Page 16 of Bargain with the Bachelor
Shaking away the unpleasant thoughts, I decided to order the indulgent nineteen-dollar brisket burger—and some earplugs. The sweet talk from the happy couplewassweet, but it was making me feel like an interloper into a private moment.
It also made me jealous.
Neither of them looked older than fifty, so that meant that by my age they’d found each other—and obviously had made the right choice in life partners.
I wasn’t having any such luck in my own personal life.
Work was great. I had amazing friends and business partners, but dating was… well, it just wasn’t much fun.
At the encouragement of my crazy-in-love newlywed brother Jack, I’d been making an effort to get out more, to meet people, ask out women I found interesting instead of spending all my time in front of a screen, working.
The thing was, it all felt like a waste of time. Several of the women had been nice, but we’d really had nothing in common, and the conversation had been stilted and awkward.
Others weren’t so nice.
It had been obvious from nearly the beginning of those dates that they’d read up on me and my financial success and that had been pretty much the extent of their interest in me.
No thanks.I’d rather be alone.
I was at the point of telling Jack he’d gotten the last good one in his wife, Bonnie, and even that courtship hadn’t exactly been simple.
Jack had gone toextrememeasures to lock that one down.
There was only one person on earth I’d ever go to that much effort for… and she wasn’t available or interested.
“Are you ready to order, sir?”
The sound of a soft female voice jerked my head up from the menu. I’d been so lost in my self-pitying thoughts I hadn’t noticed the waiter’s approach.
When I saw her, all the breath left my lungs in a whoosh.
“Kristal?”
I was dazed by a sense of unreality, as if my thoughts had conjured her like a genie. Kristal Bianco stood in front of me wearing a crisp white shirt with khaki pants and navy flats.
And a name badge.
“Oh, Hunter. It’s you.” One of her hands came up to rest at the base of her throat, her fingers fiddling with the top button on her shirt. “I didn’t recognize you with your head down. How are you?”
“Good… good…”
I knew I sounded absentminded, maybe even a little clueless, but my head was spinning, and nothing was computing.
What was shedoinghere?
“So… are you ready to order, or do you need more time?” Kristal prompted.
Finally, the fog cleared. “You…workhere?”
She smiled, a little tightly. “I do. For the past couple of weeks. I’m still getting my sea legs under me, but at least I’m not doing everything wrong now. You wouldn’t believe how many glasses I knocked over the first week—and plates I delivered to the wrong table. So embarrassing. It’s not as easy as it looks.”
I nodded, utterly confused. “Yeah, I’m sure.”
At her expectant stare, I said, “’Oh, uh… I’ll have the burger. And an iced coffee…lotsof sugar. I may look like a man, but actually I’m an oversized ant in disguise.”
She didn’t laugh at my joke, just gave me a polite, professional response. “Great. I’ll put that right in for you. Can I get you anything else right now?”
“No. I’m… good. Thanks.”
