Page 9 of Can't Kiss the Chef

I give her a little salute before telling her, “Will do. See you soon Miss Jane!”

Mia barks in agreement before prancing back to the truck. I get Mia into the car first with the air conditioning blasting before getting the kegs in the truck’s bed. After I take the dolly back, my phone starts to ring, and when I see Marcus’ name on the caller ID, I answer, making sure we aren’t missing anything for tonight.

“Hey, are you on your way home yet?”

“Just leaving Jane’s. Why do we need something for tonight?”

“No, we are all good for tonight, but Lola just called Indy to tell her she got a flat tire. Indy said I would help her, but since you’re out, can you go? She is just off campus on Third Street.”

“Yeah, I can go help her.” I murmur, trying to forget about our last interaction. This one has to go better, right?

The quick five-minute drive feels like it goes on forever.

“How was your summer?” I say out loud trying out what I want to say to Lola.

“Not the way you want to start senior year?” I joke. When I’m stopped at a red light. I look to the passenger seat and see Mia has her paw thrown over eyes. No doubt hiding from my awkwardness.

I run my fingers over the top of her head. “I know baby girl, your dad is an embarrassment.”

Lola’s car perched on the curb is the first thing I see when I turn onto Third Street. Her left front tire is half deflated. I pull in behind her. Her hip is resting on the back bumper, phone perched between her shoulder and her ear. Nervously picking at her nails as she talks to someone on the other end of the phone.

She’s fully engrossed in her conversation with her back to me. I lightly tap her shoulder. Lola doesn’t flinch, like she knew someone was coming. She quickly says goodbye to whoever she is talking to, and before she even turns, she starts her apology

“Thank you so much, Mar…” the sentence dies when I get a view of her beautiful green eyes.

“So Indy didn’t tell you I was the one coming?”

She shakes her head. The heat from her eyes threatens to burn me, which makes me wonder how we got to this place.Last year Lola became one of my best friends, not just one of the girls I was sleeping with.

“Is the spare in the trunk?”

“Yeah,” she answers emotionlessly. “Are you sure you know what you are doing? You are from New York City and don’t exactly have a car.”

“Yes, well, in one of Dad’s short stints pretending to be a parent, he taught me how to,” My light tone doesn’t match the tightness I feel in my chest.

She lowers the defensive barriers that constantly protect her heart. It’s rare to find a friend that understands the complicated relationship you have with your parents. Lola was one of the only people in my life that I could talk to about my dad and I felt like I wasn’t bogging her down with my emotional baggage.

“Mia is in the car if you want to say hi. She misses you.”

“She is!” She looks from me to the truck, a beautiful smile threatening to peek through that rough exterior.

That’s the same excited tone she had when I first told her I found Mia. She called me the moment Lola told her I found a stray dog and was going to keep her. Her roommates had just left for an away game and asked if I wanted to come over to keep her company. We had already been talking a little more often and hanging out on campus in between classes, but I saw this as an opportunity to see if we could be something more.

I showed up to a spread of homemade snacks for us and a basket full of toys for Mia. Somehow we ended up on the couch watching movies with Mia snuggled between us. It was the night that I knew there was no going back. I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with her.

The passenger side door flies open and Mia launches herself out of the truck. The moment her paws hit the dewy grass she has Lola chasing her.

It takes me twenty minutes–including my glances back to make sure Mia is okay, I definitely wasn’t checking Lola’s ass out–to put the spare on. When I’m done, I turn to see Lola lying in lush green grass with Mia sitting on her stomach, getting her head scratched. I walk over and settle on the ground next to them.

“You’re all set. Just make sure you get to a garage quickly to fix that. You don’t want to put too much mileage on that spare.”

“Thanks, Byron.” She says, keeping her eyes locked on Mia.

I run my fingers through the grass, wondering how we got here. I take the treat I tucked in my pocket before we left for Mia and place it in Lola’s hand that she has resting in the grass.

That gets her to look at me.

A smile threatens to tug on her lips. She has to feel how right this is. How easy it is for the two of us to just exist when we are together.

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