Jackson shrugged. “Just doing dinner with Mia.”
“I’m surprised she isn’t going out with Jimmy tonight. He seems to be excited.”
Jackson leaned back on his heels and looked up at Ethan, shielding his eyes from the sun. “What was the deal with that anyway? I didn’t know he had a thing for Mia.”
“I guess he always kind of has and decided he better take a chance.”
Jealousy flooded through him. But why? She deserved to be happy. Mia deserved everything. She was the best person he knew.
“Did you know he was going to ask her out?”
“I suspected. But that’s cool, right? You always say you two are just friends.”
Jackson knew Ethan was right, he always said that. So why did it now feel weird to see another guy asking her out?
“Yeah, it’s cool. He better treat her right, though.”
“He will,” Ethan said before looking down at his watch. “I need to get stuff together for the ride, so I’ll catch you later.”
“See ya.” Jackson went back to weeding the planters. His thoughts stuck to Mia as he ripped out the weeds with far more aggression than he planned. He stood to move to the next planter, only to realize he had already weeded all of them. He swiped the back of his hand across his forehead while surveying his work. The sun was high overhead, and the heat had him sweating. Glancing at his watch, he realized he had missed lunch.
Abandoning the supplies, he stepped inside the air-conditioned lobby and pulled in a breath. He went to the restroom and washed his hands before heading over to the restaurant. Waving at the hostess, he walked past her and went straight to the kitchen and through the doors.
Miles stood at a large prepping counter making meals for customers. He didn’t notice Jackson at first until he leaned against the counter near him.
“Hey, man. Finally coming in for lunch?” Miles asked.
“Yeah, lost track of time.”
Miles finished prepping the plates he was working on before setting them up on the counter for a server to take. Then he spun over to the grill. “Burger?”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
He watched Miles move around the kitchen multi-tasking different meals coming in while also preparing Jackson’s lunch. Miles had always been a whiz in the kitchen. He was in hiselement while cooking, so it was a no-brainer that he would be the head chef of the restaurant once the position opened several years prior. And the restaurant thrived because of him. His talent and kindness to the staff kept people happy.
Although most people wouldn’t realize how big of a heart he had just from looking at him. His usual stoic expression had most people thinking he was perpetually serious, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Especially when his daughter was involved.
Miles set Jackson’s burger on a plate and then slid it down the counter toward him.
“Thanks.” Jackson took a bite out of his perfectly cooked burger and groaned in appreciation. “Man, I didn’t realize how hungry I was. This is hitting the spot.”
Miles nodded in acknowledgment as he started on another dish. “So what’s going on?”
“Just weeding the planters out back.”
“No. Not with work. What’s going on? What has you distracted?”
“What makes you think I’m distracted?”
Miles stopped briefly to raise an eyebrow at Jackson. “You rarely get distracted enough to miss lunch.”
Jackson bit into his burger and chewed slowly. He wasn’t sure he wanted to confide in his brothers about his current thoughts on Mia. But out of all of them, Miles was probably the least likely to gossip and give him grief over it.
When he swallowed, he took a long sip of the soda Miles passed him before setting it down and leaning against the counter. “Just thinking about how Jimmy asked Mia on a date.”
“Does it bother you?”
“No. Not really.” Miles gave him a disbelieving look. Jackson sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. “I don’t know. It’s just weird since I’ve never really seen a guy ask her out in front of me,you know? She’s gone on dates and it hasn’t bothered me before, so why does it bother me that Jimmy asked her out?”
