Page 7 of The Road to You
It had been a busy day. We had a wedding catering order for 250 people. I didn’t have long before I was off. That gave me enough time to take a nap before my shift that night. At least I didn’t have to waitress.
I worked at Gloria’s Kitchen five nights a week. Blessing found out that I wanted to one day go to culinary school, so two shifts a week, I was a line cook. Kurt, the head chef, taught me so much. I saved most of my tips in a high-interest-bearing account. My hope was to eventually attend Johnson and Wales University. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in, but I knew it would be around food and management.
“Girl, do you want to come to my house and cook me dinner?” my co-worker Savannah asked. “I don’t know what you put in this macaroni, but I love when you make it. That’s why that line is always so damn long when people know you’re here.”
I used to use the recipe that they taught me when I started, but it was horrible. Nobody bought it, and we always had to throw pans away. One day, I said fuck it and made it the way I wanted to. No pans were thrown away that day. Our manager told everyone that I was the only one who would make the macaroni, yams, and collard greens.
“I already told you that I would, but you’re not going to act like you cook that shit for that nigga. What are you going to do when he asks you to make something on the fly?” I asked her with a smirk.
She asked me a few times to cook for her and her man. The only problem I had with it was that she wanted me to leave before he came home so he would think she cooked it. Yeah,Savannah had me fucked up. On top of that, her nigga high key wasn’t shit. That was neither here nor there though.
“Um, I’ll call your ass and have you deliver like a silent food delivery person.” She really said that stupid shit with a straight face. I had no desire to continue with the conversation.
I shook my head, then told her that I was going to the front to help with customers. Call it what you wanted, but I would never let anyone take credit for my cooking. One day, I planned to have my own catering service. I wouldn’t be able to do that if bitches expected me to cook and be quiet about it. Savannah suggested that I make a business model for secretly cooking for people. I suggested that she kiss my ass.
I grabbed a pair of gloves to put on so that I could help the next customer. With my head still down as I fixed my gloves, I asked the next customer how I could help them. From the first syllable from his mouth, I knew who it was.Euri.
“Hello, Bruqlyn. You look beautiful today,” he complimented. “It’s nice to see you again.”
I wanted to kick my cheeks’ ass for blushing against my will. “Yes, it’s so nice to see you again so soon. One might think it was on purpose, Mr. Euri.”
He tittered for a second, then his expression shifted to a more serious one. “You’ll learn everything that I do is intentional, especially when it comes to something that I want. I heard you worked here, so I wanted to see you.”
I was stuck.How the hell do I respond to that?“Oh, okay.” My eyes shifted to the food in the warmer. “Did you want something?”
He looked down at the food. “Yeah, give me whatever you made. I need to see if you can cook, for future reference.”
It was time for me to titter. “Alright, future reference. I made most of the food up here outside of the corn.”
He told me to give him everything that I made. I fixed his food in silence. I didn’t know what to say, so I felt silence was the best option. After it was fixed, I put the price on it.
“What time you get off, sweetheart? I’m trying to see you later.” He stood there in all his sexiness.
A part of me felt like we were in an alternate reality. I knew I was desirable because I was a beautiful woman. The part that threw me off was the fact that he knew I lived in my van. I’ve dated before, but when niggas found out that I didn’t live in a building with four walls and a ceiling, they put me in the category of a bum.
“I actually get off in a minute, but I have a busy day. I have to pick my baby up from day care. I also work tonight,” I told him.
His face contorted. “Wait, you have a kid? You live in a van with a kid?”
I waved my gloved hands. “No, no! God, no!” I laughed because I forgot that when I said my baby, people really thought I meant a human baby. “I mean my dog.”
“Your dog goes to day care? Damn, I thought that was like a white people thing,” he said. That was something I was used to hearing.
“No, it’s not a white people thing. When I work, my baby needs somewhere to go. I want him to be socialized, so I send him where he can be.” I took off my gloves because it was time for me to get the hell out of here. I was serious about my damn nap. I told him I was going to clock out and that I would talk to him another time.
I was at the sink after I clocked out, washing my hands. “Girl, let me find out Euri Westin has a crush on you. That man is fine as fuck,” Savannah pointed out.
“He doesn’t have a crush on me. Since when did purchasing food mean someone has a crush on you?” I dried my hands,pulled my stuff from where I put it on the shelf, and then headed toward the door.
Savannah blocked my path. “Okay, if he doesn’t have a crush on you, then why is he still out there waiting for you? You do know who he is, right?” When I gave her a blank stare, her eyes bulged. “Girl, he owns Westin Sustainable Energy Company.”
“What?” That took me by surprise because, what! “Oh, I didn’t know that. Interesting.”
I moved around her to leave. Like she said, he stood there with his focus on his phone screen. Like he felt me, he looked up, then winked. “Let me walk you to your home.”
I sucked my teeth, then stuck my lips out. “You’re not shit for that.” My laugh left my gut. I liked that he wasn’t the type to tiptoe around my living situation. There was nothing to tiptoe around because I wasn’t ashamed of it. “Bring your ass on.”
We walked to the register so he could pay for his food and a drink. “Does your dog’s day care stay open late? Last night, you didn’t get off until one in the morning.”
