“Well, he was a firefighter, but then he was injured, so now he’s anadministrator.”
“How can he be an administrator?No one ordered drinks requiring salt on the rim.”
“What are youtalkingabout?He’s some kind of interagency emergency coordinator.Apparently they don’t make enough for salted drinks.Are you at Fatty’s?”
“Shit.”Sam ran a hand down his face, then beat his forehead against the wall.“Is he out?At work?”he hissed.
He heard Nik asking Jurgen, then, “No, he’s passing.Is he at Fatty’sright now?”
“Shit.”Sam hung up and looked into Tineke’s excited, horrified face.“Oh my God,” he groaned, this time running both hands through his hair.
“Do you want me to take the table, Sam?”He had to give her credit, she dealt with the important stuff first.Before pumping him for information.“Which one is he?”
“No.That’s just being cowardly.I may be a giant dork, but I’m not a coward.”Sam straightened up.“He’s the one in the dark suit, red tie, next to the cougar.”
“They all have dark suits and red ties,” Tineke said.
“They don’t all have cougars.”Sam pushed past her to head back out.
Tineke trotted after him.“The woman at the end?”
“No, the other one.”
“She’s not a cougar!She can’t be much over thirty.”
“Shit,” Sam muttered and walked faster.
“I’m arranging our dinner breaks together,” Tineke called after him.“We can commiserate.And you aren’t a giant dork.”
“I have three younger sisters,” Sam said over his shoulder.“I know what ‘commiserate’ means.”
She just smiled.
By the time Sam got back to the dining room, the first of the drink orders was ready to go.And great, Ian’s was on the tray.That would be the one order he did know.
Okay, he could do this.Sam steeled himself and picked up the heavy tray, balancing it on his shoulder.
As he was coming up behind Ian’s end of the table—approaching Ian from the back; he needed all the advantage he could get—he heard the guy next to Ian say, “Looks like the waiter has a crush on you, Ian.”
Sam stopped dead.Could the humiliation get any worse?
It could.It did when Ian chuckled in reply.He clearly forced it out, but hechuckled.It was a vaguely familiar sound that, for a split second, drew Sam back into the laundry room of his mind.
Andrea leaned forward, looking past Ian to the guy who’d made the comment.Sam cringed, waiting for whatever she was about to say.
“Tierney, that was uncalled for,” she said.The guy spluttered.
Sam blinked.Oh.That was ...not mean.
As Andrea sat back, she glanced over her shoulder and saw Sam.She must have made a noise, because Ian turned, too, and then the other guy, Tierney.They stared at him with different degrees of embarrassment.For just a millisecond, Ian closed his eyes.Then he stood up.“I’ll help you with that,” he said, taking a step toward Sam.
“No.”Sam was surprised to hear how hard his voice sounded.He cleared his throat, looking Ian in the eye, and kept his voice low so only Ian would hear.“I don’t need your help.”
Ian looked away.“Sorry.”He hesitated a second before sitting back down.
Sorry for what?The one-night stand, or laughing at what that asshole said, or for assuming I’m too weak to lift my own damn tray of drinks?
Did it fucking matter?
