She’s going to kill me. She’s going to straight up murder me dead. “Yup, it’s delicious. So, soup?” She grinds her words out between pearly white, andalmostperfectly straight teeth. She looks as though her folks paid a metric ton of cash for expensive orthodontic work—Colgate ad-straight and sparkly clean, all but this one tooth. It’s on the bottom, not in the center, but just to the left. It’s just the tiniest bit crooked. It’s endearing, because otherwise, she’s pretty fucking perfect, so that one imperfection makes her more like the rest of us. It makes it easier for me to come in here day after day and try my hand at getting the pretty girl to smile for me.
I shouldn’t be here, but if I’m going to break the rules, then I’m going to try my damnedest to get a smile before it’s all over.
“Did you make the soup yourself, Katrina?”
“No.”
“But you made the relish on the regular burgers?” I bring my words down to an almost whisper to draw her closer. “You make that, right?”
“Yes.” Leaning closer, closer, closer, she nervously clears her throat, then her eyes flare wide and her spine snaps straight when she realizes my dirty trick. Growling beneath her breath, she presses her pen to the pad of paper and reaffirms her anger. “You want the burger or not?”
“Yup.” I hand over my unused menu and flash a smug grin. “Burger with the relish and fries, please. And lemonade.”
Katrina Blair is beautiful, young, and wears her sassy pants to work every single day. She doesn’t often show her sass tome, since I never complain and always tip, but though her words are strictly schooled, she can’t control the way her eyes scream her thoughts.
All I have to do to know what she truly thinks is to gaze into her deep green eyes and wait for the blush to fill her cheeks.
She can’t escape the explosive emotion I was witness to last night, and the fact she’s slipping up tonight and carrying around a bad attitude tells me she’s still a little raw about it. I’m not here to tease, and I’m definitely not trying to add to her shitty day. I just want a moment to breathe clean air and get my fill before I have to go home and mind my own damn business again.
It’s as certain as death and taxes; eventually I have to go home and leave her be. But before that moment comes, I’m saying Katrina Blair needs to loosen up a little and escape the slavery she subjects herself to, so if asking her the specials every damn day or trying out a stupid joke helps her do that, then who am I to argue with the universe?
For the longest time, I wondered what the point of all of this was. What’s the point to life? What’s the point to love? What’s the whole fucking point to anything, if it’s all inevitably torn from your grasp anyway?
But astheysay, time heals all wounds, and your hurts start to hurt a little less.
Time doesn’t help me forget the life I used to live so long ago. Because forgetting such an important part of me would be impossible. But with distance comes a buffer, an ability to take a step back and not think you’re drowning every minute of every day. Time has helped me live with my lot and accept that not everything is fair, and no matter how much I hate it, I don’t get to change it.
But with that certainty comes the fact that I was put inthisdiner, inthistown, inthislifetime for a reason. I feel it deep in my heart: there’s a higher purpose for this. But why? When I so clearly cannot pursue anything real with the beautiful woman, why bring me here at all? To test my willpower? To let me feel a little more pain?
I believe in destiny. I must, because if I didn’t, then what was the point to all the pain? Why push me through hell, wring me out, tear the heart from my chest, and then bring me to the other side all alone and bleeding if there was no grand plan? If destiny wasn’t a thing, then that means everything happens by chance. And chance just isn’t good enough for me.
If there’s no grand plan, then why Gemma? Why put me through that?
No, I decided long ago that the universemusthave a plan. I was meant to meet Katrina Blair, and not for a fast fuck and running again before she gets her panties back up. I intend to figure out why I was placed here in this part of my life, but first, I really want the pretty girl to smile for me.