Faithful by S. A. Wolfe Read Free Book Online Page A

sweet, stupid Leo, who has been ordering the exact same lunch for two years, has his head buried in that damn menu and is ruining my plan to use him as the point man to keep from having to look at Cooper.
    “Does it make it healthier if I substitute the bun for a wheat one?” Leo asks.
    Goddammit, Leo!
    “Of course not,” I say, grabbing the menu out of his hands.
    I give an annoyed glance at Cooper who is refraining from laughing. Even reclined against the back of the booth, he’s tall and fills out the bench. He crosses his arms, stretches out his legs, and then crosses his ankles. As his large, heavy-duty work boots stick out, almost touching my leg, I have the sudden urge to kick them back under the table.
    I don’t even recognize myself when I’m around him. It’s like I’m turning into a twelve-year-old. That, of course, makes me think someone should have been smart enough to come up with a snappy, smartass nickname for me years ago so I wouldn’t have to go through life with a deceased relative’s old-timey, three-syllable name.
    “Imogene, it’s quite possible that you are the crabbiest waitress,” Leo states, causing a short laugh to escape from Cooper.
    “I know, right? I should be fired. So, you guys want two burgers with the works and Cokes?”
    When Leo contemplates this for a moment, I want to smack him. The guy hasn’t broken his routine in two years, and now he wants to think about it? I’m ready to jam the jumbo laminated menu down his throat.
    “Leo?” I ask sharply.
    “God. Yes. Burger. Coke. Geesh.”
    “Wait,” Cooper says. “Imogene, I’ll have an extra order of fries with mine.”
    I jot it down, making a point of stabbing the pad with my pen. I’m still not making full-on eye contact with Cooper because I’m reliving the terrible little speech about men I gave moments ago to Kelly and Samantha. I would make a lousy teacher. Probably a lousy mother, too. I wish my parents or grandmother had the balls to fire me today so I wouldn’t have to live with this indecision about waitressing anymore, and I wouldn’t have to serve Cooper.
    “And Imogene?” Now Cooper is just intentionally fucking with me.
    “Good Lord, what?” I glance at him quickly.
    When Cooper smiles, his gray eyes that screw with my mind finally win over, and I really look at him hard this time. He’s incredibly calm about the obvious breakdown I’m having in the middle of the lunch rush. If Dylan were here, I’d beg him for some of his anti-anxiety meds. I have a good mind to march over to Lois’s yoga studio, Beyond the Pants, and score some pot from her. She may be sixty-something, but she has more experience than me in the area of drug-induced relaxation. I’m sure she’d be happy to teach me how to use her bong.
    “Take it easy, I just want you to ask your dad to make the fries extra crispy. You know how Mark—”
    “Yes, I know… -Mark-my-father-fries-crispy-extra… Got it.” As I fumble with my pad and pen, the menus shoot out of my hands, smacking Leo in the face. After all my self-control, poor Leo got whacked anyway.
    Cooper smiles and collects the menus then stands up and puts his arm around my shoulders and hands them to me. I stiffen under the warmth of his arm.
    “Don’t scream,” he says in a low voice, “but I’d like you to add two slices of cherry pie to that order.”
    “Do you think, if I put a fork in your eye right now, my family would finally fire me? Today?”
    “Let’s try it without the fork,” he says as he slides back into the booth.
    “Let’s see if Imogene can make it through lunch without murdering anyone,” Leo adds.
    “Huh, funny. By the way, I think I need a nickname. Nothing too cute, but something fun and cool. You know, something different to motivate me to start a new career. Why don’t you two work on that while I’m gone?”
    “Well, that’s random and weird.” Leo makes a fish mouth, making me realize he’s absolutely correct. I need to sit