Xander
So you got the food? I didn’t know if you’d gone grocery shopping and wanted to make sure you ate.
Kate
Yes. You’re turning out to be a prince.
Xander
I’m okay with that. Night.
I don’t bother texting back because it will defeat the purpose of me falling asleep. But I need to make it up to him. Maybe we’ll have our date night tomorrow night. Surely the girls will understand if I skip a girls’ night out.
Chapter Fourteen
Xander
Who knew getting a pizza delivered would equate to being princely? Kate is opening up more and more to me every day. I can only hope soon we’ll be able to be a couple in front of our coworkers. I’m almost certain Emily knows something is up. She keeps staring at me and Kate when she thinks we’re not paying attention.
“Hey, you ready for these deliveries?” Robert asks as I’m watching Kate across the room. She does look better than she did last night. There’s a new energy about her and I’d like to think I had something to do with that.
“Yep.” I grab one of the bouquets and load it into his van. “It looks like you’ve got the West side of the city and I have the East.” I glance at the delivery papers and groan. “And it looks like one of mine is a funeral.”
“Better you than me,” Robert chuckles, “but if you need me to do it, I can.”
“No, I’ll be fine.” It’s not a lie, but funerals make me uncomfortable. I haven’t been to many. Most of my relatives are still alive and well, and I’ve never experienced a loss close to me. At least it’s the first delivery of the day and I can get it over with. Hopefully, I won’t run into any of the grieving family. Awkward is probably the best description when I’m placed in uncomfortable situations.
Before long both of our vans are loaded. The last thing is this wreath for the funeral. Ugh I really don’t want to do that stop. Robert and I load the wreath in the back of the van closest to the doors. It’s the first stop and nobody wants to dig around for flowers.
As soon as I close the doors, I head toward the wall with the key hooks. Except the key to the van, I usually take isn’t there. Robert is waving the keys in his hand and gets in the driver seat. “Sorry, kid. I can’t do that to you.”
“Thanks, Man.” I wave as he drives off. I don’t know what I did to deserve that, but whatever it is, I’m grateful. I grab the other keys and head toward the van.
“I thought you had the East side today.” Kate leans against the delivery shelf.
“I did, but as soon as Robert realized I had to deliver to a funeral home, he switched vans.” Shrugging my shoulders, I unlock the door. I really need to get on the road if I want to get back at a decent time. I’m not sure what she has planned for tonight, but if she’s busy I may go out.
“That was sweet of him.” A small smile graces her face, and I know she means it. “I didn’t mean to give you the funeral, but you were already going to be in the area.”
“When y’all started, how did you handle areas and situations you weren’t comfortable with?” It’s something I’ve wondered because I’m sure they’ve had to deal with some wild situations.
“We did our job. We didn’t really have a choice.” She walks toward me and stops inches from the open door. She really is pressing her luck with people finding out about us. They have to be curious about why she spends so much time around me. “If we didn’t make the deliveries, or deal with the asshole customers, we didn’t get paid. And if we didn’t get paid, we couldn’t make the rent. There was no way in hell I was asking my parents for help.”
I can’t really blame her, but her pride is what is going to be her downfall. There are other ways she can ask for help outside her parents. Though, I’m sure Kai fills them in on things when they want to know something.
“Makes sense.” I climb into the van and wait for Kate to scoot back before I close the door. “I better go if I want to be back before the shop closes.”
“See you later.” She waves at me before I have a chance to get out of the driveway she yells out, “What are you are doing tonight?”
Of course, she’d ask that as I’m driving off instead of when I’m right next other her. Maybe this means we get a chance to make up for last night.
She never texted me back after I asked her what she had in mind. Her car also isn’t in the parking lot when I get to the shop. Maybe I did something wrong? It’s odd for her to leave me hanging for this long. Normally, she responds right away. Unless, of course, she’s busy. Which happens a lot. Especially now that wedding season is ramping up. I don’t think I’ve seen them all this stressed since we were delivering for Valentine’s Day.
I back the van to the door, put it in park and get ready to clean it out. A small part of me wants to put it off until the morning but I don’t want to leave the vehicle Robert usually takes messy. He could potentially come in early in the morning and I don’t want him cleaning up after me.
“What took so long?” Kai opens the back door and slides a brick in front of it to hold it open. “Everyone else is already gone, or getting ready to go.”
Well, that answers my question about Kate. “Traffic. I don’t know what is in the air today it felt like nobody remembers how to drive without being a jerk.”
