“I think I do now.”
She smiles but her eyes leave my face and dart to the plate glass window at the front of the store. “Speak of the devil!”
Jake steps through the front door. His eyes land on mine immediately. “I was just about to lock it. Kitchen is closed but luckily for you, I kept you some food,” Nova says and disappears into the kitchen to get it.
“Thanks,” he calls out as he saunters toward the counter. He looks extra fine today in my totally skewed opinion. It’s hard not to be biased when I can still recall the way it felt to have his tongue in my mouth. His eyes never leave mine. “How are you Terra?”
“Good. How are you?”
“Better now,” he says with a slow smile starting to pull at the corners of his perfect mouth.
“I said I need a break!” Finn’s voice bellows from the kitchen. “Fifteen minute breaks are mandated by the state of Maine. Don’t make me call the goddamn government on you.”
The door swings open forcefully and Finn marches into the restaurant. He smiles at the sight of his best friend. “Hey! You just get off work?”
Jake nods. “Craving a little Hawkins… lobster roll.”
He said that with a pregnant pause on purpose but Finn has no idea what double entendre he just pulled. I do though, and my cheeks pink as I bite back a smile. “Well I’m craving a DNA test to prove that we’re actually related to that robot man in the suit back there. Because if we aren’t then I don’t have to deal with his anal retentive ass trying to teach me the scheduling system.”
“You still don’t have to,” I remind him. “I can do it from home with remote access to the system.”
“You have to rest after this op,” Finn argues.
Nova sails back in with a plate with two lobster rolls and a generous serving of fries. She places it in front of Jake. “I’m messing around with new roll ideas. The one on your left is my Asian fusion one. It’s got wasabi mayo and kimchi instead of lettuce. The other one is your standard lobster roll.”
“I’ll let you know my thoughts,” Jake says as Nova grabs a tray and heads toward the tables to collect the salt and pepper shakers as the last customers walk out the door. Fall hours mean we close by eight every night, which will be a blessing when they’re short-staffed because I’m off recovering.
“I was not a fan,” Finn shudders. Jake chuckles.
Declan bursts through the kitchen door. He looks panicked. “I can’t fix it. Finn fucked up next week’s schedule. He deleted Mary’s shifts and when I went to restore them, it wiped out everyone’s shifts for the entire month. The month!”
“Deep breaths. I’ll take a look,” I say calmly because I know the system like the back of my hand and I’m confident I can un-do whatever they did.
“Guess I’m not the only one who isn’t great with scheduling,” Finn remarks.
“I was fixing your mistake!” Declan barks but I take him by the arm and drag him through the kitchen and into my office. It takes me four whole minutes to get the schedule back and show Deck what happened to make sure he doesn’t do it again.
I head back into the restaurant, eager to see Jake’s face again. Nova is mopping now while Finn wipes down the counter. He’s still talking to Jake and his conversation stops me dead.
“How the hell do you forget to ask about sex? It would be the first question out of my mouth,” Finn is saying to Jake, his voice thick with shock. “Hell, I would have Googled that shit on the way to the test.”
“What difference does it make?” Jake says, his eyes drifting toward me for a second before focusing back on my brother. “If they say I can’t have sex for a week or a year, I’m still going through with the operation.”
Nova stops mopping and cocks her head. “Why are you talking about sex?”
Finn pulls his phone from his back pocket and dips his head as he types something. “Because we’re dudes, Nova, and sex is important. And this saint of a man is prepared to give it up. For a freaking year.”
Say what now?
My eyes dart to Jake, who doesn’t look the least bit concerned. He finishes chewing the last of Nova’s new creation. “Finn is being dramatic. In other news, that roll was pretty damn good, Nova.”
“I’m so confused,” I mutter. “Why are you giving up sex for a year?”
“I’m sure that I’m not,” Jake says and his eyes linger on me, making my skin heat.
“Four to six weeks,” Finn announces, sighing in relief. “That’s still a long time, but at least it’s not a year. I would fucking implode if it was a year.”
“I’m sure you would,” Jake replies popping some fries into his mouth. He chews, swallows and then shrugs. “I can handle it. I haven’t had sex since early June anyway.”
