Page 36 of The Finder

“I wanted to know if I could take you to dinner tomorrow night?” he asked.

Emma was silent for a moment. She hadn’t been expecting that. She didn't really want to, but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “Um, sure,” she said.

“Great! I will come pick you up say around six. Does that work for you?” he asked.

“Six? Uh, sure I can make that work,” she said.

“What’s your address?” he asked.

“Oh, um, just a second,” she said. She put the phone on mute for a moment and walked back down the stairs. “What’s the address here?”

Kyle, Madison, and Levi all looked up at her. “Who wants to know?” Kyle asked.

“Uh, Kevin, this police officer from the coffee shop,” she said feeling really awkward about now. “He, uh, wants to take me out to dinner.”

Levi looked down, but Madison and Kyle just stared at her. “So, I need the address,” she prompted them.

“Tell him you’ll meet him there,” Kyle said in a not-so-friendly tone. Emma wasn’t sure what that meant.

“You guys don’t have to take me. He said he can pick me up,” she said.

“We’re taking you,” Kyle said. Then he looked down and started eating again. Emma guessed the conversation was over. She walked back up to her room.

She took a deep breath. “Kevin? Sorry about that. Um, can I actually just meet you there? That works better for uh, me with my... schedule,” she finished lamely and closed her eyes in embarrassment.

“Sure,” he said easily. “I’ll send you the name of the restaurant and the location so you have it on your phone.”

“Great, thanks,” Emma said.

“I’m really looking forward to this, Emma,” he said.

“Oh, great,” Emma said without enthusiasm.

“All right. I’ll see you then,” he said.

"Okay,” Emma replied. “Bye.”

Emma sat down on her bed, no longer hungry. Now she was nervous for tomorrow night, and there was a lot of time between now and then.

The next day flew past. They sold out of cinnamon rolls by eleven. Helen was singing her praises all day. Business was booming, and things were going really well. Kevin dropped in at one point and talked to her for a few minutes, but there were too many customers for her to talk long.

She bypassed her break, so she could help with customers. All too soon, it was one. “Phew,” Helen said as Emma clocked out. “What a great morning!”

“It definitely was,” Emma replied with a smile.

“And it’s all because of you,” Helen said.

“That’s not true,” Emma said, but she felt good. She was glad she was able to contribute.

“I think we need to up the cinnamon roll count,” Helen said. “What do you think?”

Emma nodded. “We’ve sold out each day consequently. I think it would be a good idea. We can start with just one more batch per day and see how that goes.”

Emma walked to the back room and grabbed her coat. She was tying the belt around her when Helen approached her. She held out an envelope to Emma. “Here’s your pay. I put in a little bonus for you because of all you’ve done.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Emma said, taking the envelope.

“I wanted to,” Helen said. She looked at Emma carefully. “I put it in cash. I assumed that’s how you would want to do things because of your situation, but if you need a check, I can do that.”

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