Burned (8 page)

“I dislike her on principal,” I decided. “I don’t like her because of what she did to you. And so maybe I want to make her just a little bit miserable. It would be a nice payback.”

He huffed out a quiet laugh. “Kinda sounds like you want to defend my honor.”

“Damn right,” I said as I grinned back.

He lowered his face so his lips were close to my ear. His voice was barely above a whisper when he asked, “Just how are you going to do that?”

I answered by sliding my hand up from the back of his neck to the back of his head. I turned my face so that my lips brushed against his. In an instant, they were no longer just brushing, casually kissing. Jake kissed me like it was something we had been doing for years. He kissed me until I was relieved that he had kept his hands around my waist. It helped me keep my balance when my knees felt like they were going to give way.

When he finally broke the kiss, he gave me a sheepish grin. I was so entranced by him I didn’t even glance around to see if Darby had noticed.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” Jake said.

I winced. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s not very classy to be making out on the dance floor. With your pretend date.”

He brushed his fingers against my cheek. “That’s not it at all. I was hoping that when I kissed you, it would be for our benefit. No one else’s.”

“Oh,” I said somewhat breathlessly. “I guess there’s always next time.”

The next morning I woke up with my heart pounding chaotically and my ear drums feeling ready to shatter. My room was filled with a deafening, cacophonous noise that made my head want to implode.

I blinked hard as I looked around my familiar bedroom.

Though I was wide awake I was disoriented.

I flew out of bed, not taking the time to unwrap myself from my bedding. I stumbled, barely able to keep myself from crashing onto the floor. I grabbed onto the edge of the dresser and kicked the tangle of sheets off of my feet.

“What the hell!” I whined as I cringed. The shrill, ear-splitting sound that had awakened me continued to blare from the hallway. I pulled my bedroom door open to find Jake standing in front of it. The air smelled charred and looked a little hazy.

With a sheepish smile he waved a kitchen towel in front of the smoke detector that hung directly across from my bedroom.

“Sorry about that,” he said as the pulsating screech finally ceased.

I pressed my hand against my chest. I could feel my heart banging around underneath it.

His gaze drifted over me and I realized how little I was wearing. A pair of tiny boxers and a cami that was most likely rather see-through. I crossed my arms over my chest.

Jake grimaced, pulling his eyes away as he looked toward the kitchen, scratching the back of his neck. “Uh, I…,” he stammered. “I’m sorry about the smoke detector. I’m sure that wasn’t a great way to wake up.”

“It’s fine,” I said as I leaned against the doorway. “But what’s that smell?”

“I was going to make you breakfast to thank you for going with me last night. Apparently all I’m doing is burning you some bacon,” Jake said.

“You’re making me breakfast?” No one had ever made me breakfast. I mean, sure, Mom had poured me a bowl of cereal a time or two but that didn’t really count.

“Well,” he said with a sigh, “not anymore. I kind of made a mess of things.”

“Give me a minute and I’ll come help you. Maybe we can salvage some of it.”

He nodded and I closed the door. I quickly assessed my wardrobe, swiping a pair of jeans off of the chair and a fitted tee out of my drawer.

“Dammit!”

His voice carried all the way down the hall. I cringed wondering what else had gone wrong. I squirmed into my jeans and pulled the shirt over my head.

Jake glanced up from the stove as I walked into the kitchen. He did not look happy.

“I thought maybe I’d done okay with the eggs but…” He lifted the pan for my inspection. Yeah, they were not okay. “I forgot to take them off the burner when I went to deal with the smoke detector.”

He dropped the pan back on the stove and gazed at it forlornly.

“It was a nice thought,” I offered.

He stepped away from the smoking mess. “Nice thoughts aren’t very filling. I’m starving and figured you would be too.”

“Well,” I said, “there’s always the café.”

Fifteen minutes later we were waiting to be seated. Clarissa, a friend of Max and Holly’s, was our waitress. The girl was sweet. Almost too sweet, like adding a packet of sugar to your soda.

I had gotten to know her pretty well during the time I worked here.

Clarissa smiled at us but I noticed the slight grimace as her nose reflexively twitched. “I’m sorry. Do you smell that?” she asked. She tossed a look over her shoulder, eyeing up the kitchen.

