelves in Riston’s grocery store.
Who doesn’t carry oyster sauce, for goodness’ sake?
Maybe there was another grocery store he could check for the sauce. So far, this place hadn’t carried button mushrooms or bok choy either.
No bok choy? That’s like a staple of life!
Of course, without the bok choy, the oyster sauce would probably be useless, so maybe it’s just as well there wasn’t any.
Hmm. Maybe I should just make pizza instead.
“Excuse me, could you—”
Whatever she’d been about to say was cut off in a cute little yelp when Brandon turned and found the pretty waitress from the restaurant, mouth gaped open in surprise and staring up at him with wide eyes—lucky green eyes! He felt his face pull into a grin. He didn’t know why she was here, or what she was asking, but all he knew was that he was being given a second shot.
He really was fortunate, wasn’t he?
“Hi there! Lin, right?”
She blinked, and shook herself slightly. She was standing behind the cart piled with at least thirty bottles of individual-sized soy sauce. Either her dinner plans were stranger than his, or she was here buying for the restaurant.
After a long moment, she nodded slowly and offered him a small smile. “Yeah, Lin Dryden. And you’re Brandon, right?”
“Brandon Chin.” This time, Brandon was the one to reach across her cart and take her hand from where it rested on the handle. “It’s very nice to meet you. Again.”
Just like last time, a warmth spread up his arm from where he held her hand, and he got a sudden and kinda irrational feeling, like maybe he should never let it go.
And judging from the way her incredulous gaze was locked on their clasped hands, she might be feeling it too.
Who knows how long they stood there in the grocery store’s sauce aisle, holding hands and grinning at each other? All too soon—or maybe it was three and a half hours later, hard to tell—Brandon made himself let go.
She shook herself again, as if she wasn’t sure what she was doing, and grabbed the handle of the cart as if she were about to run away. Brandon couldn’t let that happen. He’d been lucky enough to run into her, and felt he was being given another chance.
“Listen…” Brandon cleared his throat. “I know you said you don’t date customers, but I’m not your customer here. I’m just a guy looking for oyster sauce. And you’re just a girl, with a rather unhealthy obsession with soy sauce.”
Her panicked gaze flicked from his empty basket to her full cart, and suddenly, she relaxed. Her shoulders eased, and a small grin crept across her face.
“Mr. Lee forgot to buy a new barrel of soy sauce last time he went into Spokane to the Asian food store there. Today’s my day off, but I told him I would get enough for the tables, to hold us over until he goes back.” Her gaze flicked over the shelves. “I’m pretty sure I cleaned this place out. Again.”
Brandon’s grin matched hers. “I figured it was something like that. But from what I’ve seen in this store, you don’t have to worry about a run on soy sauce anytime soon.”
“Yeah, it’s not exactly a staple of cooking.”
Brandon snorted and leaned one hip against the shelves next to him. “Maybe not to you. I can’t imagine life without it.” He glared at the pitiful sauce collection on the shelf. “Or oyster sauce,” he added under his breath.
“Yeah, good luck with that. We have to go into Spokane for that stuff,” Lin added with a giggle.
Just like last week, when he’d met her at the restaurant, her laugh went straight to Brandon’s heart. He knew, suddenly and unequivocally, that he wanted to know this woman better. Much better. There was something about her that made him think of his grandmother’s teachings. Of the future. Of good fortune and long life and loving family and all the things a future could contain.
“Lin, would you please consider going on a date with me? I think I’d very much like to get to know you better.”
Her grin had faded, but the expression on her face as she looked at him didn’t appear as if she was trying to find a way out. Instead…she looked as if maybe she was considering the same deep thoughts he had been.
Finally, she nodded slowly. “Yes. I think I would like that very much as well.”
Brandon’s heart leapt, and his face broke into a huge grin. “That’s great! When? Now?” He glanced at his watch. “It’s almost lunchtime, and I was going to grab a bite before I went back to the cabin anyhow.” He had a conference call in two hours, and while that was more than enough time for shopping and lunch, he suspected it might not be enough time with Lin. “I’d love it if you could join me!”
She bit her lip as she stared down at her cart, as if calculating. Then she shrugged. “Yeah, okay. Nothing here will spoil. And even if I had a cart full of ice cream, I could probably just crack the window in my car and it would stay frozen.”
Brandon snorted in agreement. “Yeah, I noticed Riston does the whole ‘winter’ thing really well.”
“Yes,” Lin agreed with her teasing grin. “It’s one of our talents.”
“So where should we go for lunch?”
Lin chewed on her lip as she thought, then brightened. “How about Italian? I could go for some comfort food. My mom’s Italian, and even though Mamma Mia’s meatballs aren’t as good as hers, they’re pretty close.”
“Awesome! I was just thinking I wouldn’t mind some pizza in my future.”
