Hector still refused to admit that he needed help, despite having no issues hiring someone to assist me up front.
“Call me if anything comes up. I’ll be in the kitchen,” I tell our part-timer, Becca.
She was the waitress we’d hired a couple of months back, and I really liked her. Probably because she’s a mother of three, with the youngest having recently gone off to college, she’d learned how to temper her composure and was unfazed by most things. It made her an excellent person to work with.
“You got it, sugarcakes,” she replied with a wink.
I shook my head and chuckled. She wasveryhappily married, and her husband frequently dropped by the diner just to see her, but that never stopped her from flirting with every person who entered the establishment. I knew she had to be raking in tips.
Hector spotted me as soon as I walked through the swinging doors. He opened his mouth, but I held up my hand to stop him.
“I’m helping, and that’s final,” I said and didn’t even give him the chance to refuse. I washed my hands at the sink and grabbed a white apron.
I wasn’t the best cook, but I could at least handle fry food. Hector grumbled something under his breath as Isettled into the fryer beside his griddle station and popped in some fries and wings that had been ordered.
We worked in silence to complete the tickets. We didn’t need to communicate, moving effortlessly around one another, like we’d done this song and dance a million times before. Before long, most of the tickets were taken care of, and I wouldn’t be of any help with the rest of the orders.
I cleaned up and undid the white apron. Hector was still focused on the griddle, making half a dozen burger orders at once. They were the diner’s specialty, which wasn’t really a surprise since Hector seasoned and shaped the patties himself.
I bumped his hip with mine when I passed. “Just admit it, you love working with me,” I commented.
He looked up from his task with a faint blush on his cheeks that could have been from my words—or the heat from the griddle. “Working with you isn’t bad.”
I beamed because I knew that was practically the highest compliment from Hector. He didn’t have a way with words and wasn’t used to expressing his feelings, but I could read him well enough.
“If only you were this honest about how you felt about me,” I said with an exaggerated sigh.
Hector grunted something unintelligible, but the heat on his cheeks now had me chuckling as I headed back out front to help Becca. She had everything under control, of course, and was currently flirting with Carol.
“You’re just what we need at the hugging booth.We broke the donation record for the summer fair, and I’m hoping to do the same for the fall fair. You justhaveto join this time,” Carol said with a flash of her pearly whites.
She was the head of the PTA for Kither Springs’ one and only elementary school. She also ran the hugging booth at the summer fair and had roped Dan and Clay into volunteering, which had led to them being the main attraction at the booth.
Jones had suggested donating money to have them hug under the hot sun, which led to more people donating to increase their time. I naturally had to donate to the cause as well, and from what I heard, they managed to get the clock up to a couple of hours.
Seeing them hugging like that made it so obvious to me that they had a thing for each other. It was a surprise nobody else had caught on, if I were being honest. The way Clay’s hands rested so familiarly on Dan’s lower back, and how Dan nuzzled up against Clay’s neck for comfort? It all screamed of a certain level of intimacy and love shared between the two.
“This town wouldn’t be able to handle me, sugarcakes. One hug from me is all they’ll need to want to come back for more, and I’m already a taken woman,” Becca teased.
Carol laughed, then her eyes flicked to me. “What about you, Atlas? Want to join us for a good cause?”
“I’m gonna have to pass too,” I said with an apologetic smile.
“Shame,” she replied, but the smile was still on her lips.
With a stalker on my tail, I didn’t feel too good about giving out hugs to random people. Though I wondered how many hugs Hector would order from me if I volunteered.
Hugging Hector in public? That would be nice. Hell, I craved just hugging him in general. He wasn’t the most physically affectionate man, and it was hard to find excuses to touch him, much less get him into my arms. Though I’d gottenreallygood at coming up with reasons lately.
“Hey, Atlas!”
I turned to find ArnoldKarywaving at me from the front door. The giant frames that took up half his face slid down his nose. He pushed them back up with a cheeky grin.
He was a teen from town who frequently came to the diner for study dates with his boyfriend, Larry. Although from what I saw, Larry was much more interested in the milkshakes and watching his adorable Arnold than in the actual studying.
“Hey! You back for more studying?”
He shook his head, which made sense since he wasn’t carrying his backpack.
