He’d called itourkitchen.
Why did he call itourkitchen?
I needed to regroup, calm down, and correct his use of “our” kitchen right away. And I needed to do so with a calmer tone and pitch of my voice. James always advised me to be cognizant of my pitch and tone.
“Your kitchen is beautiful, Josh. Sam’s countertop was eye-catching, and I was simply wondering about it,” I calmly said, reigning in the control of my tone.
“Dude, Sam, tell her about your countertop, man.” Josh laughed and shook his head at me.
“The countertop is quartz,” Sam agreed as he dropped four slices of toast into his fancy toaster.
“Told ya,” Josh murmured before sipping from his mug again.
“The style is called lightning quartz,” Sam explained as he pointed to what I thought was a large vein.
I glanced at Josh with my eyebrows raised and asked, “Did you know that too, Josh? Did you know it was called lightning quartz?”
He rolled his eyes at me, which irritated me, but I tried to let it go.
“Mmhmm. I thought so,” I mumbled.
“Enough, you two.”
Sam quickly set the table, placing grape jam, butter, and syrup on the table before he went back to the stove.
“Do you guys like bacon and waffles?”
“Yes, though Ali doesn’t like syrup on her waffles. She likes strawberries with hers,” Josh answered and then winked at me.
Oh, really?
I gave Josh my best facial expression that asked him what the hell he was doing, along with letting him know he needed to knock it the fuck off. Thankfully, Sam’s back was to us while he made bacon and poured batter onto the waffle iron. If Sam wanted to give me syrup for the waffles, then by God, I would gladly eat the syrup.
“No syrup for Ali,” Sam recited Josh’s words and then turned to face us. He winked at me and said, “Just strawberries.” I smiled at him before he turned around and then glared at Josh.
It was on the tip of my tongue to say something snide about Josh. Something like,Josh likes cum on his waffles,but with James’ words of wisdom ringing in my ears, I kept my mouth closed. I tuned Josh out while he answered Sam’s questions about his upcoming work schedule. Sam would turn around every few moments to engage in the conversation or ask additional questions.
As Sam delivered two plates of bacon and waffles, I felt kind of cheated that Sam hadn’t asked me about my upcoming work schedule. Though I thought he knew that I recently lost the shitty job I had in retail due to the store closing. It was absolutely a job that I loathed, but it was full-time hours that was lost. All I had now was the front desk check-in job at Club Oxygen. But still, I would have enjoyed talking to Sam about anything.
Sam set the plate of toast on the table and then pulled out a green plastic basket of strawberries. He took them to the sink and gently hand washed some.
“Ali, do you like them sliced or chopped up?”
“She likes them sliced,” Josh said as he chewed on a piece of toast.
“Slices, coming right up.”
Josh earned another death stare from me. He acknowledged it and then shrugged while he continued to eat.
“Did you know that is rude, Josh?” I asked while glaring at him.
“What is?”
“To begin eating at someone else’s home while they’re not even sitting down.” Josh laughed and shook his head. He did set the last bite of toast on his plate, though. His laughter was annoying me. “What are you laughing at?”
“I’m laughing because I never knew you were such a manners know-it-all. Princess Manners.” Josh huffed out a laugh. “I thought maybe you were calling me rude for trying to make sure you had as good of a morning as possible,” he added and then took a sip from his coffee.
Now I felt like shit, and my eyes started to burn. I took a deep breath and reached for a piece of toast to distract myself.I refused to cry at this man’s table.Josh chuckled under his breath again.