Lin smiled, and Brandon felt it in his heart.
“Let me just check out, and load these things into my car. The restaurant is just down the street, so I can meet you there.”
“Or…I could put my basket back, stand next to you in the checkout line and get a head start on getting to know you better, help you load everything into your car, and drive down with you.” Brandon wiggled his eyebrows hopefully. “It’s like our lunch date could start now!”
And when she started laughing and nodded, Brandon knew how fortunate he was.
Not too much later, they were finally tucked into a cozy booth at Mamma Mia’s. Of course, the time they had spent outside—packing up her car, getting over here, then rushing from the parking lot into the restaurant—had been frigid…but somehow, laughing and joking with Lin had made it fun. And it had been even funnier when she began teasing him about the many layers he was wearing.
“Why are you wearing two scarves? And why didn’t you take that one off?” Lin laughed and nodded across the table at him.
“This is a buff,” he said, pretending to be affronted. “I wear it to keep my neck warm even when I’m not wearing my scarf.” He wore the black tube of material tucked under the collar of his gray button-up shirt. It was more attractive than a turtleneck, and when combined with the long johns he wore, he was quite—well, not exactly toasty, but he probably wouldn’t die of frostbite anytime soon.
Probably.
“I especially like the way it coordinates with your outfit,” she teased.
Brandon haughtily stuck his nose in the air as he picked up a menu to peruse. “Thank you. Now, what’s the best pizza?”
“I don’t know. I don’t come here for the pizza. They’re known for their lasagna and fresh manicotti. If you’re in the mood for pizza, the restaurant at River’s End Ranch has amazing pizza, half-price on Thursdays. The same night as their trivia, which is always fun.”
Brandon’s eyebrows went up, and he peered at her over the menu. “Really? That does sound like a lot of fun. I’m staying up at the ranch with one of my coworkers, so maybe I should check it out on Thursday. Would you go with me? I think we would make a pretty awesome team.”
She chuckled. “Oh yeah? How would you know? I might be a complete klutz when it comes to trivia.”
Even though they’d been teasing each other, Brandon couldn’t let this pass. He dropped the menu and reached across the table to grab her hand. When she sucked in a startled breath, he met her beautiful green eyes.
“I don’t know how I know, Lin. I just do. I know we’d be a great team together.”
Her mouth opened and closed a few times. “I— Oh.” She was blushing! “Maybe…”
She looked away, and Brandon had an almost overwhelming urge to lean across the table and kiss her. Kiss her? He’d had three conversations with her total, and he was ready to kiss her?
Oh totally.
The waitress hurried up to their table and broke the spell between them when she introduced herself as Lucy. Lin looked a little relieved, which was disheartening… Right up until the moment Brandon felt her squeeze his fingers a little. Granted, she let go right after that, but unless she was suffering from some sort of awkwardly timed muscle-spasm disease, he was going to take that little hand-squeeze as an encouraging gesture.
So he was smiling when he asked the server what she recommended.
“How about the eggplant stack, or the antipasto? Or if you’re really hungry, both! And if you don’t mind, we could use your opinion on which is better. We’re trying to decide which to bring to the Valentine’s dinner up at the ranch.”
Brandon exchanged a glance with Lin. He’d only just met her, sure, and Valentine’s Day was still a few weeks away, sure, but still…he couldn’t help but think of her with the mention of Valentine’s Day.
Lin looked up at Lucy. “What’s going on up at the ranch?”
“Oh! It’s something new they’re trying this year. You know how successful the Jingle Bell Jam is at Christmastime?”
Brandon didn’t have any idea what Lucy was talking about, but from the way Lin nodded, he assumed she did.
Lucy continued, “The restaurant at the ranch decided to do something similar, a fixed-price menu dinner for two, with all the proceeds going to the Food Bank. But instead of being the only ones to shoulder the price, they’ve asked local restaurants to provide small-plate meals.”
“Really?” Lin was looking interested. “So you get to feature your best menu item, and diners get a bunch of different types of food. Kinda like ‘a taste of Riston,’ except as a date!”
Wow. This was sounding like a lot of fun. Suddenly, Brandon really wanted to go to this dinner, and not just because he loved antipasto.
The two ladies were still talking, comparing notes on the upcoming dinner.
“How did you get involved?” Lin asked their waitress.
“I dunno.” Lucy shrugged. “You’d have to ask Grandma Lucille. But I’ll bet if you called the restaurant at the ranch, they’d tell you how to apply. Maybe you and Mr. Lee can join in!”
After they placed their order—Brandon ordered both appetizers Lucy had suggested—Lin sat across from him, looking distracted.
“Is everything okay?” Brandon asked.
“Hmm?” Lin was still staring out the window. “Oh. Um…yeah, I think so.”
“You thinking about Valentine’s Day?” Because he sure was.
“Not really.”
Oh.
