Nova (5 page)

Friday brought me another surprise. I had the morning shift that day, and Robin came in around one-thirty to work an extra fill-in because
Becca
had to cut out early.

Robin had just taken over
Becca’s
tables when she came across me at the register and whispered, “He’s back, huh? Did
he
ask you out yet?”
I gave her a blank stare and she gaped at me. “You
still
didn’t recognize him?” she chuckled. She motioned across the room with a nod of her head. “Table two.”

I glanced across the room and settled my eyes on the guy sitting by himself, looking over some papers in between glancing out the window. Then he looked across the room and our eyes met. I was frozen for a second, not
sure of
what I was supposed to do. I
was still a little confused about the last time he’d been in and I wasn’t sure what to think.

He actually gave me a tiny smile, more of a smirk from the corner of his mouth, and then he returned his attention to the papers in front of him.

I think I growled out loud because Robin chuckled and said, “He gets under your skin, huh? I thought it was the other guy that was annoying? You know, the big talker.”

I sighed. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what to think.”

“Well I think you should go talk to him. You’re done in fifteen, Nova. Just lose the apron and join him at his table.”

“What if he gets up and leaves?”

“Nova…” She gave me a very stern look. “I love you honey, but you’re being really retarded right now. Excuse my language because I shouldn’t use that word, so
don’t
be a dumbass.”

I smiled, but before I could respond, she left for table five with a
fresh pot of coffee in her hand
.

A
customer
arrived
to pay his tab,
and I was temporarily distracted,
but after I completed the transaction, I glanced across the room to find that same pair of eyes looking my way, and then the tiny little smirk that followed.

Okay
.
I’m being really insecure about this, right? I’ll just go over there, have a casual conversation with him, and see where it takes me.

Not that hard
.

I hung up my apron in the back just as Phoebe arrived. After I clocked out, I found myself straightening up in the bathroom. There was nothing I could do about the cherry pie stain on the corner of my sleeve, but I could at least touch up my hair and makeup, right?

In realizing why I was trying to strengthen my appearance, I became a little embarrassed. I
knew
that I was actually attracted to this guy, and I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. That’s what it had to do with all along. I knew he was the guy I wanted to win the bet, and then he’d completely snubbed me by paying the money instead of going out on a date with me. Yes
,
that offended me
, and yes
,
it had wounded my confidence.
However, he was here,
in the café. And according to Robin, he comes in somewhat regularly. Why? Obviously not to have me as a waitress so…why?

My curiosity got the better of me, and on a last second whim, I took a deep breath and marched myself out to the dining room
to finally talk to him
.

He was already gone.

Saturday was my day off, so after
checking things off of my list that morning—jog, clean out my car, follow-up call to
a
veterinary clinic in Thousand Oaks, and trip to the grocery store—I headed over to the nursing home to spend some time with my grandpa. I almost felt like I was interrupting his day since he was in the middle of a pretty intense poker game with a few of his buddies, but he insisted I sit down with him anyway.

“You’re my lucky charm, Noves,” he said, still deep in concentration. He slid two cards across the table and the dealer slid two back to him from the deck.

“That’s kind of odd,
Gramps
, because I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen you win.”

“Oh, phooey!” he scoffed, shaking his head.
“It’s April Fool’s Day… Maybe something exciting will happen.”

I smiled and watched the hand be played out. Grandpa did end up losing, but he didn’t say anything about it as we walked outside to the courtyard.

I guess I couldn’t say he lived in a nursing home. It was assisted living, and if you actually called it a nursing home he’d get all bent out of shape. “I can take a dump in the toilet just as well as you can,” he’d grumble. “Well, sometimes,” he would add with a funny smile. That was my Grandpa Clark—somewhat of a cantankerous outer shell, but just a sweet old man on the inside. The crankiness is just his form of being playful.

“So what’s happening at the café?” he asked as we sat down in a couple of chairs. His favorite spot was by the water fountain, so after he did his customary finger poke in the cold water, he settled his attention on me.

“Oh, not much. Josiah burned his hand again the other day. I had to cook for a few minutes until he had it taken care of. I hate cooking.”

He chuckled. “Your pretty face needs to be seen out front,” he said with a nod. “So speaking of men and dating…”

I laughed and shook my head. It was my grandpa’s wish to see me find
“
a nice young man that treated me like a queen.
”

“You’ve got yourself a young whippersnapper courting you, huh?”

“Levi?”

“Yes, that’s what I hear.”

“Yeah… Well, we’re
not really
dating
just yet
.”

“You gave him forewarning, did ya? You need to stop putting up that wall, Nova. Sure you’re a busy girl, but quit using it to detach yourself from having a serious relationship with someone.”

My grandpa was not just another grandparent tha
t seemed to be lost in his
own dating era—G
ramps was pre
tty up-to-date with the world—b
ut the main reason he was so easy to talk to
was
because he knew so much about me. He’d always taken the time to figure me out.

“He kissed me
yesterday
,” I told him
casually
.

