Unexpected (9 page)

Since it's Friday,
it's payday at the diner, which means I have to suck it up and go
back in there to pick up my last paycheck. I'm not looking forward
to facing Geoffrey again, but it'll be the last time I ever have to
deal with him.

At least there's a
bright side to it.

The minute I
pull into the parking lot, I notice there are
several empty
parking spaces.
Usually they have a
decent lunch crowd on Fridays. I walk inside and the first person I
see is Willa. Her auburn hair is in two pigtail braids, and she's
wearing her trademark red lipstick. She glances up at me, then does
a double take and runs over. “Hey, what's up?”

“
Hey. I'm
here to pick up my last paycheck.”

“
Damn it.”
She clenches a fist, scrunching up her face. “I was hoping it
wasn't
true.
”

“
Hoping what
wasn't true?”

“
That you
quit.” She leans in closer. “You were the only person I could stand
to work with around here.”

I press my lips
together to hold back my chuckle. “I'm sorry.”

Willa waves away my
apology. “Don't be. If I were in your shoes, I would've done the
exact same thing. Gimme one sec. I'll go grab your paycheck from
the back.” She gives me a wink and runs back there.

I stand near the
door so I can make a quick exit before Geoffrey sees me.
Unfortunately, he walks out of the kitchen about ten seconds later
and immediately spots me. Damn.

He saunters over, a
smug look on his face. “Here to ask for your job back, Alina?
Because I already hired a replacement.”

I give him a fake
smile. “No, I'm not. And even if you hadn't hired a replacement, I
wouldn't be interested. I'm just here for my paycheck.”

“
I don't have
the paychecks yet. There's been a delay.”

As if on cue, Willa
comes out from the back room and waves an envelope at me. “That's
funny, because Willa seems to have it in her hands right now.” She
hands it to me and I pretend to look it over carefully. “Yep, this
is my paycheck. Maybe you forgot, or maybe you're just a jerk.
Either way, I don't even care anymore. I have better things ahead
of me.”

Geoffrey flares his
nostrils, then spins around to go back into the kitchen. Willa
smirks and says, “Good luck. Although I doubt you'll need it.” Her
eyes brighten and she reaches for my arm. “We should hang out
sometime.”

Willa and I have
only known each other for a couple months and worked together only
a handful of times, which didn't give us much of a chance to talk,
but I always liked being around her. So when she says this, it hits
me how much I could use another friend in my life. “We should.” I
get out my phone and she recites her number as I plug it in.

“
Awesome.
Text me so I have your number.” She glances over
at the
people in the booth near the corner.
“Looks like they need me over there. I'll talk to you later,
okay?”

I nod and say,
“Okay.” She flashes me a beaming smile and heads off.

When I get to my
car, I send her a quick text message so I don't forget to send it
later. I pull out of the parking lot and wonder where to go after I
deposit the check. I don't have any more places to check out or any
interviews yet, and I really don't want to sit around Ryan's for
the rest of the day until he gets home.

Since I haven't had
much of a chance to talk to my mom since Tuesday, I head over to
her house. She's in the middle of a massive baking project for her
church's bake sale. I offer my help and end up stirring a large
bowl full of brownie mix. “How much more of this do you have to
go?” I ask.

“
Once we take
care of that batch of brownies, I'm going to get started on a
couple pies. I have the pie crusts ready so all we have to do is
add the filling.”

“
Cool.”

After a minute of
silence, Mom says, “So, how has it been since, well, everything
happened?”

I shrug. “I guess
it's been okay. Drew called me when he found out about me not
working at the diner, but I told him off. Pretending to worry about
me now isn't going to make me come crawling back.”

She shakes
her head.
“I thought he had potential.”

“
Potential to
break hearts,” I mutter.

“
You can't
know these things.” She takes the bowl from me and pours it into
the pan, then hands it back.

I run a
finger over the edge of the bowl and lick the brownie batter off my
finger before she can stop me.
“Considering Drew isn't the
first guy to cheat on me, something has
got
to
give.”

“
Like I said,
you can't know these things. My high school sweetheart, Paul, used
to be my everything. He was so nice, kind, and loving.
When
we graduated, however, everything changed.
I don't know exactly what sparked it, but he wasn't
my Paul anymore.” She places the pan in the oven, then turns back
to me. “People change, Alina. Sometimes for the better and
sometimes for the worse. You have to learn to have faith and hope
for the best. Drew may have seemed nice at first, but that's
because he was trying to win you over. His true colors have come
out. It's too bad it took six months, but at least you found this
out now. You're still young and there is someone out
there.”

“
What if I
can't trust him?”

“
Honey,
there's nothing wrong with being cautious, but you gotta have
faith.”

“
Like the
George Michael song?”

“
Yes.”

She pulls out cans
of cherry filling from the cupboard and hands them to me along with
the can opener. “I just don't want to get hurt again.”

“
Sadly,
there's nothing you can do to stop the hurt from happening. You
need to believe in true love. I kissed a lot of frogs before I
found the prince in your father.”

I breathe out a reluctant sigh and say,
“
I guess that's true.”

As I'm
opening the cans, she says,
“What about Ryan?”

I stop mid-turn and
look over at her. “What?”

“
What about
Ryan?” she repeats. She brings pie pans to my side of the counter.
“He's such a sweetie.”

I roll my eyes.
Leave it to my mom to play matchmaker less than a week after I
break up with my boyfriend. “And you're basing this on what, the
thirty seconds you spent on the phone with him?”

She makes a face as
she pours the filling into the pie crust. “I talked to him for
longer than that.”