Jake plucked his tee shirt out, away from his body and took a sniff. I picked up a lock of my hair and sniffed that as well. Sure enough, the stench was coming from us. My hair had sucked up the smell of charred bacon and burnt eggs. I hadn’t noticed it while we were outside walking. But in here…yeah, it was a little hard to miss.

Jake slapped his hands over his face and let out a pained groan.

Clarissa looked confused.

“It’s my fault,” Jake admitted as he looked up at Clarissa. “I was trying to make Lanna breakfast.”

Her eyebrows shot up and a questioning look slid into place.

“I scorched the bacon. And the eggs,” Jake continued. “So we’re here for breakfast instead.”

I could tell by the way she had started bouncing on her toes just a bit that she wanted to ask for more information. I was pretty sure she’d jumped to the wrong conclusion.

“Jake is staying at Max’s while he and Holly are gone,” I said. “That’s how we ended up together so bright and early in the morning.”

It really wasn’t all that early. It was almost ten, but I was pretty sure I got my point across. Or not.

I sidestepped her and headed toward my favorite table in the back corner.

“So you two aren’t going out?” she asked as she scampered along behind us.

She apparently needed clarification.

“We’re not. We’re just friends,” I said. I dropped into the vinyl clad booth.

“Guess not,” Jake told her with a smile. He took the seat across from me.

“I’ll have the number four,” I said without even having to look at the menu. After working here for several months, I had it memorized. Apparently Jake did too.

“The number seven for me,” he said.

“Coffee?” she asked.

“No,” I said with a scowl. How anyone could drink something so foul was beyond me.

“Right,” Clarissa said as she gave herself a little smack in the head. “I should know that by now. Orange juice, though, right?”

“Actually,” I said, “I’ll have a glass of milk please.” Milk went with waffles far better than orange juice did.

“I’ll have some coffee,” Jake said.

“Right,” Clarissa agreed. “Is that everything?”

We both nodded and then she trotted away.

“Sorry about the…the smell,” Jake said. He gave me an embarrassed smile.

I laughed because there really wasn’t much else I could do about it. Not until I could go home and shower. “Don’t worry about it.”

He pulled a napkin out of the dispenser and began to fidget with it.

“Hey, Jake?”

He glanced up at me.

“What did you mean, you guess not? When Clarissa asked if we were dating?”

The tips of his ears reddened. “Oh…nothing. It’s just that I thought maybe…”

I raised an eyebrow.

I waited.

He fidgeted.

“Jake, what?”

He shook his head and dropped the napkin. “Nothing, really. I just thought that maybe after last night, we might want to…I mean, maybe we should try…”

“Dating?” I finished for him.

“Yes. That.”

“Well,” I said, “it’s not that I’d be opposed. It’s more a matter of you never having asked.”

He smiled as he reached across the table and clasped my hand. “Lanna, will you go out with me? On a date?”

I squeezed his hand and grinned back at him. “I would love to.”

“Here are your drinks,” Clarissa said with a puzzled frown. She was gazing at our joined hands. Her gaze flickered to Jake, then me. She set down my glass and Jake’s cup before scurrying off to the kitchen again.

“Poor girl looked confused,” Jake said. “I hope she didn’t think we were lying to her.”

An echoing crash and the sound of glass breaking made me jump in my seat. I yanked my hand from Jake’s and spun around to see where the commotion had come from.

“You damn klutz!” a man shouted.

Jake flew out of the booth, crossing the short distance to Clarissa.

“I’m sorry,” a teary Clarissa murmured. “It was an accident. I’m really s—”

“You should be!” the man shouted again.

I hoped that seeing Jake and I holding hands hadn’t caused the accident. Clarissa didn’t seem to be able to concentrate on more than one thing at a time. I felt bad, wondering if her confusion had distracted her.

The rest of the patrons watched in stunned silence as the man scooped some scrambled eggs off his pants and tossed them at Clarissa who was kneeling on the floor. She was trying to scoop up the remnants of food and shattered glass while he continued to shout insults at her.

