This would have been a nice day to have only a trickle of customers. It would still frustrate me the way it always did when we were slow, but at least I’d have a chance to do some sort of tedious task like filling ketchup bottles while I thought about Deacon and planned tattoos. But that certainly wasn’t meant to be. Instead, I got to face a parade of things I didn’t want to deal with. Including coming face-to-face with Josh.
It came as a complete and not particularly welcome surprise. I had just finished cleaning up a table and was trying to chug down some coffee to keep me going through the rest of the shift when I heard Jake call to me from the front that I had a new table.
I was glad my coffee had been sitting waiting for me to drink it and gone cold when I gulped it down and headed back to the front of the diner. I’d already plastered on my smile when I walked up to the table and noticed him sitting there with three other guys.
The look on his face told me he thought the smile was all for him and was eager to toss it back my way. The guy sitting beside him smirked at him and gave him a bit of a nudge with his elbow as if I wasn’t going to notice it.
“Hey, Rebecca,” Josh said.
That was the most communication we’d had since our date.
“Good morning, Josh. This is a nice surprise.”
Maybe that wasn’t the best thing to say. It was just me being polite, but it sounded like I was happy to see him and was encouraging him on.
“I guess we were just meant to run into each other,” he said.
I was too polite to point out in front of his friends that he knew I worked at the diner and had a really good shot of running into me at any given point if he came in to eat lunch. I just smiled again and looked at the other three, offering up the list of the specials of the day and asking if they had any questions about the menu.
They all ordered drinks, and I got away from the table. The rush was over, which should have been a relief, but it only meant the uncomfortable dance of how much time to spend at Josh’s table. If it was still busy in the diner, I could have just gone by in fast bursts, taking their orders, bringing their food, checking on them, leaving their bills. With all the other tables around them full and the other servers rushing around as well, it wouldn’t seem strange that I wasn’t able to hover around and chat.
That got a little touchier when the crush of people who came in for lunch in the middle of their workday or while they were running their household errands thinned out. With empty tables and more downtime, it was obvious when I was just avoiding going near the table. That didn’t do much to reduce his flirting and the longing looks from across the diner.
I knew he wasn’t just going to accept that we had one date and cherish the memory as he left the diner. He was angling for a second round with every glance, and I noticed him murmuring to his friends as he watched me at a table near theirs.
“Hey, Rebecca,” he called over.
I finished checking in on that table and headed over to his.
“Hi, guys. How is everyone doing? Can I get anyone a refill?” I asked.
Josh leaned slightly toward me. “I would definitely like another drink.”
“Okay, I’ll get that for you.”
“On Saturday. At the bar with you,” he said before the words were out of my mouth.
He’d slipped it in so suddenly, I barely even processed what he said. It took me a second to understand that was his way of asking me out. It was his attempt at being smooth. I had to commend him for that. What I didn’t have to do was go along with it this time.
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Josh. I can’t.”
“It doesn’t have to be the bar,” he said. “We don’t have to go back there if you don’t want to. I totally agree. The burgers were a little greasy. We’ll go somewhere else. Have you ever tried the burgers at McLeod’s?”
“No, thank you. It’s really sweet of you to ask, but I don’t think we should see each other that way again.”
His mouth fell open slightly, and then his eyes narrowed. I awkwardly checked on the other three guys, then hurried away from the table.
I knew Josh was upset about me rejecting his offer for a second date. He made it many times worse by asking right in front of his friends, but there was no way I was going to even pretend to go on a date with him. Not only because our date was something I would ever want to repeat, but also because I had no interest in any man other than Deacon. My attention was no longer up for grabs.