Page 26 of The Sweet Spot
I had inadvertently come up with a new kind of hummus. “I figure it would be a great snack for you. Obviously, I make my own.”
“Obviously,” he said, pouring his coffee and setting it down on the island. “I’ll go change, and then we can have breakfast.”
“That would be really great,” I said before I could take it back. I was a birdbrain today!
He returned just in time to eat, this time sporting a gray T-shirt and black sweatpants. In that outfit, he was a lot less distracting but still gorgeous. I set out the food for him and was ready to get started on my not-hot hummus, but he pointed to the empty bistro chair next to him.
“I thought you were joining me for breakfast.”
He had mentionedwe, but I wasn’t sure he’d remember,not that he forgot much. I grabbed a plate and some coffee, put a slice of bread in the toaster, and, not wanting to be rude, sat next to him. I grabbed some sweet potato hash, not wanting to take too much. The man had to eat, and he was paying for all of it.
“Tangi, Jill, and I are going to the game tomorrow,” I said.
“Oh good,” Brandon said, sipping some coffee. “You can impress them with all your new hockey knowledge.”
“Of course. I’m sure they will be impressed,” I said with a laugh.
“Just know you can have as many tickets as you’d like during the season. My parents come out once a year, and I’m lucky if my brother or sister make it out. I don’t have a ton of friends in town, so I mostly give the tickets away to charities.”
“That’s nice of you. I assumed a popular guy like you would have tons of friends in town.”
He grimaced just a bit. “No. I am pretty strict with who I let in my inner circle. A ton of people just want stuff from me, and I don’t tolerate freeloaders. And to be honest, I can be a pain in the ass, a little intense, and it turns people off. I call a few of the guys on the team as friends, but we don’t hang out much in the offseason.” He paused for a second. “Come to think of it, we barely hang outduringthe season.”
My toast popped, and I went to grab it, slathering on some vegan butter. I sat down again and glanced at him. I was perplexed. I assumed he would have a bevy of friends at his beck and call, but as I thought about it some more, he really wasn’t the type to suffer fools, and he didn’t drink or party that I could tell. Other than the rink and the gym, he didn’t do much else.
“Quality over quantity, isn’t that the saying? I have my two best friends, and that’s all I need.”
“Don’t you also have a million chef friends?”
“Yes and no. We are all over the world, and after I graduated from culinary school, I did a lot of traveling and met a lot of people, but we weren’t exactly best friends. We keep in contact with social media, some chat groups about the business, but we don’t fly out to see each other.”
“But let’s say you went to Paris, and you had ten chef friends. Would they put you up? Would you go to dinner with them?”
“Yes, but that’s part of the business.”
He nodded, not smugly, but almost out of some kind of regret. “I don’t have that. You would think that would be the same with hockey. Former teammates from Juniors, or teammates who have moved on to other teams. For most guys, it’s a connection. I can’t seem to make that connection. Who am I kidding? Ethan and Jeremy put up with me because they have to. When we hang out, we’re hardly friends.”
Most people would be hurt knowing all that. Had it been me, I probably would have been in tears knowing that people didn’t like me. I put down my fork and shifted to face him.
“I think you’re cool and super interesting. I love hanging out with you. Maybe you aren’t giving people enough time to get to know you. I was thinking about something just this morning. About how much I love coming to work because you’re here. And if Ethan and Jeremy are hanging out with you, it’s not because they have to. Trust me, they wouldn’t. Okay, maybe Ethan would, but not Jeremy. He’s a good guy. I got to know him over the summer when he came to Minneapolis with Jill. Ethan may harbor resentment because of Tangi and how much you liked her.”
Oh god. My mouth had been moving so fast, my brain couldn’t keep up, and now I’d put my foot in it. If I slipped off the bistro chair and crawled away, maybe he wouldn’t notice, butthat was wishful thinking. Because, at that moment, the biggest frown marred his face.
“I’m not pining away for Tangi. Do people think that?” he asked, sounding a touch defensive.
I held back a groan. “No. And no one even talks about it. I can assure you of that. I know about it because Tangi mentioned it once.”
“So Tangi told you that I liked her?” The irritation in his voice had leveled up a notch.
I had a feeling I was about to be fired. Brandon’s eyebrows creased as he tried to mask his displeasure or maybe his rage.
“No. I’m making a mess of this. Let me stress that she didn’t come out and say it,” I said, even though she had confided to me and Jill about it. “I figured it out. We could tell at the time that a lot was going on in Tangi’s life. She was pregnant, living with her ex, and she was working with you. She talked about you. We didn’t gossip, and Tangi definitely didn’t gossip.”
He was quiet for so long before going back to eating his breakfast. Then he said, “I expect that everything you and I talk about is between me and you. If you tell anyone anything, I’ll fire you.”
That was my first brush of coldness from him. More like bone-chilling cold, like the coldest winter day in Minnesota when you could barely breathe and your eyelashes froze. The tension rose between us, and I felt so stupid for screwing up so badly. This whole day was a roller coaster.
“Got it,” I said in my chef voice. He was the boss, and I was taking orders.