Page 18 of Cupcake
The waitress set his draft beer down and pulled out her order pad. “Are you ready to order?”
Maxwell answered before I could. “I’ll have the blue goat burger with fries.” His eyes roamed over me and stopped at my hips. “You said you wanted the raspberry chicken salad, right?”
I sucked in air at his words. Where in the hell does he get off implying I need to eat a salad instead of a burger? Setting my jaw firmly, I glanced up at the waitress. “I’ll have the blue goat burger with fries as well, thank you.”
Our waitress, Sara, a girl I’d gone to school with, smiled a smile that said she knew exactly what was going on. “I’ll put your order in. Would you like a side of fresh cheese curds while you wait?”
“Oh, yes,” I said gleefully at the same time Maxwell said no.
Sara twirled on her heel and skipped off to put in the order while Maxwell frowned. “So, tell me a little bit about yourself,” he said, his fingers toying with his beer glass. “What do you like to do for fun?”
I finished my first drink and motioned to Sara to bring a second before I answered. I was going to need a lot of booze to get through this date. My head was already swimming from the first one, but since I was walking home, I didn’t care. “Amber and I are real movie buffs. We love sitting on the couch with a bottle of wine and a pizza to watch old eighties films. I don’t have a lot of free time with running the business, so I have to prioritize what I want to do when I’m not working or sleeping.”
“I see,” he answered, nodding while looking anywhere but at me. “How about exercise? Do you like to ride a bike or run?”
“My exercise involves running between the baker’s bench and the oven twelve hours every day,” I said, my tone as sharp as a pin.
Sara arrived with the cheese curds and drink, setting both down and winking without a word. I grabbed a curd and blew on it, popping it into my mouth before holding the basket out for him. He shook his head, his lips in a thin line.
“I’m not into fried cheese,” he said after a sip of beer.
“That’s a shame. Fried cheese is the best. Wisconsin knows what they’re doing over there,” I said, eating another one and washing it down with my drink. Amber was so going to pay for this. I was going to show up on her doorstep with every asshole guy I could find in a tri-county area. Okay, so I wasn’t, but I wanted to, and that’s what mattered.
“I don’t believe that your life consists of baking, sleeping, and movies. There must be something else you enjoy. Do you swim, or are your legs that size from all the running in the bakery? What about your family?” he asked, digging in to make the date something it would never be.
Successful.
Ignoring the comment about the size of my legs was extremely difficult, but I refused to stoop to his level. “I lived in foster homes my entire life. My parents abandoned me at birth, probably because of the size of my legs.”
Okay, maybe I wasn’t going to ignore it. Moving on.
“No one even knows who they are. My family consists of Amber and the other people I employ at the bakery. You?”
His throat-clearing told me I’d surprised him with my honesty. “Wow, that’s a lot to deal with at your age. I had no idea. I live on our farm with my parents. Always have, always will.”
I finished my second drink and grasped my purse. “Would you excuse me for a moment? I need to use the ladies’ room.”
He motioned for me to go ahead, without getting up, and I darted into the restaurant and up to Sara, who was plating our food. “Hey, Sara. Would you put mine in a box?”
Her grin was wide while she did what I asked, then handed it over. “Want me to deliver his burger like nothing is amiss?” she asked, the tray in her hand. “I’ll tell him yours isn’t quite done, and I didn’t want his food to get cold.”
I gave her the thumbs-up sign. “Perfect. If Max stiffs you on the bill, give me a ring, and I’ll run over and pay for it.”
“Girl, no one stiffs me on the bill—especially not jerks like him. Go, before he catches on. I’ll let you know how it turns out.”
I chuckled and winked at her. “You’re the best! I’d say have a good day, but you’re not going to until he leaves.”
Sara motioned for me to go, and I dodged out the side door, having to walk the long way around to get back to the bakery. I didn’t care. Besides, walking this way allowed me to stop by Amber’s house. I was going to ask her what the hell she was thinking setting me up with that jerkoff. Then I was going to ask her if she would consider hanging up her matchmaking gloves forever.
