Page 42 of Until Nalia

Without looking at me, Logan gives him my order and his own, and after jotting it down, Bion walks behind the counter, disappearing out of sight.

“Is he the only one who works here?”

“His wife was here the last time I was, but I think it’s just the two of them.” He leans back in his chair. I try not to shift in my seat as he stares at me, but it’s difficult to fight the urge. I don’t exactly feel awkward being around him, but the last few times we’ve spent time together, we’ve had the kids with us, which I can admit took some of the pressure off me. Also, this feels like a date, and I’ve never been very good at dating because it always includes small talk, which is why things with Cole were so easy. We were friends before we were anything more. I’m also starting to realize that there was no real sexual chemistry between Cole and me. Something I can’t say is the same as I sit across from Logan. The tension in the pit of my stomach is enough to make me nauseous, and I can feel it swirling in the air around us.

“I hope that they do a little advertising,” I cut through the silence. “Most new businesses go under within the first year without it.”

“Do you do that for your brothers?”

“Not really.” I tear at a loose string on the hem of my shorts. “I post a little on social media, but they don’t really need it. Right now, they have a huge waitlist, and the people they’ve worked for tend to tell their friends.” I tip my head to the side. “Did they work on your house?”

“No, but Bax did hook me up with a contractor after mine flaked.”

“That happens a lot.” I look towards the door when it chimes and watch a pretty, older woman with long blonde hair step in and look at us with a bright smile before focusing on Logan.

“You came back.”

“I did.”

“And you brought a date.”

“I did.” He chuckles, and she scans the room. “Where is Bion?”

“He took our order and disappeared into the back,” Logan tells her, and her smile slides into a frown as she looks at our table.

“Did he take your drink orders?”

“Not yet.”

“That man.” She sighs, shaking her head. “What would you two like to drink?”

“Diet Coke, please,” I murmur.

“Iced tea,” Logan tells her.

“I’ll be right back.” She leaves us and walks into the back of the restaurant.

A moment later, I hear who I’m guessing is Bion say, “I was getting to it.” I can’t hear what is said next but his booming voice echoes through the small space when he tells her, “They aren’t going to dehydrate having to wait five minutes.”

“I think we got him in trouble,” I whisper to Logan, and his eyes wander over my face as he smiles.

“I think he’ll be okay.” He focuses behind me, and a second later, a glass filled with Diet Coke is placed on the table next to me.

“Sorry about that, we’re still working out the kinks.”

“It’s not a big deal,” I assure her, taking the straw she hands me before she gives Logan his iced tea. “Logan told me that you guys are from Jersey.”

“We are, we owned a restaurant much bigger than this there for years and were planning on retiring so we moved here.”

“Do you have family here?” I ask because I know most people who are retiring tend to move to Florida, not Tennessee, unless they have family who’s come here before them.

Her smile grows soft. “Our daughter and her husband moved here after college, and we always had plans to follow them once it was time for us to retire.”

“That’s nice.”

“It is, only they threw a wrench into our plans. We thought we’d move here and become full-time grandparents, then they told us that they aren’t having any kids.” She laughs, looking to her right, and I follow her gaze to Bion, who is walking out of the back with a tray of food. “So basically, since our kids don’t want kids, we decided to have another baby in the form of a restaurant.”

“What she means to say is she was bored and tired of staring at me all day, so she took us both out of retirement,” Bion tells us while his wife helps him place our food on the table.