“Didn’t he feed you on that date?” He smirks.
“I guess, but I wasn’t hungry, then.”
“Food suck? Where did he take you?” He asks still a bit cocky, so I decide to take him down a peg.
“Kinda. I mean, he did take me to Samuel’s after all.” I bite back my smile.
Jasper drops the meat he pulled out for my burger and turns to stare at me.
“What?” He asks and raises an eyebrow at me.
I can’t help but burst out laughing. I decide to go easy on him, but I just don’t want to tell him how boring the date was. Let him think Daniel is the new love of my life.
“The food was good. I just wanted a burger, and then Lin texted, and so we cut it a bit short. You saved the cake, right?” I ask.
“Yeah, it’s in the prep fridge.” He nods his head to the fridge on my right.
He turns back to making my burger, but doesn’t look at me again, which allows me to take him in. I’ve never gotten to experience Jasper as a chef. I’ve seen him in his kitchen, when we were growing up, once he started helping his dad, but he wasn’t as confident then, as he is now.
Just watching how seamlessly he manages the grill, while chopping up the lettuce and tomatoes for my burger, is actually a turn on. Who knew?
“Will you be seeing him again?” Jasper asks.
I detect a hint of jealousy in his voice, making me smile.
“Maybe. We both know the season is coming up, and he’ll be helping his parents at the shop this summer.” I tell him.
“He’s a local? Who are his parents?” Jasper asks.
I forget he’s been away for a while, and he doesn’t know everyone, like he used, too.
“He’s Joe and Martha’s son. He’s going to school to be a pharmacist and take over from his dad.” I tell him.
Jasper sets his knife down and leans on the counter.
“Isn’t he a little young for you? He was three grades behind us in school.”
“Well, slim pickings on The Island lately and all. Everyone is so desperate to see me happy, and since Lin set this one up, and she needs a distraction, I agreed. He wasn’t so bad.” I shrug.
Let him stew on it. It will do him some good. He plates my burger without saying anything else.
“Do you know if Lin had dinner?” I ask.
“Yeah, I sent a burger to her. She’s in your room.” He says his tone short.
“Thank you,” I say, as I grab a tray and fill it with my burger, the cake, a bottle of wine, and some sodas.
Jasper eyes the tray, but doesn’t say anything, as I walk out and make my way to my room.
With my hands full, I can’t reach my key, so I knock with my foot calling out, “Room service!”
Lin opens the door with a giggle, and I place the tray on the coffee table.
“Give me five minutes to change, and then I’ll give you all the details, but the juicy ones happened after the date!”
Recounting my boring date, and my encounter with Jasper afterwards, seems to spark some life back into Lin. So for that, it was all worth it. I hope her heartache heals soon.
If only I knew the next heartache would be mine, I might have done things differently.