Page 96 of Escape
After sending him a look that I hoped indicated how much this meant to me, my eyes moved through the group. Huck had shared the stories about his coworkers with me, and I hadn’t forgotten them. The only one of the bunch who hadn’t had a story yet was Greyson, but I did learn about him being Huck’s best friend.
And while I thought all the stories I’d been told—even the ones about the coworkers who weren’t here—had been interesting and heartwarming, there were a couple that stuck with me.
Brixton and Liv were one of the couples I’d most loved hearing about. Because their story was one that hit so close to home for me. They’d met in high school and had become close then, but they never developed anything beyond that friendship. Then Brix graduated, enlisted, and left.
Liv was left behind.
Their story had been undeniably heartbreaking, but seeing them here now with Brixton’s arm draped across the back of his wife’s chair, while she sat there pregnant with his baby, I couldn’t help but feel hopeful. Maybe I’d be just as lucky as her one day.
Smiling at everyone, I said, “It’s so wonderful to meet all of you.”
I received a round of similar sentiments from everyone before getting their drink orders. When I returned with the drinks and set them down on the table, the door opened and several more patrons had stepped inside. Since our hostess had called off at the last minute today, Kerri and I had to juggle seating everyone. Kerri walked up to them and got them situated as the door opened again and another two people stepped inside.
I offered an apologetic look to Huck and his friends. “You all arrived just in time. The rush is here. I’m going to give you guys a minute to look over the menus, get these folks seated at a table, and I’ll be back to take your orders.”
“Sounds good, honey. Take your time.”
My eyes lingered on him a moment as I allowed the feeling to settle inside me. He’d just called me honey in front of his friends without thinking twice about it.
Kurt would never.
Then again, Kurt hadn’t ever really brought any friends around, which should have been a warning sign right from the start.
I shook thoughts of Kurt from my head, smiled at Huck, and stepped away from the table toward the new patrons. After getting them seated and settled with drinks, I returned to Huck’s table and took orders. I was slightly bummed I couldn’t stand around for a few minutes to chat, but I needed to get their order in, move back to the table I’d seated after them, and be ready to get the next group that would walk in, since Kerri had another table enter a few minutes ago.
In any other scenario, I would have been grateful to be so busy. Now, I wished I could have spent a little bit of time lingering at Huck’s table and getting to know his friends. Unfortunately, the wave of customers seemed to be never-ending today, and I only managed to stop back at Huck’s table to deliver their meals and check in once afterward to make sure that they were doing okay.
From a waitressing standpoint, I wasn’t providing any service less than was expected or reasonable of me. I gave each table the same treatment and attention I normally would. But I hated that was all I could manage in this instance. If we had been slightly less busy, I might have had a few extra minutes to spare with Huck and his friends.
Just moments ago, I’d been walking past to seat three people who’d walked in, and Huck had motioned for me to get him the bill as soon as I could. I shot him a rueful stare, and I could see the disappointment written all over his face.
Once I gave my newest table their menus and got drink orders for them, I took off to get Huck’s bill taken care of. I dropped off the drinks, told them I’d be back to take their orders, and moved toward Huck’s table.
Coming to a stop beside where he was seated, I spoke to the whole table. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to get back here to really talk much with all of you. We typically get busy at lunch, but this is even busier than usual. I hope everything was alright.”
“Everything was great,” Huck assured me.
“Yeah, and Huck told us you’ll be coming to Jesse and Sawyer’s wedding with him this weekend, so we can catch up with you then. I’ll introduce you to the rest of the girls,” Liv added.
I perked up, feeling better, and smiled at her. “That sounds wonderful. I’ll look forward to it.”
“Perfect.”
My eyes scanned the rest of the table. “Thanks to all of you for stopping in today. I hope you’ll come back again sometime soon.”
I received a round of nods in return, along with a verbal response from Kane. “I get the feeling if I tell Ellery about this place, she’ll want to stop in. And it’s likely she’ll wind up dragging Hanna into it, which means Leo will be here, too.”
“Hey, the more the merrier, right?” The bell rang from the kitchen, and when I glanced in that direction, I realized it was one of my orders. “Oh, that’s me. I’m so sorry. I’ve got to grab that.”
Huck reached for my hip, gave me a squeeze, and said, “Don’t worry about it, honey.”
A shiver ran down my spine.
“It was nice meeting you, Josie,” Jake added.
“Yeah, it was nice meeting all of you as well.”
I reached down for Huck’s hand, curled my fingers around his wrist, and squeezed him back.