Lin continued, “But I am thinking about that dinner. If we could get The Golden Palace in the lineup, and Mr. Lee could come up with something that qualifies as ‘small plate’—although other than those fried eggrolls, I can’t think of anything, and that’s more of an appetizer…” She sighed. “Anyhow, this could really help us.” She looked down at her lap. “Save the restaurant, I mean.”
Brandon winced. The restaurant was in that bad of shape? There really hadn’t been that many people when he and Steven had eaten there. Maybe it was losing business.
“How would the dinner help?”
Lin propped her chin up on her hands, her elbows on the table. “I’m in charge of drumming up customers for our big Chinese New Year’s dinner, and that might be just the thing. We could advertise at the Valentine’s dinner…”
Brandon sat up straighter, mentally running down the calendar. “Valentine’s Day is, what? The fourteenth? And New Year is the sixteenth. That could work. What?” he asked when he realized she was smiling at him.
“Nothing.” Her smile grew. “It’s just that you knew the date of the lunar New Year off the top of your head, but didn’t know when Valentine’s Day is. And that date doesn’t change.”
He leaned forward, his eyes serious. “I’m Chinese. New Year is very important.”
She snorted. “I got that impression from my boss. Mr. Lee owns The Golden Palace, and we decided to make a big deal out of New Year for a change. Apparently, he has some suggestions on how to celebrate.”
It wasn’t the first time she’d suggested she didn’t know much about the Chinese culture, and Brandon was curious.
“Earlier you said your mom’s Italian, and now it sounds like you don’t celebrate New Years—?”
“So how could I possibly be Chinese?”
She hadn’t sounded offended, but Brandon was quick to apologize.
“No! Well, I mean, maybe. I’m sorry. I just—”
“I’m teasing,” she said with a grin. “I’m adopted. My parents couldn’t have kids biologically, so all three of us were adopted from other countries. My sister Toni was from Russia, our big brother Eric was born in Guatemala, and I’m—”
“From China,” he finished in a reverent breath. “Wow.”
“’Wow?’ “ she repeated indignantly. “It’s not that unusual. People adopt internationally all the time—there’s even tour groups that take people to China just to—”
“No, no!” He held up his hands, palm out. “Sorry, again. I just meant, um… Wow. I’m impressed they let you, uh…”
“What?”
Maybe she didn’t realize how special she was. “Do you have any idea how rare it is to find a Chinese person with green eyes? It’s incredibly good luck, you know.”
Judging from the way she blinked at him in confusion, that wasn’t what she’d expected to hear. He smiled. She really was pretty, wasn’t she?
His voice softened. “I didn’t mean anything rude, Lin, and I’m sorry if I came across that way.” He reached across the table to take her hand again. “But you really are special, and I’m glad you made your way here to Riston.”
“Am I special just because of the color of my eyes?”
Her words might’ve been teasing, but her expression wasn’t. There was something there which made him think she was being dead serious, but she hadn’t pulled her hand away, so that was a plus.
He took
a deep breath, then let it out. “No. I think you’re really special just by being you. I know we don’t know each other well, but I’d like to get to know you better.”
“So you can tell me why I’m special?”
He burst into laughter. “I know you’re witty and snarky and you have a great smile and a laugh that makes me smile—makes my heart smile too—but yeah.” He offered her a genuine grin. “Go on a few more dates with me, and by Valentine’s Day, I’ll tell you exactly why you’re so special.”
“You drive a hard bargain.”
“A man needs time to work, Lin.”
She nodded solemnly, and squeezed his hand. “Deal.”
“Deal? You’ll go on more dates with me?”
“Deal, I’ll give you time to work.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “If you impress me with your wit and suaveness, maybe I’ll have lunch with you on my next day off.”
He chuckled. “And when is that?”
“Usually Sundays and Tuesdays, but Mr. Lee is flexible.” She looked down at her plate. “The restaurant hasn’t been doing great, so lately I’ve had more time off than I used to.”
He had the strongest urge to make it better. Squeezing her hand until he had her attention, he offered her a small smile.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
Slowly, she shook her head, but she was smiling too. “I don’t think so, but thanks for making the offer. That’s sweet.”
“I’m a sweet guy. And very lucky.”
“Yes, you are,” she deadpanned. “I saw your car.” Without dropping his gaze or his hand, she jerked her thumb towards the window.
Brandon glanced out, and sure enough, there was his jeep parked next to her small SUV. He’d driven up from California because he knew he’d be here a while with Steven, and hadn’t wanted to make the company pay for a rental for that long.
But that meant all of Riston—including Lin—could see his California license plate: “4CHIN8.”
He shrugged. “What can I say? I am fortunate. And also,” he added in a mumble, “there are four people in my family, so it seemed appropriate.”
She burst into laughter. “That’s adorable! Your plate is a tribute to your family?”