“Oh, yeah? Well that’s some progress. Did ya like it?” he asked in somewhat of a gruff but teasing tone.

I chuckled and said, “Yeah Gramps, I did.” 

He slightly nodded. “I almost knocked your grandma’s teeth out the first time I kissed her,” he said.

I laughed out loud. “You were that clumsy?”

“No, I was just that damn nervous.”

“What did Grandma do?”

“Well,
at first she just looked at me with that “What the hell?” look she had. You know, right?”

I nodded.

“But then she couldn’t resist my apology for being such a stupid fool.”

“And?”

“And then
she
was all over
me
,” he grinned.

I had to laugh again
as
I
looped my arm through his
. “I don’t think Grandma could have resisted you if she tried,” I told him.

“Well,” he kind of shrugged, “I mean she tried to on occasion. It really lit her on fire when she couldn’t lo
ck me out of the house entirely
because
I crawled t
hrough the tiny bathroom window—it
didn’t latch properly.”

“My mom told me that story,” I smiled. “Grandma was mad because you could fit through the window and she couldn’t.”

“That might have upset her more than what we were actually fighting about,” he joked.

“And what was that? I’m not sure I know that
part
of it.”

“Well, I had promised her I’d be home by
five
that night. I think Clover and Meryl were only
four
and
six
at the time, and we were going to take them to see Santa at the department store. I would have been home early, but then a couple of the guys invited me to head to the tracks for a race.
Just one race.
So…I went, knowing that I’d be at least a half hour late. But I was sure I could sweet talk your grandma into forgiving me, so I decided to just do it and apologize for it later.

“
Well, I not only lost my money on the race, but your grandma had locked me out of the house.” He shook his head and sighed. “It wasn’t that I was late that night; it was the fact that I had promised her I would be home, and I took her for granted. And I let the girls down. It was a stupid mistake, and I’ll never forget how I felt when I saw her comf
orting them
that night, trying to make it all better.” He looked at me and squeezed my hand. “We’re a dumb species, us men. Bu
t we’re nothing without our wome
n. Your grandma put up with a lot of my
stupidity
, but hopefully she knew how much I loved her. And because of her patience and tolerance, she made me a better man over the years. I owe a lot to that woman.”

“Aw, Grandma’s in heaven right now, nodding her agreemen
t saying, ‘You got that right, m
ister.’ ”

He chuckled. “I’m sure she is. Now
, back to you, my
fiery
little S
upernova. Tell me about Levi.”

So we talked about Levi for a few minutes, and then, because I’d told my grandpa the story of those four guys
in the diner
and my interactions with them, I decided to share the most recent news about the saga.
He was truly intrigued.

“So now you can’t wait until he comes in again,” he smiled.

I rolled my eyes but said, “I doubt it. Maybe now that he knows I’ve recognized him there, his anonymity has been compromised.”

“He wants to talk to you, Noves. Don’t be a dummy.”

“Thanks Grandpa.”

He shrugged. “Well, it’s pretty obvious if you ask me.”

“So what if he does come in again. What if I do go talk to him, maybe he does ask me out…”

“What’s your question?”

“Levi?”

He thought for a second and then asked, “Well, what do you think about Levi?”

“I like him.”

“How much?”

“I don’t know,” I smiled. “Enough to want to kiss him again.”

“Fair answer. So do you consider Levi to be your boyfriend?”

“No
.
”

“Then you’re not taken. What’s the problem? Diner Boy asks you out on a date, you say yes.”

“Do I tell Levi? I mean is that something that he sho
uld know?
We’ve kissed, Grandpa
, that’s it.
What if he feels like we’re a couple now?
And will I make it seem that way if I talk to him about it?
”

“Then I guess you have to make sure he doesn’t think that. Unless you want to be.”

“I don’t really know.”

“Then you need to go out with Diner Boy and find out for sure.”

“His name is Austin,” I smiled. 

“And where does Austin live? What does he do for a living? What’s his family like?”

“Why don’t you come in and interrogate him for me.”

“Would love to!”

We were both smiling at that, and there was few seconds of silence as we watched a flock of birds pass overhead.

“All I know about him is that he’s twenty-three and he’s in ‘business.’ ”

“Business?” he scowled. “Well that could be anything.”

“I know. And his buddies kind of chuckled when he answered that, so I have no idea what it means.”

“Hmm.” He was silent for several seconds before he asked, “And you say he comes in on Fridays?”

I nodded.

“Hmm,” he said again. “Maybe I’ll have to switch my
diner lunch
from Wednesdays to Fridays now.”

With a laugh I said, “I’ll tell him you want a lunch date with him and I’ll seat you together.”

“Okay, but you and Phoebe will have to take turns because I can’t miss having her wink at me every time she flirts with me.”

“Ooh, she says you flirt with her, Gramps. Who’s making up stories?”

“Well
,
maybe it’s mutual. But I think she started it.”

“You know she just wants a bigger tip, right?” I teased.

“Oh, I know. She’s half my age.”

“You could be her Sugar Daddy.”