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You can ride me anytime, I want to say. I’m sure she can read the thought based on the look in her eyes, but I don’t want to come on too strong so I decide to go with a tamer response.
“I didn’t know you were such a fan of the twins,” I tease.
“Well, I am,” she says as if daring me to speak a bad word against them or their— according to her—cringey lyrics.
“I am too. In fact, I’ve met them.”
Her fingers freeze on the flour bag she’s rolling up. “No way. When? I won tickets on the radio last month. They’re having a concert right here in Moonshine Creek.”
I remember that night. I was tinkering around with a busted table while Zander snored peacefully in a booth, and Zoe frantically prepped food while dialing the radio station over a hundred times until she finally got through.
Her scream that startled Zander awake was piercing enough to shatter glass.
“I know. My cousins Ash and Kai act as their bodyguards as a side gig.”
Her eyes drift up and down my massive frame now and I can already hear the question forming on her lips.
“I’m more invested in woodworking.” I smile.
“B-but you’d be the perfect bodyguard. You're... massive. And it’s not just for anyone. It’s for the twins. The twins! I can’t believe you’d turn that down.”
“I’d have to be offered to turn it down. However, I am interested in being someone else’s personal bodyguard one day.”
“Really?” She arches her brow. “If the twins aren’t good enough, what artist is?”
You. Chefs are artists too.
I shrug. “My future wife. I’ll guard her. Protect her. My body would be her shield. Hers to do with it as she wishes. But my body isn’t for hire. And definitely not by the twins.”
Her lips fall open as she grapples for a response, but a tiny dirty blonde head pops into the kitchen before she can speak.
“It’s 10:46,” Zander, Zoe’s six-year-old son, says sleepily.
Zoe’s eyes flicker from me to him guiltily before she trots to his side.
“I’m sorry. I got carried away on a new recipe again,” she says, bending down to his level. “Just let me clean up the kitchen while the last cake bakes, and then we’ll head home, okay? Why don’t you lay back down in the booth and get some sleep until then?”
Zander doesn’t return her smile, nor does he move his feet even when Zoe whips around and begins hurriedly putting the ingredients away. He remains rooted to the spot, staring at me as I finish the last dish.
“I didn’t know you could tell the time now, buddy,” I say, drying my hands before guiding Zander back into the dining room as Zoe mouths “thank you” over her shoulder.
She never has to thank me for anything because I’ve never been more invested in helping where I can. Given her tight budget, Connie didn’t hire me to fix anything tonight... or for the past month. It’s Zoe and Zander that’s kept me here every night fixing whatever I can pro bono.
But it’s not just their company I want to keep. It’s also their safety. Moonshine Creek may have a low crime rate but danger still exists. I can't sleep knowing they’re here all alone after closing. It’s only a matter of time before some degenerate catches on to their routine and takes advantage.
“I learned it last month at school,” Zander says as we slide into opposite sides of the booth. “Do I have school tomorrow?”
I shake my head. “Tomorrow’s Sunday.”
“Oh.” He folds his arms and rests his chin on them glumly.
“What’s the matter?”
“My friend Uriah says on Sundays his family goes fishing.”
I nod. “Okay.”
“And on Sundays my friend Aria and her family go to their cabin by the lake.”
