Page 8 of Stolen By Her Alien Mate

“He’s just nuts about you. Anyways, I wanted to come over and make sure you’re serving us tonight because that will make the boy so happy. But also, I wanted to formally introduce myself.” He pulls a business card out of his pocket and holds it out to me. “Brandon Jacks, if you need a car, I’m your man.” Then he leans closer to the counter. “My personal cell number is on the back. In case you need anything else.”

Gross.

I take his card and drop it in my apron pocket. “Thanks. I’ll be over in just a minute with some water for your table.”

I spin around and go into the kitchen, for no other reason than to get my ick reaction out. I shudder and pluck his card out of my apron and drop it in the trash. Just no.

Then I paste on my customer service smile and march myself out to his table.

“Welcome to Big Mo’s,” I say. “I’m Joey and I’ll be your server today. Is there anything you’d like to drink besides water?”

“Miss Joey!” Luke squeals and then he jumps out of the booth and wraps his tiny arms around my middle for a squeeze. “What are you doing here?”

“I work here.”

“But you work at my school,” he says.

“Yes, but this is my main job.”

“Cool!”

“Lukas, sit back down,” his mother says.

Though how she noticed he was out of the booth is amazing because the woman hasn’t looked away from her phone screen since she sat down.

I take their order and skirt around Brandon touching my leg.

That’s the thing about small town diners like this, especially ones that sit on a trucking route. A lot of times men don’t know that just because I’m standing close to them to take their order, it’s not an invitation to put their hands on me. Charlene and Lorraine just kinda roll with it.

It’s probably because I grew up in and out of different foster homes, but I don’t like people touching me without permission.

I take care of two other tables, then it’s time for me to bring the food to the Jacks family.

I set down Luke’s grilled cheese basket with fries and he smiles up at me. He really is a sweet kid.

“‘Member when we had that big earthshake?” Luke asks.

“Earthquake,” his mother corrects without looking up from her phone.

“The one that was a few months ago?” A lot of people barely noticed it. The event itself wasn’t dramatic, a low rumbling like the passing of a train. Most people barely noticed when it happened.

The crazy part was that it seemed to happen everywhere, as if there was a cord banded around the earth and someone plucked it. It wasn’t an earthquake, because it had no epicenter.

“Yeah, I do. That was scary, huh?” I ask.

Luke nods. “If you’d have been at school that day, I wouldn’t have been as scared.”

“Aww, thank you, Luke. That’s sweet of you to say.”

“I wish you worked there every day.”

I sigh. “I do too, but this job pays me more money and I’m going to my own school too.”

I leave them to their food and go back behind the counter.

“You should watch out for that one,” Lorraine says.

“Who? The kid?”