Playing House

Chapter 1

Holy crap, is he flirting with me? I roll my eyes at myself.

"Well, the café down the street is pretty good," I tease.

"I'll have to remember that for tomorrow." He stirs in his creamer. "But for today, I think I'll stick to my usual."

"Sure thing. Would you like today's paper while you wait?"

His smile disappears. "No."

I walk to the point-of-sales system, fire back his order, and then start tending to the rest of my section, trying to keep my eyes to myself. Clearing one table, I pick up the day's newspaper that the patron left behind. The headline on the front page reads "Success under 30: Who to watch in the Queen City." Below that is a photo of Caleb Matthews, smiling brightly while shaking the mayor's hand. I quickly scan through the article, learning that the man seated a few tables away has lofty political aspirations and a father the reporter describes as "powerful," "influential," and "domineering."

Ding!

"Order up, Hannah!" Evan calls out.

I grab the comics section from the paper and throw the rest away. When I drop off Caleb's food, I leave the comic section with him as well before walking away.

Lunch starts to die down. The only tables left are a small family of three in Lizzy's section and Caleb Matthews in mine. Lizzy, Sandra, and I all sit at the end of the counter, counting up our tickets as the head line cook, Danny, cleans the kitchen.

"So, Hannah," Danny says. "What did you bring us for lunch today?"

"You're a cook, you know. You can't depend on me always cooking you guys' lunch! What if I found a life last night and didn't get around to it?" I stick my tongue out at him.

"Well, then it'd be cold cuts and potato chips for everyone."

Lizzy glares at him. "Lazy ass."

I roll my eyes, then casually look around the dining room. Caleb is smirking slightly from behind the comics.

"Well, lucky for you, I'm still a loser and didn't find anything better to do last night. I made you guys a lasagna and mint mocha cookies." I beam. I love outdoing myself for them.

"Seriously?" Danny pumps his hand in the air. "I fucking love you!"

"Dude! Watch your mouth!" Thankfully, the family has already left. Caleb doesn't seem fazed by the outburst, but I can see he's holding back a laugh.

"All right guys, the lasagna is in the back cooler. Just throw it in the oven to reheat while the girls and I finish up."

I make my way over to Caleb's table. "Anything else for you today, Mr. Matthews?"

"Your cooks don't cook for the staff?"

I shrug. "Um, well, after a while we all get bored of the food here so we try to make something different."

"Yeah, I can see sticking to the 'usual' could get a bit boring." He chuckles.

I shrug. "Some people just know what they want."

"Right you are, Miss Hannah." Caleb licks his lips lightly. "I'll take the check."

I slip the pleather check book out of my apron and place it on the table, but he has his credit card on it before I can move my hand away and grazes my knuckles with his fingertips.

I feel my cheeks burn. "Uh, I'll be right back." I walk back to the terminal, where Lizzy is counting out her tickets.

She eyes me. "Hmmm, that's an interesting grin you have, Han."