Sam turned to his ninth customer, down at the shadowy end of the table.
“Hi, Sam,” Ian said.He looked entirely too calm, as if he’d had fair warning he was about to see a previous hookup, unlike some people.
“Ian!”Sam gulped.Ian smiled tightly at him, while Sam just stared.
“Friend of yours, Ian?”a woman asked.
“Sam, this is Andrea, one of my coworkers.”Sam managed to flick the woman next to Ian a smile, then his eyes went back to Ian.“Sam’s my cousin’s—”cough“—partner’s friend.We met a couple weeks ago at a party.”
“Eleven days,” Sam said.
D’oh!Heat flooded his face.That had to be an attractive look.And telling.
The woman—Andrea—looked at him assessingly.
“Nik’s party was eleven days ago,” Sam explained to her.Lame.
She smiled like the cat with the creamy man and asked Ian, “Is Nik your cousin?”
Ian hesitated just long enough that Sam knew he wasn’t comfortable.“No, my cousin’s name is Jurgen.”
Her surprise was very subtle.Sam wasn’t entirely sure he saw it, but he didn’t imagine her pausing slightly too long.“That’s a very German name.”
“Jurgen’s father was from Germany.”
“Can I take your drink orders?”Sam interrupted, because he really needed to get this over with.Oh, and because it was his job.Yeah.He forced a polite smile.
Ian looked back at him, his face blank.“I’ll have a beer, whatever featured microbrew you have on tap.”
Andrea ordered a white wine, and Sam moved on around the table on autopilot.Thank God he had the little pad to write orders on, because he didn’t remember the rest of the faces he saw, and certainly couldn’t recall their individual drinks.He’d have to ask when he came back.He usually prided himself on not having to, but pride had run screaming off about three orders before he finished the group.
Sam dropped the orders off at the bar, nodding woodenly when Sheff grumbled about how many drinks he had to mix.He threw the order for fries on the pass-through, then slammed through the kitchen door.Where the hell was his coat?
Tineke looked up from her magazine, eyes widening.“Sam?”
Sam ignored her and ran back to the employee coatroom to dig out his phone.He nearly dropped it, and thank God Nik was on speed dial because Sam’s fingers were fumbley.
“What does Ian do?”Sam asked as soon as Nik answered.
“What?What do you mean?”
“Hisjob.What does hedo?”
“He’s some kind of administrator for the State Health Division.I told you this.”
“No you didn’t!”Sam lowered his voice.“You told me Jurgen’scousinworked for the Health Division.”
“Yeees,” Nik said.“And Ian is Jurgen’s cousin, now, isn’t he?”
“Yes, but I didn’t know that when you told me, did I?”
There was a momentary silence.“Good point,” Nik finally said.
“I thought Ian was a firefighter.”Sam knew he sounded accusatory, but he couldn’t seem to rein it in.
“You heard that, but you didn’t hear the thing about the Health Division?”
“Helookslike a firefighter.”