“
Okay, so how
do you know?”

“
Well, for
one, he's letting you stay with him until you get back on your
feet. Secondly, he drove all the way out here for you last week
when you were upset.”

“
He was only
five miles away.”

She heaves a
heavy sigh.
“I'm just saying he’d be much better for you
than Drew was. Asshole.”

“
Mom!” I peek
out of the kitchen to see where Sasha and Toby are.

“
What? The
kids are outside. They can't hear us.”

“
Jesus, Mom.”
I shake my head. “I barely know Ryan.”

“
Then get to
know him. I can tell that you like him.”

“
I do
not.”

“
Pish posh,
you're such a dirty little liar. Look at the pinking in those
cheeks. And that grin you tried to hide when you said his
name.”

Damnation and a half.
I groan, pressing my face into my hands.

“
Don't feel
bad. It shows on him, too, although I think he's fighting it about
as much as you are.”

He is? “We
both
just
got out of a relationship. I can't
rebound with a guy like Ryan—that's just not nice.” Especially
since he's been such a great friend. “And since when are you trying
to set me up with an almost stranger?”

“Since I noticed that he's the best thing to
ever come in to your life.”

“
How do you
know?”

“Mother's intuition.”

“
Pish posh,”
I say, mocking her.

She grabs a large
wooden spoon and holds it up at me, narrowing her eyes. “Don't you
dare 'pish posh' mother's intuition.”

“
Fine.” I
grab the spoon from her. “Are you going to be making any more
cookies?”

“
I probably
should. Why?”

I slowly smile.
“Because I have a request.”

Chapter
Ten

–
Ryan
–

When I get
home from work, Alina isn't there. I get out my phone and send her
a quick message to see where she's at since I'm going to be making
dinner tonight. She responds right away saying she's on her way. I
turn on the CD player in the kitchen and start prepping for
stir-
fry
. I
have
all the steak, onions, tomatoes,
and peppers cut by the time she gets back.

She comes into the
kitchen. “Sorry, I was at my mom's this afternoon and completely
lost track of time.”

“
It's no
problem.”

“
I've got
something for you.”

When I turn to her,
she's holding out a plastic container filled with cookies. Not just
any cookies, but snickerdoodles. My jaw drops. “Dude! You brought
me cookies?”

She grins. “Of
course. Mom was baking already, so I convinced her to let me make a
batch of these for you.”

I reach in and grab
one, then take a big bite. I moan and close my eyes. “You made
these?” She nods. I finish eating the cookie in one more bite and
reach for another.

She holds up a
finger. “Don't ruin your dinner.”

“
Then don't
make me delicious cookies and tempt me before I finish making it.”
I reach over and pull her in for a side hug. “Thank you for the
cookies.”

“
It was my
pleasure.”

I take the cut-up
meat and vegetables on the cutting board and place everything in
the frying pan. “Aside from baking, what else did you do
today?”

While I finish
making dinner, Alina tells me about her day. Then we take platefuls
of food to the living room and watch TV while we eat. I take her
plate from her to put in the sink when we're done. I bring the
cookies back with me to the couch.

She sees the
cookies and laughs. “Oh, so
that's
why
you wanted to go to the kitchen.”

“
Take one,” I
say, holding it out to her. “I'm happy to share.”

“
I'll just
have one. Mom made way too many sweets and I sampled more than I
should have.”

“
Do you like
to bake, too?”

“
Mm-hmm. I
love baking.”

“
You're very
good at it.” The gears in my mind start to turn and an idea forms.
“Have you ever thought about doing that as a job?”

Her eyebrows
furrow. “Bake for a living?”

“
Why not?
It's something you've got a knack for, something you enjoy...” I
shrug. “It's not often you find that kind of combination in a
job.”

She thinks it over
for a moment. A slow smile builds until she's full-on grinning.
“You're brilliant, you know that? Now I have to see if there are
any bakeries hiring right now.”

“
Bring them a
batch of these and they'll hire you, even if they don't need the
help.” She laughs and turns back to the TV. After a few minutes,
something dawns on me. “Hey. How did you know these were my
favorite?”

“
You
mentioned it once, some time we were all hanging out a few weeks
ago.”

“
And you
remembered?”

“
Yeah.” She
makes a face. “Why is that so surprising?”

I shake my head. “I
don't know. How can you remember something like that?”

She shrugs. “I
guess I just make it a point to pay attention.”

It's funny—I
dated Victoria for a month and I don't think she even remembered
any of the small things about me. It may seem crazy, but the fact
that Alina remembered something as ridiculously trivial as
snickerdoodles is really playing with my heart. I haven't even
spent a week with her and I already know I want to spend as much
time with her as possible.
It’s actually somewhat painful to
think about this arrangement only being temporary.

I push the thought
aside and focus on what's happening now. I place my arm behind her
on the couch, my hand resting gently on her shoulder. She doesn't
even flinch; instead she leans into it.

Yeah, seeing her
leave is going to be harder than I thought.

~*~

Saturday is a
short day at work because it starts raining in the afternoon. It
throws a damper on the remainder of the work that needs to be done,
so the
supervisor
tells us
to head out and we can pick back up next week. It makes me happy
because it has been a long week, not just work-wise, but also with
everything else happening. I'm grateful for a chance to
get
caught up on other
things.

When I get
back to the apartment, Alina is curled up on the couch reading a
book again. She's wearing those reading glasses, and looking sexy
as fuck. She's gorgeous already, but there's something about those
glasses that
makes her extremely sexy.
I haven't quite pinned down what it is yet, but I
seriously have to figure it out soon before I go crazy.