Page 2 of Starfish and Coffee
“Shit!” Holly rolled away from Alex and sprang out of bed. She tugged her tank top off, tossing it carelessly into the corner. “I get the shower first!”
Alex watched her run for the door, a flash of tan skin, curly hair, and florescent pink underwear. Holly was always slower to get ready for work, so he took his time getting out of bed, still clinging to his dream. He finally made his way to the coffeemaker, an expensive one-cup brewer system that’d been worth the money because of the time it saved. They ran late for work more often than not.
It was a good thing he was the boss.
* * * *
One would think working and living together the way they did Alex and Holly would get sick of each other, but they never did. They rarely fought and enjoyed each other’s company most days.
Alex really didn’t understand why everyone believed them to be longtime live-in lovers. They were far too companionable to be romantically involved, but as best friends they were a match made in heaven. Since grade school they’d been inseparable and due to not one, but two broken hearts, they had never stopped the trend the way most friends did when they grew up. A best buddy was supposed to be replaced by someone who was his everything, someone to share his secretsandhis bed, the someone he was supposed to grow old with.
The way things were going, Holly was going to be that person for Alex, and he couldn’t help but feel he was a little too young to consider forgoing sex for the rest of his life for the sake of companionship.
“Hey, boss. I thought HF was home fries.”
Alex blinked out of his melancholy and turned to look at the new cook Jamie. He was young and good-looking in a blond, pretty-boy-type way with a slim, angular body most tops like Alex loved. For just a second Alex tried to imagine himself with this handsome, enthusiastic new cook, burying his face in his silky blond hair and for once not craving thick black hair that smelled of expensive shampoo and sunshine. Just as quickly as he formed the thought it vaporized, leaving him feeling nothing but annoyance. It was pointless. He might as well be imagining himself with Holly.
He had to tell Holly to stop hiring gay cooks—even if the intention was good, the outcome was always uncomfortable and eventually disastrous.
Alex turned back to the flattop and plated two eggs. “HFishome fries.”
“Then why did you put hash browns on this one?”
“Shit.” Alex looked to the deck, seeing the plate did indeed have hash browns. He grabbed the ticket from Jamie, confirming his mistake. “Sorry, man. Thanks for catching that.”
“No problem.” Jamie smiled at Alex. It made him look even younger and more handsome than he already was. “I got your back.”
He saw the interest in Jamie’s blue gaze, and Alex thought he must be getting desperate, because it was tempting. If they were anywhere else but his kitchen working the morning breakfast rush, he might have acted on it, but Jamie did work for him. Alex wasn’t quite that stupid.
“Yeah.” Alex turned around and dismissed him as politely as possible. “Gimme the plate. I’ll fix it.”
After that Alex kept his mind on cooking. With only Jamie for help, he couldn’t afford to get caught up in other issues. This was the reason he loved owning a restaurant. Most days he was too busy with the concerns of the day-to-day operation of it to be bothered to sulk too much over the rest of his life.
He didn’t have a lull for another hour. When he did, he dashed out of the kitchen and ran to the server station, cup in hand, in desperate need of iced tea. It was too damn hot in the kitchen to drink coffee.
“Daryl wants to know why you hired a faggot to cook for you.” Holly leaned against the open doorway leading to the dining room. Her long hair was tied up in a bun as usual, and her day dress covered by an apron. She pulled a face at Alex. “I told him to suck it.”
“You can’t tell customers to suck it,” Alex said in annoyance. “Go apologize to him.”
“Fuck you.” Holly let out an incredulous laugh. “I’m not saying sorry to that bigoted bastard.”
“If someone says something like that, you just tell them we’re an equal-opportunity employer. Do you see the difference? You’re still defending your decision to hire Jamie; just one way is less confrontational.” Alex turned around to glare at Holly. “You run the front of the house. I rely on you to be professional, even to assholes like Daryl.”
“I’d suckyoubefore I’d say sorry.” Holly’s eyes narrowed in determination. “If you want Daryl’s ass kissed, you better be the one to do it.”
“Christ!”
Alex pushed past Holly and walked into the dining room of his seaside diner, Starfish and Coffee. He tried to avoid the front of the restaurant most mornings because they were always busy, and everyone knew him. Baseball glory in a small town like Mirabella Island was hard to shake. It still haunted him ten years later.
The dining room was small and cozy, decorated the way a beachfront breakfast café should be. The walls were pale blue with white trim, and the floors were all light wood. Alex wanted to create a warm, friendly atmosphere and succeeded for the most part—except on days when Holly was telling customers to suck it.
Despite feeling largely antisocial due to extreme irritation, he greeted everyone who said hello. It took him longer than he could afford to get outside to the large covered veranda that faced the beach and sported ten tables for people who wanted to brave the outdoors for a view of the ocean.
“When are you gonna cure Holly of all that liberal bullshit?”
Alex fought the urge to growl under his breath as he grabbed a chair from one of the empty tables and carried it over to where Daryl and two more of Alex’s former baseball teammates were sitting. He turned the chair backward and crossed his arms over the back of it as he sat.
He gave Daryl a bored look. “You know it pisses Holly off when you say shit like that. Why do you do it? This back-and-forth between you two issoold.”
