Nova (6 page)

He grunted. “With what money? If I were rich I’d send you off to your vet school and give Meryl the money to hire more employees.
Instead, my stubborn daughter pays for her bankrupt father to have a nice place to live. If I could go back and change things, I would.
”

“I know. But we’re doing just fine.”

He grunted again. “I
wish I could make things easier for you.
I screwed that up a long time ago.
”

“Grandpa, I’m very happy right now. I have family around me, I have my café family,
I’m
getting some school in… It’s all working out. The schooling is going slowly, but maybe there’s a reason for it. You always say that everything happens for a reason, right? My dad left when I was
five
and my mom died when I was nineteen. Totally altered my life and how it could have been, but apparently
that’s how it was meant to be
.”

He didn’t respond for several seconds, but when he finally did and said, “And where is deadbeat dad these days?” I wished he hadn’t said anything at all.

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “The last I heard from him he was still in Boston.”

“And he still hasn’t sent you a dime, has he,” he stated angrily.

“No, but I don’t want his money anyway. I don’t want anything from him.”

“I don’t want him in your life,
he’d better stay far away,
but he at least owes you something. Maybe a little piece of your education?” He shook his head and said, “Boy, I wanted to deck him that day.
Many days before that, but that was the last time I saw him.
”

I knew he was referring to my graduation day, when my father actually came after not seeing me for
four
years. My
dad
wasn’t allowed to be within fifty
feet of my mom or I, but my
grandpa had a very long, very intense chat with him about helping my mom pay for college. My dad claimed to still be unemployed, and that really made my grandpa mad because he knew he was making money somehow, particu
larly to pay for his drug habit
.

“Well, all is well Gramps. It’s better that he doesn’t have a part in my life. The last thing I need is for him to have some sort of hold over me or something.”

“I know. But at the time it would have helped your mom out. She worked two jobs and that
abusive coward
didn’t have the decency to help her out. Not even a measly fifty bucks.”

“Like I said, it’s probably for the best. I’m doing okay, and I really don’t believe my life is going to be hard
all
the time. I have a lot to be thankful for.”

He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. “You are one of a kind, Nova. One of a kind.”

Chapter Four

“He’s here, Nova,” Robin said the second I came in the next Friday.

My heart instantly thumped because I knew
to
who
m
she was referring to. From the kitchen I peeked into the dining room. I’d just barely arrived and was putting my apron on at the same time.

“How long has he been here?” I asked.

“Just got here about
ten
minutes ago. I think he’s got your schedule down pretty well.” She was taking my apron off while she spoke.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re going to go talk to him. The crowd is manageable right now, and if it gets hectic, you know where to find this,” she finished, hanging up my apron. “Now go.”

After a playful push forward, she gave me a fierce look and returned to her duties.

I took a deep breath.
Well this is it
, I thought. At least I’d just arrived for work and was still fairly fresh and clean. I checked myself in the mirror anyway, just in case
, and then made my way through the dining room as casually as I could. Robin smiled at me as I passed, and I think it made me even more nervous. But I had to recover quickly when he glanced up and saw me coming. There was no smile, no expression whatsoever, and he just watched me slide into the seat across from him.

“Hey,” I said.

He did have a couple of papers in his hand, but he slowly put them down
on the seat next to
him. “Hey,” he replied. Then he glanced around the café for just a second and asked, “Uh, you’re not working today?”

“Not right now. I figured I’d come hang out with you for a few minutes. If you don’t mind,” I added.

He took a brief pause before he barely shrugged. “Sure, if you can find the time.”

“I just did.”

And there was the little smirk
at
the corner of his mouth.

“So how come you took away my option two weeks ago?” I asked
right away
.

“Excuse me?”

“My date w
ith you. I was given a choice, m
oney or a date, and you made the decision for me.
That was a little presumptuous, don’t you think?
”

He didn’t say anything right away, and I was beginning to think that his pauses were a way t
o give him some sort of an edge.
He was playing it cool, almost too cool,
and
it was making me feel insecure—especially because of the careful way he was studying me at the same time.

“Well,” he finally said. “I made a qu
ick assessment of the situation
and decided to make it easy on you.”

“
And you feel you assessed correctly? Y
ou concluded that I’d rather take your money?”

He kind of chuckled
and studied me for a few seconds again
. “That’s a different way of putting it, but… Yeah, I guess so.”

“Well I’m kind of offended.”

“Are you?”

“Yes.”

Again he chose silence
, and it was lengthier than before
. I wanted to blurt something out, just to fill the awkward pause, but I decided to match his poise and just wait it out.

Finally he said, “If I was wrong about you, then I’m sorry. So I guess that means you’re asking me out right now, correct?”

I
scoffed
. “Is that what you’re hoping for?”

