Page 128 of Come Back to Me

“Okay,dude. You have barbecue sauce on your face.” Without any hesitation, I raise my thumb and wipe the sauce off with it.

Our eyes meet, and this burning sensation erupts in the pit of my stomach.

Nobody else exists.

We’re living in our own world.

He doesn’t look at me in a way where he sees my beauty. He looks at me like he truly sees me for who I am and not for what I look like on the outside.

Oh, I’m in trouble.

My tongue cleans the sauce off my thumb, but I use a napkin to wipe off any sticky residue.

Why did I think that was a good idea? And why did I do this again?

We spend the rest of lunch eating in complete silence.

When Valerie comes back over to us, the silence gets funneled out by the sound of her voice. “Are we all done here?”

“I think so,” Grayson says.

I push my bowl closer to her, so it’s easier for her to take itaway. She places the basket inside the bowl, along with our used silverware.

“Where are you guys going after this?” Valerie asks, looking at both of us.

“Sweet & Salty,” I quickly say.

“Ah, I’m not surprised. Are you working today?”

“No, it’s my day off, but I want to stop by and see how things are going.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back with the check.” She scurries off over to the touch screen on the opposite end of the bar to print out our check.

“Hey, I’m sorry about what I did.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’re good.”

“Are you sure?”

“Don’t overthink this,” he says sternly.

He knows me so well. And yet, saying that to me doesn’t help. This will make me overthink what I did more than I would’ve originally. He’s igniting a bomb that’s about to be set off.

“Okay,” I say.

Valerie comes back with her portable machine for us to use to pay our check. She doesn’t leave either. She waits for us to be done. And by us, I mean Grayson.

He swiped the machine from her before I had the chance to. It takes him a couple of minutes to tap his card, add a tip, sign his name, and email a receipt to himself.

“Here you go.” He hands Valerie back her machine.

“Thank you guys for coming in. It was good to see you!” She raises her voice as she slowly walks over to another table.

We hop off our barstools, and I grab my purse from the ledge underneath the bar.

“Likewise!” Grayson shouts to her.

After we exit the restaurant, we drive over to Sweet & Salty. It’s too hot to be walking outside today. I hope we get to feelsome cool air soon because I don’t know how much longer I can take with it being in the high 80s or low to mid 90s every day.