“Don’t sleep much,” he said.
“I just put on a pot of coffee. It’s on the house,” I said, starting to ramble. “I’d offer you breakfast, but I just discovered that not only is the oven busted, but the grill also just went out, so I’m going to have to improvise there.”
“Yeah, I heard you had some trouble with your contractor.”
“No good, piece of poop, lying jerk face,” I muttered under my breath, and Scooby chuckled. I wrinkled my nose. “Sorry.”
“Lucky for you, I’m an electrician.”
“You are?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Happy to have a look.”
“Oh my god, that would be amazing,” I said, then frowned. “But I don’t have any money. I know you think I have fifty-million, but I wasn’t lying—”
“I know you weren’t lying.”
“You do? Wait…” I narrowed my eyes. “What changed between yesterday and today?”
“I met you.”
Lordy, the man was gonna make me lose my mind. Or maybe just my panties.
“I’ll pay you something,” I rushed to say. “I’ll figure out—”
“The coffee will be just fine, Rowan,” he said.
I smiled. “And free refills.”
“Now, you better not start spoilin’ me or I might keep comin’ back.”
I shivered at the prospect. “Everyone gets free refills, Scooby.”
He grinned. “Show me the oven.”
I nodded, locking the door again, then leading him back to the kitchen. My line cook, Monty, walked in just as Scooby was pulling the oven away from the wall.
Lamont Haywood was in his late fifties and had been down on his luck for most of his life (his words). He’d recently been released from county jail after serving one year for trespassing and couldn’t find a job anywhere in the city. He lived in a nearby halfway house that didn’t have a phone, so would use the payphone outside the diner to setup job interviews. It was one of the last remaining payphones in the city and Lamont would stand right next to it all day long should any possible employer call him back. The only time he’d ever leave his post was to come inside to order a cup of coffee or use the restroom. He was soft spoken, gentle and had one of the kindest faces I’d ever seen. He’d been hanging around the diner for almost a week until I could no longer handle watching a man nearly freeze to death, so I’d invited him in for a cup of coffee, on the house. This led to him insisting he cook for me, which in turn, led to the best freaking biscuits and gravy I’d ever had, in my life. I hired him on the spot.
We’d set some ground rules, and he’d been with me ever since.
“Damn, oven busted again?” Monty asked.
“Yes, sorry, I texted you yesterday, did you not see it?”
Monty sheepishly held up what was left of a cell phone I’d given him. “I’m sorry, Rowan. I’m not used to having one of these things in my pocket, and I sort of sat on it. I planned on replacing it today after work.”
“Well, we won’t be doing any cooking unless the stupid range starts working again.”
“Looks like the pilot light starter is burnt out. It was probably faulty and shorted out. I can replace it, no problem,” Scooby said on a grunt from his place on the floor as he pulled the back panel off the unit.
Monty gave me a dubious expression, his eyebrows raised as he nodded toward the broken appliance. “Fingers crossed.”
“Why don’t you head down to the cell phone place now, drop off your phone, come back here. Hopefully by then the oven will be up and running again. Either way I’ll still pay you for a full day.”
“Okay, I’ll go get this dealt with and swing back by.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Be careful.”