Page 50 of Mother Parker
No. Definitely not swooning. Just…appreciating.
Parker glanced at me with that scowl I’d come to love, and I realized I was being an idiot, so I jumped behind the bar and helped him get rid of the line.
“Wow, that was quite the unexpected rush,” I said.
“Not that unexpected,” he mumbled and walked to the storeroom.
When he returned with a tub in his hand, he opened the fridge unit and topped up the mango-flavored popping boba.
“Is-is this a bit warm?” he asked, putting his hand inside the fridge and turning it upside down.
I did the same, and sure enough, there was no chill in the unit.
“Weird,” I said.
Parker put the tub on top of the counter and bent down to check the electrics. His perfectly peachy bum flashed me with its grandiosity.
Nope. Not peachy. More like watermelony. His ass was huge, and I’d be damned if I didn’t want to give it a squeeze or, you know, put my head in between and motorboat the hell out of those buttocks.
He turned around. I snapped my gaze away, burying my dirty thoughts deep down. Had he noticed me staring? God, how embarrassing would it be if he had.
I noticed two cups on the table behind the fridge I used to keep my drinks out of the way. They were empty. I picked them up to dispose of them and realized they were the concoctions I’d made for Parker before I left.
“It’s broken,” he said.
I turned to face him, holding the cups. He glanced at them but didn’t say anything.
“I thought you didn’t like them?” I asked, unwilling to let it go without a fight.
“The cable looks cut. Like someone tried to cut it but failed.”
“Well, they certainly didn’t fail if the refrigeration isn’t working,” I said. “So chocolate and peanut butter is your flavor?”
Parker rolled his eyes and lifted the cable in question.
“Hwan, someone tampered with it, which means they did it on purpose. Doesn’t that worry you?”
Who would do that?
I shrugged.
“Well, if they thought this was going to cause some trouble, they obviously don’t know much about the bubble tea business,” I said. “Can we focus on the chocolate and peanut butter? So youdidlike it.”
“That’s neither here nor there, Hwan,” he said, waving the cable in front of me. “Aren’t you worried about this?”
“The only thing I’m worried about is whether the insurance will cover a replacement, but no, not really. So if you didn’t like them, why did you down both of them?” I asked.
“Can we focus?” he asked, but I didn’t miss the smile that passed his face.
“I am,” I said.
I wanted to laugh or keep pushing until he relented and told the truth, but I didn’t do either. Instead, I took the cable, inspected it, and decided to call the local electrician to come and fix it. Failing that, I’d report the breakdown and hope my insurance would cover it.
That didn’t mean I forgot about my mission. I was getting close, so close, to getting him to finally tell me I’d won him over on my drinks, but he was still denying it. That didn’t mean I couldn’t see the change in him. Day by day, I was breaking down those walls, so if the way to his heart was paved with bubble tea, I was so gonna win.
One tea at a time.
TWELVE
