“Feeling better, Luna?” another voice asked, drawing my gaze back toward the door as Rip walked right behind me.
It was the new guy, Ashton, at the door, holding what looked like a bag from the burger truck that was a block away from the shop.
“Yeah,” I said, shooting him a smile. “I can finally turn my head a little. See?”
The blond man smiled as he dropped his bag into the seat in front of mine. “Nice.”
“Thanks,” I told him.
Out of my line of vision, Rip stuck something into the microwave.
“Everyone was complaining about you not being here,” Ashton kept going as he pulled his seat out.
“Aww, they don’t have anyone else to pick on is all,” I joked.
Two bites of food later, the scrape of the chair on my other side being pulled out had me preparing for Rip to drop into it, and he did. He had a reusable glass container with what looked like… chicken, brown rice, and veggies. Then I looked down at mine and found the same sticky, tan noodles, and wilted brown vegetables that still didn’t taste any better than they had the first day.
He must have peeked at my food too because our eyes met, and I had to shoot him a grin.
The cheek closest to me went up—it was the one with the dimple too—and I couldn’t help but feel a little triumph at our inner joke.
I nudged my container an inch closer to him and asked, totally serious, “You want some, boss?”
That cheek went up a little higher as he replied very clearly, using all the depth of that deep voice, “I’m good.”
“You’re sure?”
His eyes swung back to my food, and he seemed to think about it for a moment before he took the fork in my hand, dug it into the container, and like he’d done it a dozen times before, scooped the food it into his mouth in the time it took me to process what he’d done. His jaw worked… Those teal eyes went wide…
And he gagged.
Ripley freaking gagged before his throat bobbed forcefully and he swallowed it.
I opened my mouth wide as I watched him shake his head afterward like he was trying to erase the memory from his brain.
“Rip,” I managed to get out while still having my mouth open.
“What the fuck was that?” he asked, reaching for his bottle of water and gulping down half of it before shooting me what I was pretty sure he meant to be a horrified expression but was just adorable instead.
“Lo mein,” I told him, starting to laugh.
He looked at me. Then he grabbed my Rubbermaid, shoved his chair back and dumped everything in it into the trash.
“Rip!” I hissed, laughing. “What are you doing? That’s perfectly good food!”
Already pushing his chair back in closer to the table, he shot me a look as he set the now empty container down and picked up his own. “There’s nothing perfectly good about any of that, Luna,” he grumbled, shaking his head as he scraped half of his meal into my bowl. He scooted it back toward me with a lift of his chin. “Eat that.”
I blinked, ignoring the prickly feeling that popped up on my arms as I took in what he’d done. “I don’t want to eat your food.”
“Luna.”
“What if you get hungry later because you only ate half?”
That handsome face changed, just a little, but then he rolled his eyes and said in that bossy voice, “Eat it.”
It hadn’t hit me until right then that neither Mr. C nor Ashton were saying a word or had been since Rip sat down next to me and we had started talking. I wondered what Mr. Cooper would think.
But Rip talking again made me focus on him. “You’re really going to argue with me over eating?” he had the nerve to ask.
I pressed my lips together and muttered, “No.” Then I stopped doing that, curled my finger over the top of the bowl, and dragged it over. “Thank you for sharing. You didn’t have to.”
His warm reply was a grunt.
If it hadn’t been for my phone beeping from its spot on my table, I would have kept going, but I glanced down to see I’d gotten a message from Lily.
After the call from my dad, anytime the phone went off, it made me paranoid.
I unlocked the screen and tapped her message open.
Lily: Are you ready for tonight?
Okay, at least it wasn’t anything else. Just that date. Tonight.
Did my neck start hurting again all of a sudden or was I imagining it?
I texted her back.
Me: Yes…
Me: My neck hurts though.
That was more of an exaggeration than it needed to be, but….
Lily: Don’t turn your head then, silly.
Peeking at Rip, I could see he’d pulled a magazine out of somewhere—his pocket?—and unrolled it beside him. But it looked like he was dragging his tongue over his teeth, making a face as he did it. My food had that effect on people.
I thought about what to write her back, before finally glancing down at the new food in my container. It was exactly like what I had thought: stir-fried rice with veggies and a chicken thigh. I scooped up some rice with my fork and shoved it into my mouth, blinking as I chewed and swallowed.
I slid my gaze over to Rip and took another bite.
It was freaking delicious. I wondered if he’d made it or—or what? Unless he had a cook who went over to his place—or a woman who made his food—he’d made it.
Maybe it was a woman who made it for him. I had no idea if he had a girlfriend. Or maybe not even a girlfriend but just a… friend. Maybe with benefits. No one had ever mentioned him having a woman in his life, and it wasn’t like he brought anyone over to the shop other than the guy he’d met in the lot.
“Did you make this?” I asked him.
He didn’t even glance at me. “Uh-huh.”
Okay then. I texted Lily a response while I scooped more food into my mouth.
Me: I really don’t want to go, Lily.
Lily: Come on. Do it. Who knows, maybe you’ll hit it off. I promise he’s really cute.
I knew he was cute. She had shown me a picture of him at least three times. That wasn’t the point though.
Lily: But I’ll see if he can go another day if you want.
I didn’t feel like going in the first place, but… I was supposed to be trying. So…
I glanced at Rip again, watching as he flipped through the magazine while digging his fork into his food without looking at it. He’d shared his food with me. Food he’d made.
The heart wants what it wants, but the brain knows what it can get.
And it was with that thought that I wrote her back.
Me: Yeah, if you can.
Lily: Okay, I will.
I only slightly felt like a jerk after that, but at least I wasn’t outright cancelling. I was still trying. Just… not today.
For some reason, I glanced to my other side to see what Mr. Cooper was doing since he’d been so quiet, and I had to pause, looking at him when I saw the smile he had on his face while he ate his sandwich.
“Is it that good?” I couldn’t help but ask him.
His blue eyes came to me, that smile still on his face, and Mr. Cooper chuckled lightly. “Yeah, it’s that good, Luna.” His smile grew even wider right before he moved a hand to pat the top of my head. “Best sandwich I’ve ever had.”
*
Hours later, when it was five o’clock and I was pretty much done with my work for the day, which consisted of me barely talking to Jason, who had been eerily decent, I checked my phone again and found more messages from Lily spread out over the afternoon.
Lily: I emailed him but haven’t heard back.
Lily: Still nothing
Lily: No response, mama Luna. I gotta get to work, but I’ll see if he writes me back. Sorry. <3
He hadn’t responded?
What if he’d gone to the bar we had agreed to meet at and was going to wait?
I sent my sister a text and told her it was fine then grabbed my things to head out. Rip was busy talking to a couple of the shop guys, so I couldn’t even wave goodbye to him. I did call out bye to Miguel, who was still watching me like I was going to hurl vomit at him from across the room.