He checked it quickly. “Check please.”
“Gotta go?” asked his partner.
“Yep.”
Allie watched their little exchange. “I’ve got it right here.” She held her ground. She couldn’t afford to pay for two meals in one day. “Your turn for the check.” The partner nodded to George.
“Right.” He glanced at the bill and fished a twenty out of his wallet. “Oh no.”
“What?” Allie brought her hand to her hip. “Don’t tell me—you don’t have enough.”
“No, I have the check. I just don’t have enough for a tip.”
She sighed, her shoulders hunching forward. “Have a nice day officers.” With a half-smile and a shaking hand, she made her way to the counter where she dropped off the bill and the twenty for William to enter into the system. He liked to do each one himself to make sure they weren’t discounting items behind his back.
She made it behind the counter before she noticed George behind her blocking her in. Her breath came in shallow gulps—she hated being cornered. “Do you need something?”
“A to-go box.”
“Right.” They were under the coffee maker. “Here you go. Anything else?”
George shuffled his feet. A mighty accomplishment considering the size of them. It was a good thing he wasn’t hairy—he’d be mistaken for a sasquatch. “Look, I feel bad about not leaving a tip. I have money in my PayPal account. Can I send it that way?”
“I don’t accept PayPal.” She smirked. Going around him, she refilled coffee cups in the dining area.
“I know. I’ll donate it to your favorite charity.” He held his phone up. “Just tell me where to send it.”
Allie considered him. Last week a group of kids had shown up and painted over the graphitti on the side of the apartment building next door.What did their shirts say?“Teens on Target.” Let them have the five bucks. A warm feeling spread over her. At least something good would come out of this day.
George did a quick search on his phone. “I can’t find out how to donate to them but there’s a raffle. If you win you get to have lunch with Beau Dubois, Beau Aiken and—holy cow! Anthony Green.”
The names were vaguely familiar to Allie. She leaned in to glance over George’s phone and saw pictures of the two actors and the baseball star. That’s right. Anthony green played for the Braves. Beau Aiken was always in the gossip rags at the grocery store. Beau Dubois … he’d done a series of spy movies with lots of hand-to-hand combat, electronic gear, and espionage. Reed had taken her to see one about six months before he took off with her credit card and that dancer. She’d liked the movies—Beau Dubois was pretty nice to look at for hours on end.
“I’ll make you a deal,” said George, leaning into her.
Rolling her eyes, Allie stepped back and then around the counter. The more distance between them the better. “What?”
“If you win, we go together.”
“You can go by yourself.” She could care less about having lunch with some uppity Hollywood heartthrobs and a jock.
“If I go by myself then I’m not leaving a tip am I? But if we go together, then everybody wins.”
I never win anything.This would be the easiest deal she ever made. “Okay.”
“Sweet.” The cop filled out a short form and hit purchase. “I’ll be back in on the seventh to let you know if we’ve won.” He disappeared through the cloudy-glass door.
“That was exciting.” Selina cleared the cops’ plates.
Allie picked up their cups and followed her back to the dishwasher. “You know he’s never coming back, right?”
“I know.” She laughed. “But at least he donated to the charity for you.” “Sure. Sure.” They deposited their dishes in a rack and headed back up to the front.
Selina was still in Optimistic Land. “And who knows, maybe you’ll get to have lunch with that dreamboat Beau Aiken.”
“Didn’t he just get a divorce?” asked John, one of their regulars. He hadn’t shaved in days and his white whiskers glinted in the light. “Yeah, for like, the third time.” replied Selina.
“Beau’s single. It’s Anthony who’s married and to some Latin model,” threw in Freddie who sat opposite John.
