Page 13 of The Holiday Fail

I patted my belly, warm and content, after finishing my second bowl. Andy had finished putting the rest of thegroceries away as well and came over with the menu he’d put together.

We spent a few minutes discussing the week’s menu, tweaking it so that there were some familiar dishes along with the new ones.

My dads weren’t lying when they said Andy knew what he was doing. The menu he put together was fit for one of those snazzy places you saw in the city, which had me wondering what he was doing working at our tiny place instead of a famous restaurant in New York.

I was never the type to curb my curiosity, so I asked him. “With your skill and experience, what are you doing here?”

He looked surprised by my question, and in that split second, I wondered if I’d fucked up by reminding him he could do so much better than a job in a little business like ours.

Way to put my foot in my mouth when our B&Breallyneeded him.

“Quite honestly, I thought running my own kitchen would be good for my resume. This position offered me creative freedom that most other places don’t give. And I plan to make this B&B the best eatery around these parts while I’m here,” he said with his chest puffed up.

I smiled. At least that meant any awkward experience with me hadn’t scared him off and he was planning to stick around for the rest of his contract.

“Well, if your other food is anything like your chicken noodle soup, there’s no competition. Don’t tell anyone I said this, especially the people from town, but that soup was the best thing I’ve put in my mouth.”

Silence followed that statement.

“I didn’t mean it like that! Shit, sorry. I must still be fucked up from last night,” I quickly added.

Seriously, I needed to find a hole to bury myself in for the day because I was saying all the wrong things.

“It’s okay. I know what you meant,” Andy said with a laugh. There was a twinkle in his eye that told me he found me amusing and wasn’t off-put by my randomness. Which made me think he was a good person.

Frankly, who cooked soup for a person they barely knew if they didn’t have a kind soul?

Maybe having him as a roommate wouldn’t be so bad after all?

Chapter Seven

ANDY

I wasn’t too sure how living with a complete stranger would go—especially after finding out the person I was to stay with was the same man I took care of after finding him drunkenly passed out at the bar—but to my surprise, it wasn’t too bad.

Levi wasn’t what I expected. He looked like one of those dudes who were chill about everything and didn’t take anything too seriously, but that had to be the complete opposite.

In the almost two weeks that I’d been living with him, I barely saw him at home.

I swore he left before the sun came up and had everything set up at the B&B before my shift started. Then he spent the morning doing the daily chores, or if any guests had tours scheduled, he was the one showing them around.

He’d be in the dining area around lunchtime, helping Julie, the B&B’s only waitress, or if most of the guests opted to eat in town, he’d cover his dads so they could have a meal together.

Same went for dinnertime. I’d see him running around, filling any roles that were needed. With the way he seemed to be everywhere all at once, I wouldn’t be surprised if someonetold me he’d somehow managed to make multiple copies of himself.

It wasn’t like he got off early either. Sometimes I’d wake up in the middle of the night to find that he’d only just returned. Which made me question when—if ever—the man slept. It was hard to believe we were the same age because we definitely didn’t have the same level of energy.

Wednesday night, I was surprised to find him at home in the kitchen. He was all dressed up in tight jeans and an equally tight T-shirt that accentuated his lean body and compact muscles.

“Going out?” I asked. He looked shocked to see me and almost spilled the glass of water he was drinking.

“Uh, yeah,” he replied and placed the glass safety on the counter. “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting you, though that’s silly since you do live here now.”

I shrugged. “I get it. We’ve barely seen each other in the house. I was starting to think you didn’t actually live here,” I joked.

He smiled at my attempt to lighten the mood, and his entire face lit up. Levi had a cupid’s bow like me, but with his full bottom lip, he had a natural pouty lips thing going on. It looked better on him than it should have.

Sexy, almost.

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