Page 61 of Storm in a Teacup
I raise my chin, determined to act normal in this conversation. “Then yeah. I think I’d like it if you said it to me in the bedroom.”
“Just me or anyone?”
“Goodnight,” I say purposefully, turning on my heel, hoping to hide my flushed cheeks.
“’Night!” he calls after me.
The cool air greets me, but does not cool me down enough. I need to go home and pull a little something out of my nightstand drawer. Well, a big something.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ben
“All done here?” I ask the pair sitting at the table by the window. They give me yeses, so I clear their places and bring the dishes to the back, dropping them in the sink to be washed after we close.
Which—I glance at the large clock I have hung in the kitchen—will be in ten minutes. Normally, I get off at 2 p.m., but Scott had an appointment this afternoon, so he came in early like I normally do, and I agreed to work until close with Isla.
I love owning this café, I do, but my ideal would be if I could hide in the back and bake all day, coming out only when I feel like a chat. However, when it’s just Isla and me, I have to be baker, runner, and busboy while Isla handles the front.
The bell over the door jingles, hopefully signaling our customers leaving and not new ones entering. I poke my head out of the kitchen door. Leaving, thank god.
I go back out front to wipe down the tables, getting a head start on closing procedures. I grab a lone mug sitting on a table as the clock hits 3 p.m. and Isla locks the door.
“You doing anything tonight?” she asks as she moves back behind the counter and to the register to start counting it out.
“I don’t think so,” I say, snatching a napkin from the floor and crumpling it to throw in the bin before I take the mug I’m holding to the back with the other dishes.
“Not seeing Linny?”
“Naw, she has a thing,” I fib. I have no idea what Linny is doing tonight. I haven’t seen her since Isla and Rachel came over for dinner. Since Linny and I snogged for a while and I asked how she’d like me to refer to her cunt in the bedroom. Aye, thatwasan odd conversation to have with someone I am not trying to date. Call it genuine curiosity—I had to know.
I snatch a discarded wooden stirrer from a table, tossing that in the bin as well, as Isla says, “Too bad. David’s working at Hoot tonight, so Rachel and I are gonna spend our evening there if you want to come.” She moves on to the next stack of bills in the drawer, counting one by one and entering the amount in the computer.
“Oh. Erm, you know. I am seeing Linny tonight. I forgot,” I lie quickly.
“If she has a thing, maybe you can stop in for one drink? We’ll probably be there a while.” She moves on to the next set of bills, not glancing up at me.
I swallow. “We’re busy. I forgot,” I say again. “Her thing is tomorrow. We’re doing something tonight. As soon as we close and it’ll go until late.”
Isla moves onto the coins. “What are you doing?”
Why the hell isparasailingthe first excuse that pops into my head? I can’t say that. Oh, fuck. I can’t think of anything else. My mind is blank.
Well, no, actually it’s yelling:Parasailing! Parasailing! Parasailing!
Isla is regarding me curiously. I needto saysomething.
“Having sex,” I finally say. Nice.
Isla props a hand on her hip and asks slowly, “You can’t get one drink with us tonight because you’re too busy having sex with your girlfriend?”
I raise my chin and say cheekily, “Aye. We’re very passionate.”
She rolls her eyes and goes back to the drawer. “Right. And this has nothing to do with the strange thing going on between you and David?”
“There’snostrange thing.”
Isla turns back to me. “What world are you living in? After avoiding him for months, you went to dinner with him like two weeks ago, then basically ignored him at your birthday, and now haven’t seen him since.” She shakes her head. “David may not have told Rachel exactly what’s going on, but they still talk. He’s heartbroken about whatever happened. And you? You get weird whenever I bring him up, all stiff and sweaty. I’m tired of it. I mean, you used to act like you were in love with him, and now you can hardly look at him.”
