Page 60 of Jake

“Well, I, umm,” she barely managed.

“Yes, it’s obvious that you two love each other, even if neither of you has admitted it.”

“I, umm . . .” Sentences were proving a problem.

“You don’t need to say anything to me. Talk to each other. Tell him your concerns. Jake wouldn’t tell you not to work. Besides, what would you even do?”

Lauren didn’t try to form another sentence. Cade had thoroughly surprised her, and she didn’t know if she’d recover before the interview.

Instead, she stared out the window without seeing anything as she mulled over his words. She didn’t think Jake would tell her not to work. He seemed supportive of her job and never said anything otherwise.

Maybe she had been overthinking things. It wasn’t like that was a new concept for her. Overthinking was her mundane superpower.

“Good luck with the interview. Tell Jake I said hi.” Cade stood, holding the door for her.

“What about Evan?” she asked jokingly, finally finding her voice.

“Is he here?”

Lauren nodded. “He said he would be in his million emails.”

“Isn’t that interesting?” Cade rubbed his chin as he processed it.

“Isn’t it though?” Lauren smiled and waved as she walked away.

Inside the restaurant was different during the day. Light poured in through the windows, and the curtains to the dining area were wide open. The whole place looked extremely different with the lights on.

She looked around as she walked all the way in. The dining room was set up with wide spacing between the tables and booths that lined the left and right walls. Tables were spread around in the middle, all large enough for four people but with only two chairs.

The color scheme was all naturals: browns and grays. It rang of upscale even if no one saw it. She would have eaten her for a regular meal if it wasn’t completely dark.

“Lauren?” A woman’s voice came from behind her.

“That’s me.” She spun, greeting the voice.

A petite woman with short brown hair greeted her with a smile. “I’m Kayla. Thank you for coming.”

“Oh.” She shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you. This place sure looks different with the lights on.”

“It does indeed. I wanted it to still be something I would be proud of, even if no customer saw it.”

“It shows. I really like it. Have you considered private events during the day? You have the space,” Lauren asked.

Kayla looked around the room as though trying to see it from Lauren’s perspective. “I hadn’t, but that’s not a bad idea.”

Lauren smiled as Kayla led her to a booth.

“Lunch is on me. Thank you for agreeing to this.”

“Of course. Evan seemed a little too excited to turn him down.” She had a feeling Evan really liked Kayla but was curious if that was reciprocated.

Kayla ducked her head with a blush. “He’s a great friend.”

It appeared they both liked each other, interesting. She wondered if anyone else knew that, other than Cade who was putting the pieces together now.

“Sorry I’m a little early.” Lauren tried to pick the conversation back up.

“It’s not a problem at all. I’m happy you agreed to do this at all, so I wouldn’t complain about the time one bit,” Kayla joked.

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