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Avery waved a chopstick at him before grabbing a piece of a spicy tuna roll.

“You don’t need to know any of them, you have no need for flirting. You’ve got Margot.”

Luke grinned at her.

“Yeah, but I need tokeepMargot.”

Avery smirked at him.

“Didn’t we just talk about how you’re not in any danger of losing her?” She shrugged. “I don’t really know what I’m doing, though I’m getting more comfortable. Every time I try to talk to someone, or someone starts to talk to me, I still feel like a deer in the headlights. I don’t freeze up quite as much anymore, but it’s kind of embarrassing.”

She was pretty sure Taylor would have had a lot more fun at trivia night without having to babysit her. She was grateful to Taylor for bringing her, and yes, some of Taylor’s friends had definitely been checking her out, which was gratifying, but still.

“I’m sure you don’t have anything to be embarrassed about. Do you want me to ask Taylor? She’ll tell me.”

“Luke.” Avery glared at him.

Luke laughed at the look on her face.

“Don’t worry, I was kidding. But seriously, remember, you’re not being graded on this, there’s no test or anything, this is just for fun, okay? I know how you get sometimes.”

This was the problem with Luke. He knew her too well.

“I promise, I’m trying to remember that. I’m trying to have fun, something that is very un-me. Let’s hope I can stick to that.”

Thursday afternoon, Taylor got atext from her old boss, from the restaurant where she’d worked before moving to Noble.

Jenny

Any way you can work a shift tonight? three people called out sick and we’re fully booked. I promise i’ll give you the easy tables

Taylor laughed. Jenny always said that; sometimes she actually meant it.

Taylor

Sure but I can’t get there until just before 6 probably

Jenny

I’ll take it

By 5:55 p.m., she had an apron on, and Jenny was frantically running down the specials.

“I think that’s it,” she said after a few minutes. “Anything else?”

“I’ve got it, don’t worry,” Taylor said. “If I have questions, I’ll find you.”

“I owe you one for this,” Jenny said.

“Oh, don’t worry, I know.” Taylor grinned and tucked a notebook and pen into her pocket. “And I’ll hold you to that.”

The restaurant was packed, but Taylor quickly fell back into the rhythm of it all. She’d waited tables for years, and while she much preferred her predictable schedule at Noble and her consistent paycheck, she had kind of missed the chaos of a packed restaurant, the frantic rush of the servers and hosts and cooks, the ballet of the way they all moved around one another, the guests’ obliviousness to all of it. She quickly memorized the specials, and managed to rave about them even though she hadn’t tasted them. To be fair, she’d eaten a lot of this restaurant’s food, so it was easy to speak with authority.

She delivered a round of drinks to one table that was clearly a first date, and a struggling one, at that. She wished she knew the backstory on this couple, because they both seemed so shy that she had no idea how they’d ever managed to make it on a date with each other. She had to do what she could to make the date a good one, for both of them.

“Have you decided what you’d like to order?” she asked them. “Does either of you need a recommendation? Though you picked two of my favorite wines on the menu, so you probably don’t need me.”

The woman smiled at her, and the man sat up straighter. A compliment always helped.