Page 12 of Promise Me Ever After
A dirty laugh escaped from Georgie’s lips. “That’s an excellent idea for my sister’s hen party. I should take you up on that.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “I’m sure we could come to some sort of arrangement.”
The words hung in the air between us.
Her hazel green gaze raked over me, taking in my dishevelled, sweaty, been-working-in-a-hot-kitchen-for-the-past-five-hours look. Right now, it wasn’t attractive.
“I think you’d need to lose those chef’s whites.”
I muffled a snort. “You’d have to pay alotof money for that.”
Georgie shrugged, mischief twinkling in her eyes. “I’m sure I would. Maybe those other women will outbid me. Or maybe I should outbid them to protect you.”
The thought of cooking dinner for Georgie appealed. She wouldn’t even have to pay me. Not with cash, anyway.
“You’d do that for me?” I asked, pretty sure she was joking.
“Why not?”
Neither of us spoke, the atmosphere between us crackling.
Before any further conversation, Sid barrelled into the kitchen. “Fuck, it’s lamping it down out there. I’m gonna get soaked on the way home.”
Silently, I telegraphed a message to him to fuck off, but he didn’t seem to get it. Instead, he blathered on about how he’d got wet and one of the bins had leaked bin juice all over his new trainers.
Marianne, one of the waitresses, came in. Seriously, why didn’t the whole staff come in and have a party? It wasn’t like I was trying to make a move on Georgie or anything. I threw my hands in the air and resumed my cleaning tasks.
“Georgie? Table six are ready to pay now.”
“Sure, thanks, Marianne.” Georgie fixed her hazel green eyes on me. “We’ll catch up again, yeah? Talk about your possible extracurricular activity.” Her mouth twitched and all I could focus on were her soft, plump lips.
“Count on it.” I cringed at my cheesy remark, but if Georgie noticed my total lameness she didn’t react.
“Well?” Sid whisper shouted as Georgie spun on her heels and went back into the restaurant. “What happened? Did you get anywhere?”
I scrubbed hard at a non-existent mark on the metal surface. “Didn’t exactly get much of a chance, mate.”
There would be another opportunity soon—I’d make sure of it.
The living roomlight was still on when I let myself into the house, Mum hadn’t gone to bed yet. Inwardly I steeled myself for the ‘how was your shift’ conversation we hadeverynight I worked. I attempted to sneak past the door and head upstairs without her noticing but failed miserably as I banged into the console table in the hall.
“That you, Alex?”
Who else would it be? No one else lived here anymore.
I sighed and went into the living room. “Yeah.”
Mum sat with her legs curled up underneath her at one end of the sofa. She held a huge bubble glass full of gin and tonic, her favourite tipple. I swear she’d been drinking more since Amber had left home. The television was on, Real Housewives or some other such reality shit she enjoyed.
“Are you going to join me?” She held her glass up. “I’ve just got a top up.”
All I wanted to do was go to bed. Okay, I wanted to lie on my bed and think about Georgie while I rubbed one out. Not something to tell your own mother.
“Sure.” My stomach rumbled. Sometimes I forgot to eat when I worked, especially when we were busy. “I’m going to make some toast, do you want some?”
“Mmm, please. Can you put some jam on mine?” Mum grinned. It also seemed she’d got the taste for late night snacks.
“You got it.” I dropped my bag on the floor by the armchair and headed into the kitchen. I made toast for both of us and a cup of tea for me, then took it into the living room on a tray. Mum took her plate, crunching into the toast immediately. My brow furrowed. “Did you eat dinner tonight?”
