Page 35 of You Were Invited
Annie blinked and smiled. So this was the infamous owner of No Wait Diner.
Ellie huffed and put her hands on her ample hips. “Oh, be quiet. You’ll thank me later.”
“Who’s your nurse, Julian?” asked the waiter, Teagan, who’d served Annie the other day. When he winked at her, she smiled.
“This is Annie. I put a chainsaw through my hand.” Julian swung his arm as if to explain the rest of the story.
“Oh?” Ellie blinked hard and arched her eyebrows, looking to Annie for more context.
She quickly explained that he had been carving on a log and the saw had jumped back at him. “I almost went back to work, but he'd claimed he had something cool to show off after he stacked some firewood for me.”
“You got someone looking after you while your hand heals, Julian?” Ellie asked. She patted his shoulder.
Mid-bite, Julian looked like a deer in the headlights.
"I'll look after you," Annie said, perhaps a little too fast, judging by the intrigued looks on Ellie and Teagan’s faces.
"I'm here for that. Never had someone so eager to help me,” Teagan said. “Except maybe Mom,” he added when Ellie made to jab him in the ribs with her elbow.
“Don’t make me tell her you almost said that,” Ellie muttered. “You know she’d die for you.”
"I can drop in as you need help," Annie added, much more matter-of-factly.
“You're lucky, Julian," Teagan said.
Julian nodded, though Annie was sure he didn’t know what he was agreeing to. All that mattered at that moment was the pie. There was cream on the corner of his mouth that had been there for some time, and with every fiber of her being she wanted to wipe it away for him.
“If you need someone to cook for you, just call in an order. And, Teagan, table four needs you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied to his boss. The young man jogged off towards a family who looked ready for their bill.
“Annie can cook,” Julian spoke up. “Well.”
“I’d be lyin’ if I wasn’t disappointed you’ere getting fed by someone else,” Ellie said, feigning hurt before smiling at Annie. “But I hope she does feed you well.”
“Her chili is great,” Julian said, then, with no filter whatsoever, added, “She’d beat you in a cookoff. She’d throw it down… town. And she would win.”
“Oh my God…” Annie muttered, hiding her face in embarrassment and laughing behind her hands.
To Annie’s relief, Ellie laughed, too.
On the way back up the mountain, Annie made small talk with Julian while he floated on the waves of his pain meds. After they’d passed the fork in the road, leaving Main Street, she said, “You seem close to the people at the diner. That seems really nice.” She couldn’t help but admire, and feel slightly jealous of the kind of community Julian had around him in Northgold.
To her surprise, Julian shrugged. "They're nice enough to everyone. They’re everyone’s friend. I'm not close."
“Really?” Annie frowned. "I think they really care about you." Sure she had Molly and to a certain extent, Peter. She liked Molly's family and her extended friends enough, but they weren'therfamily. "They aren't reallyyourpeople... are they?" she deduced.
"Something like that..." Julian was quiet for a moment. "I sound ungrateful. To have people fuss over you.”
“Well, not everyone wants to be the center of attention,” she agreed. She would’ve been lying to herself if shedidn’tfeel like he was being somewhat ungrateful, but he was entitled to his own feelings. Maybe she'd misread the overly friendliness of the situation. They were in customer service and of course they'd be welcoming.
They were mostly quiet the rest of the drive. By the time they arrived at Julian’s cabin, he was starting to sober up a bit. She parked in front of his cabin.
“I hate that I wasted your whole day,” Julian told her.
“You needed help.”
His eyes were still sad, but he nodded and smiled. “Thank you, Annie. Thanks for driving me.” It looked like some discomfort was setting in.
