Impress Me Not: Insomniac Cafe

Chapter 98

"Sure," Lucas answered. "Are we going tonight?" It wasn't like Anton to spring that question on him so suddenly. He had some questions himself about it, but that could wait until later. Lucas would gladly go anywhere with the man.

"No, not tonight!" Anton sounded surprised. "Why on earth would I do something so last minute?"

"Sometimes last-minute decisions are the most fun," Lucas said. "When is it?"

"It's not for a while," he told him. "Sorry I asked so randomly. It just kind of came out."

"Don't apologize," Lucas stopped him. "I love questions like that. How about we talk more about it when you get home?"

"Sounds like a good idea," Anton agreed. "I'll see you soon."

"I already can't wait," Lucas told him before hanging up the phone. It had been quite an eventful month. Time felt like it was both flying as well as going slow. Lucas enjoyed every second of it.

He had gone to the backyard to talk on the phone. Now that it was over, Lucas walked back into the house to give the family the news that Anton was heading home. A lot had come to visit. Lucas was enjoying getting to meet all of them. A few he recognized, but most he didn't. They reminded him of his own family in a way. Anton might have only had his mom in Arizona, but he had plenty in Amor.

"You sure you never wanted to be a cook?" Gabe asked him. He was eating the food that Lucas just finished.

"I helped my mom once when she sold food for a while," Lucas answered. "Other than that, though, I mainly cook for fun." It was difficult to cook when travelling so much. Most of the time he went out to eat. It wasn't the best diet to have, but it worked for him back then.

Now, though, he was happy being able to cook and share his food with others. They were content talking with themselves mostly. They didn't want Lucas telling Anton that all of them were there. It was meant to be a bit of a surprise. So, Lucas just told him that a few were there so that he would at least be expecting visitors when he came home. He didn't really want to overwhelm him.

"I'm surprised by you, Lucas," Gabe spoke in between bites of food. "You're the only person who's been able to convince Anton to do anything away from his café. It usually takes us days, sometimes even months, to get him to take even a day off."

"I'm glad I was able to, then," Lucas said. "But I think most of it was his own doing. He was really stressed before leaving."

"Oh, I'm well aware," Gabe told him. He had been visiting ever since the morning, claiming that he was too bored to do anything else. Instead, he wound up helping Lucas gather information for Anton's restraining order against his ex. Apparently, he had helped plenty of his patients get them in the past, so he knew the correct verbiage to use on the forms. "But Anton's typical answer to stress is to keep working. And I haven't been able to convince him that it isn't healthy."

"He likes doing something when he's stressed," Lucas said. That's what he noticed, at least.

"He's just like his mom, Gabe," Nick sat next to them, shaking his head. "I remember when she first inherited that ranch of hers, she stress-cleaned for 48 hours straight, no sleep at all."

"Considering she was grieving, I'd say she was productive at least," The old man said. He made it much too obvious that he used to be a psychiatrist.

"I still had to make most of the phone calls for her. Every time she got on the phone, she would start bawling."

"That's really sad to hear," Lucas said. He never had a close death, thankfully. He couldn't imagine the pain that she had to go through.

"It's alright now," Nick assured him. He looked down for a second before showing them a sad smile. "Her father hated my guts. I'm glad I could do something for the man, though. Hopefully he won't hate me too much in the afterlife."