Maria showed up, pad and pen ready. “Did I give you long enough to look over the menu?”
“Yep,” I said. “I’ll take the fish tacos with a side salad, please, and some coffee. Oh, and I’m going to want dessert. Which whole pies do you have to go?”
“Sure, sure. We have apple, blackberry, cherry, and I think we might have a strawberry rhubarb left.”
“Oh, she wants the rhubarb,” Crow said.
“No, I do not want the rhubarb,” I said, spearing him with a glare. “But that blackberry sounds delicious.”
“Sure, sure,” she said again. “I’ll put your name on it just to make sure we don’t cut into it...uh?” She glanced at my uniform jacket on the seat beside me.
“Delaney,” I said. “Delaney Reed.” I gave her a smile. “Welcome to Ordinary, by the way.”
She smiled. “Thank you. And what would you like?” she asked Crow.
He gave her a panty-melting smile. “What do you recommend, darling? You look like a woman with excellent taste.” He followed that by leaning back to show off his chest and cupping the back of his head in his palms, flexing his arms. He gave her a big wink.
“You look like oatmeal,” she said.
I sputtered a laugh.
“I look like...what?”
She shrugged. “You wanted my recommendation, and you look like oatmeal would do the trick.”
“The trick?” he asked suspiciously.
“Man of your age? It’s good for the heart.”
“My age.” Crow tipped his chin up.
She waited with a pleasant smile.
I still couldn’t get a read on her. Was she insulting him for the whole “darling” and posturing thing, or was she teasing him to see what he’d do?
Crow gave her a very judgy look.
“Red meat, please. I’ll take a burger,” he said. “With bacon and avocado, if you have it.”
“Cali burger coming up. You want fries with that?”
“Yes.”
“Sure, sure.” She pursed her lips then made a big production of mouthing “oatmeal,” as she wrote on the pad.
“Anything else?” she peeped, fluttering long lashes at him.
He deflated in the booth and gave her a new look. One that said he liked her spunk. “Delaney?” he asked.
“I’m good. Thank you, Maria.”
She gave me a grin then bopped off to the kitchen.
“She’s fun,” Crow said. “Wanna bet I’m getting a bowl of mush?”
“Oh, yeah, no. You are totally getting a bowl of mush.”
“So,” he said, “this dress thing. You and Myra later today?”
