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A waitress paused at his side on her way back to the kitchen and gave him a warm smile, her light brown ponytail swishing as she came to a stop. “Are you here with someone? Can I help you to your table?”

“Oh, no. I’m just… here.” Jasper gave a tense laugh. “Is Konrad around?”

What a stupid question. It was his restaurant.

She tilted her head, then glanced over at an empty table. “Are you Jasper?”

“Um,” was all he managed.

“You’re Jasper,” she decided, and he was sure whatever criteria she’d just used to deduce that was probably offensive. “Please, sit. We have your table ready right here.”

He was led to a booth of deep red velvet, where a single candle burned at the center. Jasper’s hand tightened around the stems of the roses behind his back until he was sure they would snap. His mind conjured up a flurry of memories of sitting with Konrad at this table. Their table. He looked at the waitress, who just smiled at him, kindly gesturing for him to take a seat.

“I’m sorry, this isn’t mine,” he said.

“Of course it is.”

The voice didn’t belong to the waitress.

Jasper turned around slowly. He needed that long moment to gather his composure, hoping it wouldn’t show on his face, the way that accent washed over his senses and soothed something at his very core. The attempt at collecting himself didn’t keep his heart from stuttering at the sight of Konrad standing in front of him.

“How did you know I would come?” Jasper asked, thankful his voice sounded so much steadier than he felt. He was also glad the waitress had the mercy to make herself scarce as soon as Konrad appeared.

“I didn’t. But that table would be yours just the same, even if you didn’t come to claim it.”

Jasper wasn’t sure they were talking about the table at all. Under his perfect countenance, there was a pang of something in Konrad’s eyes, an echo of the same yearning Jasper had felt since they parted.

“I just came to say congratulations,” Jasper said, heat rising to his cheeks as he took the roses from behind his back. “These are… for you.”

“You remembered. Thank you, Jasper.”

Red roses were such a conventional choice that it would have been just as easy to assume Jasper had chosen them for that purpose, but they both knew he didn’t. Of course he remembered. Their fingers brushed as Konrad accepted them, and when Jasper’s eyes tentatively flicked up, Konrad was already looking at him. Jasper swallowed and Konrad smiled.

“I’m gonna get out of your hair now,” Jasper said, raging against every instinct that begged to just grab Konrad and kiss him.

“Nonsense. You cannot come to the opening of my restaurant and not allow me to serve you.”

Jasper didn’t want food, he wanted to apologize. He wanted to fix this, whatever this was, or had almost been. But this was Konrad’s night. It wasn’t about what Jasper needed, and he wasn’t going to treat it as such. So he gave a stiff nod and sat down in the booth. “I don’t need a menu. Chef’s choice,” he said, unbuttoning his suit jacket.

“Very well. I will have Emily bring out the wine while I cook.”

Konrad was overseeing the first night of his restaurant being open and he was still going back to the kitchen in his very nice suit to cook for Jasper. Not for the first time, it occurred to Jasper that Konrad was way too good for him. He smoothed his palms on his thighs as Konrad disappeared, his presence soon replaced with the waitress from before, who poured Jasper a glass of pink wine that he had no doubt was horrifyingly expensive.

“I recognize you from the picture now,” she said with a small smile, taking out a black notepad. “Can I get you an appetizer while you wait?”

“No, thank you.”

It didn’t occur to him to ask what picture she was talking about until she was already gone. Maybe she knew him from his work, if she liked tattoos. His efforts to keep his face off social media hadn’t always been successful.

Jasper realized he’d slid halfway into the booth, leaving room next to him, leaving the space open where Konrad usually sat when they had their dinners. Jasper’s body couldn’t help making a place for Konrad at his side even when his heart wasn’t ready to do the same.

His eyes drifted toward the door to the kitchen and saw Emily almost bump into Konrad on his way out. Konrad steadied her with a hand on her arm and a patient smile, and something about his almost fatherly demeanor toward her gave Jasper an unprecedented amount of butterflies.

Konrad not only brought out his meal, but also sat next to him as he’d done many times before. The flickering candlelight twinkled on his earring and turned his brown eyes to molten amber. “I do hope it’s to your liking.”

“It always is.”

Jasper wanted to shake him and demand that Konrad treat him horribly. It made him feel a million times worse that Konrad was still such a gracious host, still seemed pleased to have Jasper there, after Jasper took a perfectly good thing and sent it up in flames.