“Mmm, not really.”

I actually felt my heart drop a little, but I hoped it didn’t show on my face. I already
felt unmatched against this guy
and I didn’t need to be handing him the advantage without even earning it.

“What does it take to get some service around
here?” he asked with a smile, looking around.

I was thankful for the light moment and replied, “Robin is shorthanded because I’m
here
, sitting with
you
.”

“Then you should get back to work.”

“Is that what you want?”

He paused for a few seconds as he
eyed
me
again
. It made me nervous. “No, it’s not,” he finally said. “But I would like to apologize for taking away your option two weeks ago. If you’d like that option back, I’m sure we could work something out.”

“I already spent the money,
”
I lied.

He chuckled. “Damn, I guess you’ve made your choice already.”

I smiled and tried the whole pause-thing for myself. It was kind of hard though
,
because as I was trying to study him, he was doing the same to me. I wasn’t
brave
enough to face that kind of interaction with a guy, especially when that guy had beautiful green eyes that were trying to read my mind.

I had to look away, and then out of pure insecurity I said, “I’ll be right back,” and left the table.

“Oh, what am I doing?” I growled to myself on my way to the counter. I automatically grabbed two glasses and filled them with ice water. “Breathe, Nova,” I murmured. “You got this. Don’t let him do this to you.”

“Quit talking to yourself and get back over there,” Robin hissed at me.

“I’m about to freak out.”

“I see that. What the
heck
is the matter with you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well is it, like, a good kind of freak out? Or do you just want to strangle the guy?”

“I want to strangle him,” I replied, “and I want to kiss him at the same time.”

“Oh, my,” she gasped with feigned astonishment. “And I thought you were one of those
nice
girls,” she teased with a smile.

“You know what I mean.”

She smiled sympathetically and said,
“
Yeah,
I do.” She took a moment to bite her lip and then said, “Can’t you just ask him out? Then you might actually get to the strangling and kissing.”

I kind of smiled but shook my head. “He said he didn’t want me to ask him out.”

“Wha
t
?”

“But maybe he meant—”

“What in the world are you two doing?” Meryl asked us both. She was putting on an apron and looked at each of us with confusion.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Let me go clock in—”

“No you’re
not
,” Robin said, grabbing my arm. “Meryl, this girl needs some personal time. If you could just fill in for her, she’ll be ready to go in about an hour.”

Meryl didn’t even allow time for me to protest, and she already had a pot of coffee in her hand to hit the tables.

Robin looked at me and said, “You go back to that table with him.”

I felt like
a
nut job, but she didn’t give me a chance to argue when she left me standing there with two glasses of water in my hand.

Since Meryl was now slaving away for my benefit, I figured my only option was returning to table two
to make sense of Austin…whatever his last name was.

“Uh, everything okay?” he asked when I returned. He thanked me when I set down a glass of water for him.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. What’s your last name?”

There was actually a depiction of surprise on his face. Hmm, it is possible to catch him off-guard.

“Gaines,” he finally replied.

“Austin Gaines.”

“Oh, so you actually know my first name?”

“Yes
,
I know your first nam
e. It was established
a couple
of
times when you guys were in here.”

“And you remembered?”

“Do you remember
my
name?”

“Uh, yes,” he smiled. “You sort of wear it on your apron, you know.”

“Yes
,
I’m aware of that.
Just thought maybe you’d forgotten.
”

“
Oh I haven’t forgotten,” he smiled
.

But it wasn’t just any smile. It was one of those toying smiles meant for flirting
.
I’m sure it made me blush, and I know
I turned a few degrees warmer.

“And
No
va is a pretty interesting name,” he added.
“
Are you named after anything in particular?”

I took a few seconds to compose myself and replied,
“What’s the first thing that you think of when you hear the name ‘Nova’?”

“Uh, a car.”

I smiled as if to say “Well there you go.”

“You were named after a car? I mean not that that’s bad or anything, but is there a story to it?”

I could feel my cheeks
warm
again
. It was kind of weird because he seemed to chuckle knowingly, like he figured it out. I’d never really had anybody catch on right away, and I was a little unnerved.

“Is it the same reason why my parents named me Austin?” he smiled.

I looked at him for a second, and then we both started laughing.

“You were made in Texas, huh?”

He slightly d
ipped his head to confirm. “Yes, ma’am.”
I smiled at the
added
southern drawl and asked if he was from Texas. In his regular voice he replied,
“
Mm
, my parents move
d here just before I was born, so
no,
I was born in California.
”

“Why’d you move to California?
I mean why did your parents?
”

“Uh
, m
y mom’s
sister lived in Bakersfield and told her about some land that was for sale
. My parents were ready to
expand
their business
.”