Page 34 of The Problem with Dating

“And rude! And nasty! And hotheaded.”

Noah laughed. “That’s my best friend for you.”

“Best friends? I’m shocked he has any friends with his attitude.”

Noah glanced toward the restaurant at Alex, who was aggressively removing a bottle of whiskey from the bar’s shelf. Noah slid his hands into his pockets. “He can be a bit rough around the edges.”

“To say the least.”

His smile remained, but it fell slightly. “He’s had a hard few months. On top of that, today’s the funeral for someone very important to him.”

“Oh my goodness.” My hands flew to my chest. “I had no idea.”

“Of course, you didn’t. How could you have known? Alex isn’t much of an open book. Honestly, I’m pretty sure he superglued his pages shut.” Noah sighed and scratched at his beard. “I know he’s kind of a dick. It’s part of his charm in the industry, oddly enough. The bigger the dick, the better the chef, but he’s also a good guy. Normally, he just keeps to himself, but he’s been having a tough go at it this past week. He’s just in a chapter of his life where he’s a bit lost.”

“That explains why he’s in Honey Creek. He must’ve taken a wrong turn.”

Noah laughed. “Oddly enough, I think this is exactly where he needs to be. You should leave the water dish. It will grow on him.”

Before I could reply, the door to the restaurant flew open. “Are you coming in or will you be a pain in my ass and stand outside all day?” Alex growled toward Noah.

His bad attitude didn’t faze Noah in the slightest.

“What was your name again?” Noah asked me.

“Yara.”

“It was nice to meet you, Yara,” he said.

“He’s lying,” Alex remarked coldly. “He always lies,” he grumbled as he waved Noah toward the restaurant entrance.

“You’ve seen my show, Yara. You know I cannot tell a lie, even if I wanted to. Have a good day.”

“You too, Noah.”

My stare found Alex’s again, and I felt I should’ve spoken. As if I should’ve given him my condolences or as if I should’ve hugged him. There was no reason I should’ve felt like that, but I did.

CHAPTER11

Alex

“Nice girl,” Noah said as he walked into the restaurant.

I rolled my eyes as I moved toward the bar and poured two shots of whiskey. “She’d be thrilled to know you said that. Nice is her favorite thing to be.”

“I would call you out for being grumpy toward her, but with the circumstances…” He took a seat at the bar and I sat beside him.

“You didn’t have to come out here. I’m fine.”

Noah glanced toward the destroyed kitchen and arched an eyebrow. “Clearly,” he sarcastically remarked.

“What do you want me to do, huh? You want me to be sad? You want me to cry? You want me to be overly emotional about Teresa’s funeral today?”

“Well…yeah. That would be warranted.”

“Too bad. I’m going to clean up this mess and get on with the restaurant opening next week. I don’t have time to sit and simmer. Besides, Teresa lived a good life. I’m not going to cry about it.”

“Just because she lived a good life doesn’t make her passing easier.”

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