Page 2 of Shiny Things
Her grandmother had owned the diner for years. I’d tried to pull enough money together to buy it myself after she’d passed, but I didn’t have enough collateral for the bank to sign off on my loan. Or at least that’s what they told me at the time. In truth, the diner had been put in a trust that eventually went solely to Gia.
I couldn’t even complain about it, because now I had the best boss in the entire world.
“Is this why I got bumped to the first shift for today? Are you staying or just opening?”
“I’m working today,” she told me.
“Really?”
Lately, she hadn’t pulled a lot of shifts because she was dealing with some personal stuff going on with her mate.
“Is David here too?”
“Yup. He’s going to be bussing tables today. Darin’s actually out all week, so if you want to pick up extra shifts, let me know.”
“He’s out? But he never takes off. What’s wrong?”
She grinned. “He’s actually taking Roberta on a real vacation to visit her sister.”
“I’ve met Roberta’s family. That is not a vacation.”
We were both laughing when David walked in, grinning and shaking his head at us.
I still didn’t completely understand the story of how they met. I supposed it didn’t really matter. What I did know was that they had met somewhere, somehow and snuck off to mate in secret. They were clearly already bonded when he stumbled into town with amnesia and found Gia again.
As far as I knew, he never regained his memories, but their bond was strong enough to see them through it all. He fell back in love with her, and they were as happy as could be and practically inseparable.
Her mother hadn’t exactly been thrilled about it, but with time even she’d welcomed David to the family.
We knew nothing about his past or what Flock he belonged to, but somehow that didn’t seem to matter to them now. It should have given me a bit of hope, but not knowing where David came from meant there was a fifty-fifty chance that he came from a respectable Flock. They all knew where I came from though. So it would never be the same for me.
“What are you two laughing about?” David asked.
“Nothing important. How’s it looking out there?”
“Already a line at the door. We open in five.” Louder, he addressed the kitchen. “Everyone ready?”
“Yes, sir.”
The whole kitchen loved David. He’d pretty much won over everyone in Ravenden.
“The kitchen’s prepped and ready if you want to open a bit early,” Argus told him. He was the head chef at The Diner, and it wasn’t uncommon for him to work from open to close.Somedays, I did too, though Darin hated me pulling a lot of overtime.
“Okay, let’s get this day started then,” Gia announced. “Ready?” she asked me.
“As ready as I’m gonna be.”
“Go ahead and open. I’ll be out there in a minute.”
“We have a lot of pickups today,” David told us. “Want me to take those, boss?”
Gia always looked amused when he called her that. “Sounds good.”
“Let’s get cooking,” Argus told his staff as I walked back out to the main dining room.
I’d pretty much grown up here. It was as much home to me as my dad’s place. When I was little, before she died, my mother worked here too. In a way it made me feel closer to her to be here.
I wasn’t paying attention as I walked to the door and unlocked it to welcome our first customers of the day. So, when Elias was the first person through the door it caught me off guard. Normally I would brace myself for the impact of seeing him.