“Hey, now!” Jake growled as he stepped between the fuming patron and Clarissa. He pointed a finger in the man’s face. “I saw
you
crash into her! She was walking by and you stood up without looking to see if anyone was coming!”

I got up from our booth and knelt down by Clarissa who now had silent tears streaming down her face.

“I’ve got this,” I said as I put a hand on her shoulder. “Why don’t you go to the restroom and clean yourself up?”

She emitted a little squeaking sound as she nodded and then shot to her feet. She hurried around the corner to the restrooms at the back of the café. I went behind the counter and pulled out the garbage can, a dustpan and a broom. As I knelt down next to the mess again, Roberta, the manager came shooting through the double doors. She wiped her hands on her apron while assessing the situation.

“What’s going on out here?” she asked.

“One of your employees decided to toss me my breakfast,” the man shouted.

“Clarissa?” Roberta asked as she cringed.

“How the hell should I know?!” he rumbled.

I picked up the largest chunks of broken glass and clusters of hot eggs, toast and pancakes while they argued over my head.

“That’s not what happened at all,” Jake said. “I saw the whole thing. I’m telling you, it wasn’t her fault.”

I carried the wastebasket back to its spot behind the counter. I came back with a handful of soapy rags and I scrubbed the floor. By now, the man was near the door and Jake was in the process of ushering him out. As soon as the sticky mess was cleaned up, I went into the bathroom to check on Clarissa.

She was standing in front of the sink. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. The strands at her hairline were wet, as if she’d splashed water on her face. She scrubbed at her skin with a crunchy paper towel.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She let out a little puff of air. “I’m fine. I should’ve been paying closer attention.”

“Jake said it wasn’t your fault.”

“
Of course
it was my fault,” she said. “You know that when you’re working you need to pay attention to everything.”

“You can’t anticipate everyone’s moves,” I soothed. “He should’ve looked before trying to leap out of his booth.”

She looked as if she wanted to argue the point. I gave her a look that let her know she could try, but she couldn’t win.

She sighed. “I do not want to go back out there.”

“It’s okay. He’s gone. There aren’t that many other customers,” I said. “And I’m sure that at least some of them saw what happened. They know it wasn’t your fault.”

“You’re sure he’s gone?”

“Yes. Jake was ushering him out.”

Clarissa grimaced. “Roberta is going to be mad.”

I shrugged. “Maybe not. She doesn’t need customers like that anyway.”

She fanned her hands against her face for a few moments before turning to me. “What’s really going on with you and Jake?”

I smiled. “He asked me out, like, just now. Right after you took our order.”

“Really?! He’s so perfect! He’s hot, smart, driven! That guy is going places,” Clarissa said.

“Sweet,” I reminded her. “He’s a sweetheart too.”

She nodded. “Oh, I know. He’s like the perfect package.”

After a few more minutes of coaxing, Clarissa emerged from the security of the bathroom. A few customers gave her sympathetic glances but most were too busy scarfing down their food to notice.

“See,” I said. “No biggie.”

She gave me a weak smile and headed to a group that had just taken a seat.

I went back to my booth. Our food had been delivered—probably by Roberta—during my absence.

“I can’t stand people like that,” Jake said quietly. “He reminds me of my…of Frederic. I remember this one time, we were at the Country Club. He’d been drinking and he was telling this story about his golf game. He swung his hand around and he knocked a pitcher of water off the table. It shattered on the floor. He started screaming at the closest waitress, blaming it on her, trying to save face. He ended up getting the poor lady fired and she wasn’t even within three feet of our table at the time.” He shook his head, looking frustrated with himself. “I’ve always wished I would’ve said something. Maybe I could’ve saved her job. Or maybe not. Frederic is used to getting his way. But at least I should’ve tried. Anyhow, I didn’t do anything that time but since then, I’ve promised myself I’ll never sit back and watch something like that happen.”

“Clarissa appreciated you sticking up for her. That was a really nice thing to do,” I said.

“Look who’s talking,” he said. “You got down on the floor and cleaned up her mess.”

“Eh,” I said with shrug, “looks like we both helped take care of some trash.”

“Speaking of unpleasant people,” Jake segued, “sorry I didn’t introduce you to more of my family last night.”