Page 60 of R for Rough

Adam and Alessia loved working weekends and preferred taking their breaks in the middle of the week. Obviously, they were off some weekends too, and that was kind of how I’d first started working with Griffin back in the day, when he’d covered for Adam.

Aurora stepped behind the bar and swiftly grabbed the plates Adam was finished with.

“Table four?” she double-checked.

“Yes—and there’s no salt in the mash,” I added.

“Thanks!” She left again, and I went back to the kitchen.

Table six, time for the vegans!

I went on the computer to load their ticket for Adam to see it on his screen, and I told Lee to get cracking on two ordersof roasted asparagus while I went to prepare the fried green tomatoes.

When Jon came in from grabbing dishes, the kitchen door open, I heard Adam mutter, “Damn vegans.”

I chuckled under my breath.

EPILOGUE

TWO YEARS LATER

Tracy Judd

“This is fucking incredible, Tracy. I’m so proud of you.”

I beamed under his praise, and he returned my phone.

I couldn’t deny it. I was proud too! One hundred thousand followers on Insta! I mean, obviously, Adam was much more popular—hell, Daddy’s food trucks had amassed an insane following too—but I hadn’t really made a name for myself, which seemed to be changing now.

Daddy and I had big, big plans. He’d inspired me with his fancy food trucks that served excellent seafood all over the West Coast, and he’d offered to help me if I wanted to go that route too. Because to this day, I couldn’t see myself running my own brick-and-mortar. It would mess with the harmony Daddy and I had created. We loved coming into work at the steakhouse, and we loved the time we could take off for travel and to just be on our own.

“You ready to go, little one?”

“Almost!” I ran into our bedroom to grab my stuffie. The new one Daddy had given me last week.

I had a small collection by the fireplace in the bedroom, proudly displayed in its own bookcase, but whenever Daddy got me a stuffie, that one became my new favorite.

“I’ll go load up the truck,” he told me.

“Yes, Sir.”

While he brought our luggage outside, I trapped my stuffie under my arm and decided to do one more sweep around the cabin. Lights off in the kitchen, no crumbs anywhere… I bit my lip and looked out the window, seeing Daddy by the truck. Okay, cool. It was safe to look. So I darted over to the mantel and opened the little macaroni box my nephew had given Daddy for his birthday, and I grinned so wide. The rings were no longer there! Holy crap. They really weren’t.

Did that mean he’d packed them? Was he going to propose on our vacation?

It’d been an honest mistake on my part, the day I’d discovered the rings. Two gold bands. I’d accidentally knocked over the little box, and the rings had fallen out. And that was about two months ago, so one could venture a guess about the number of times I’d returned to see if they were still there.

Eeep!

Griffin Lawson

“You’re in a good mood,” I noted. Not that he wasn’t usually, but there was something extra today. “I take it you’ve been busy scheming with Camden.”

He laughed softly and opened the glovebox for his candy. It was the deal. One bag of gummy worms and one chocolate bar whenever we were off to the airport in Seattle.

“We would never scheme,” he lied. “Maybe it’s just a good day and I love you a mad amount?”

I grinned and squeezed his hand. “I love you too, but that was horseshit.”

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