Page 24 of Monster Diner

Victor white-knuckled through the rest of his shift until Clyde, the other daytime fry cook, came in for his shift. Victor had escaped temptation another day and headed back home. Lizzy would be working for a few more hours, giving him time to cool off and come to his senses.

When he stepped into the house, after leaving through the diner’s back door, he found Brayden there, holding an armful of ingredients while Igor squawked instructions from atop the kitchen fridge.

A jug of maple syrup teetered dangerously on top of the pile Brayden was holding.

Victor grabbed it from him and set it on the counter, then he noticed the provolone and prosciutto. “Culinary experimentation?”

“I’m trying out different things I used to like, with a sweet component added. I can only taste the sweetness, but I like the texture variances,” Brayden said, motioning to the bag of potato chips on the counter next to an open container of frosting.

Brayden would either make an incredible cook one day, or he’d be jailed for culinary crimes. Victor wasn’t certain which yet, but he was glad to see Brayden was trying things and not simply drinking meal replacement shakes.

“Want some help?” Victor asked.

Brayden answered him with a noncommittal grunt but stepped aside to give Victor room to stand by him at the stove.

Victor assessed the laid-out ingredients, taking in the uncooked bacon among the other meats, and he had an idea.

“Since you like breakfast food, maybe we can try creating a sweet sandwich. Maybe some caramelized onions, candied bacon, and a sweet and tangy dressing.”

Brayden nodded along. “That sounds pretty good.”

They worked together as Victor instructed Brayden on various techniques, including brushing the bacon with brown sugar and cooking it until it was crisp and sweet, then explaining the right proportions of vinegar, Dijon, and sugar for the dressing. By the time they were finished, they had a towering sandwich on a large baguette, which he’d intended to use for garlic bread but had happily sacrificed to make Brayden’s recipe.

Brayden’s side of the sandwich had tons of extra-sweet dressing, but Victor had opted for tossing a few jalapeños on his half and was reaching for the hot sauce when Lizzy came in from her shift.

“Glad to see you eating.” Lizzy smiled.

“Victor was teaching me how to cook. We made candied bacon.”

“Yum!” she said. “You enjoying cooking?”

“It’s way more fun now that I’ve found stuff I like,” Brayden said. He was beaming in a way Victor hadn’t seen since he’d adopted him.

“That’s great news. Are we still on for the movie tonight?” she asked.

“Yeah!” Brayden devoured his sandwich, and then the three of them retired to the living room and spread out on the couches as the movie played. Victor kept stealing glances at Lizzy. Her eyes were trained on the screen, but she must have felt him staring because she smiled back at him.

They looked like a proper family. If only he could convince her to stay. She lit up the people around her; she lit him up. She was a natural with Brayden. With customers. With him. If only he could be satisfied just watching her burn. But what if he didn’t have to be? What if he gave in, just enough to maybe convince her to be his for real?

11

LIZZY

Everything was going well. Lizzy loved working at the diner in spite of her initial reservations. She figured the lack of commitment helped keep her unguarded. She’d built up a rapport with the regulars, and she’d learned to anticipate their orders and personal quirks, like a favorite seat or a specific way they wanted their food cooked. And it wasn’t just the customers. She liked the waitresses and line cooks too. Trudy had told her all about her kids, and Vivianne about her online master’s degree that she was working towards. Clyde didn’t say much, but he always slid her fries without her having to ask. And when Jason and Annalise weren’t all over one another, they were fun to work with too. It was nice; she felt a part of something, if only for a little while. She was halfway through her time in Pumpkin Hollow, and it seemed to be flying by.

There was one massive, sexy, scarred problem. While it’d been embarrassing to be rejected by Victor, she’d recovered quickly and been on a mission to show him exactly what he was missing. She felt a bit like a degenerate for trying to lure him into her seductive web. But she had thought no-strings-attached sex was the answer. She wanted Victor but feared commitment. It’d seemed like a safe middle ground. Until Victor had rejected her.

Rather than dwelling on what could not be, Lizzy had thrown herself into the day-to-day management of the diner. Victor was hopeless at the behind-the-scenes minutia of running the place, like scheduling and ordering inventory, and she’d taken it upon herself to set up Excel spreadsheets and contact forms and to formalize a schedule, improving upon her father’s former methods. She should probably put all this on her resume. But when she thought about starting over in another place, she got sad and pushed the thought aside.

She chewed on the end of her pen, studying the schedule for next week. She had to find someone to take Trudy’s shift. Her youngest had a doctor’s appointment this week, and Vivianne wanted off for a date on Saturday. Lizzy could fill in the gaps, but once she was gone, they’d have to hire someone. There just wasn’t a way around it. Maybe she should put an ad in the local paper. She started to jot down a note on a sticky pad to do that later, then paused as she imagined her replacement. In her imagination, it was a busty blond with big hips and a winning smile. Victor flirted with her and introduced her to Brayden, and then they started dating, got married, and became the perfect suburban family with a minivan and a yellow lab.

And Lizzy was suddenly irrationally angry at this imaginary woman. She crumpled up the note about hiring a replacement and threw it at the door just as someone knocked. Vivianne popped her head into the office. “I know your shift is over, but we’re slammed and Rowen is here with a bakery delivery.”

“No worries, I’ll take care of it.” It was just the distraction she needed.

She set aside thoughts of hiring and went out to receive the order. The magenta-haired baker was waiting at the back door that butted against the driveway to the house. His arms were overladen with a stack of pies and desserts. Rowen was one of their regulars at the diner. He sat at the same booth every time and ordered the same meal—steak and eggs.

She directed him into the walk-in fridge behind her. Rowen carried the stacks in but stopped near the doorway. There were multiple towering piles of recent produce, meat, and cheese deliveries. Which had been plopped unceremoniously onto the floor of the walk-in, making it impossible to enter.