Page 20 of Monster Diner

“I’m glad you like it.” He smirked at her and her heart fluttered.

She tried focusing on her food, but all she could feel was his gaze burning against her face.

Brayden blew through his food and finished just as a couple teenage boys arrived. Brayden waved to them in greeting.

“I’m gonna go sleep over at Aiden’s house,” Brayden told them, then picked up his backpack, but before he shuffled out the door with his friends, he turned to them. “Maybe we can watch the Hero Club movie on your next night off?”

Victor looked stunned but nodded slowly. “Yeah, I’d love that.”

“You should join too,” Brayden said to Lizzy.

“Sure.” She smiled.

“I’ll pick you up in the morning,” Victor called after him. Then his eyes slid over to her. “I guess it’s just you and me tonight.”

He was standing a foot away, but he might as well have pinned her to the wall with the intensity of his stare. Was she really considering this? The tension in the room was as thick as the syrup coating the plate in front of her. Maybe Vivianne was right, and they had been eye-fucking one another.

“I should clear the table for the next guest.” She picked up her and Brayden’s plates and took them into the kitchen, ignoring the thumbs-up Vivianne gave her as she passed by.

She dumped the plates into the sink that Victor had just fixed a few days before. It was the dishwasher’s job to clean the dishes, but she needed something to do with her hands. Victor had followed her into the kitchen, and it suddenly felt way too small.

“I can do that,” Victor said, trying to take the dish from her. Their hands brushed, and she felt something fizzle up her arm.

“Let me. You cooked, I clean,” she said.

She thought he’d start prep for his shift or go do some office work, but instead, he leaned against the counter next to her.

“That’s the first time since Brayden came to live with me that he’s eaten a proper meal. Or actively asked to spend time with me.”

“Big progress!” she replied, focusing her attention on methodically scrubbing the plate. She was painfully aware of Vivianne somewhere outside that door, listening and analyzing everything they said.

“It’s because of you. I don’t know how you get people to open up to you like that. But he seems to really trust you.”

“Comes with the territory. I can read his reactions without him saying a word.”

“You ever thought about being a therapist or doing that sort of work?”

She shrugged. “Yeah. My mom wanted me to go to college to become a psychiatrist, but then I met my first boyfriend, Tim, and moved to California. I worked in a surf shop he opened.”

“You did?” he asked.

“Yeah, it wasn’t really my scene. We fizzled out. I met another guy, moved to Colorado, and worked at a ski lodge…”

“You’ve lived a fascinating life.”

Why was she sharing her dating history? It wasn’t important. She abandoned the pretense of washing the dishes and turned towards him, eyes scanning up and down his chiseled form, taking in his arms crossed over his chest. Once again, she wished she could read his emotions, figure out what answer he wanted.

“I guess. I mostly followed whatever my boyfriends wanted.”

“But what is it you want?” he asked.

She knew the answer. It was him in her bed. But she didn’t think that was what he meant. Becoming a therapist like her mom suggested wasn’t for her. But nothing else she’d done up until now felt right either. Except this, working at the diner. She shook away the thought. She was being irrational. It was the job honeymoon phase. She wasn’t staying.

She shrugged. “I dunno, I’ll figure it out, I’m sure.”

9

VICTOR