“What about starting with the fried bacon mac and cheese balls?” Luke asked, never looking up from the menu.
“I knew you’d pick those,” Linda said, laughing. She finally put her menu down while stating the obvious. “This is a heart attack waiting.”
“Makes sense that Luke would love it then,” Logan said, glancing up from the menu. They were now all focused on Luke who didn’t even seem to care at all.
“Not just me. It won the best of the best award from the San Diego Herald.” Luke extended an arm in a Vanna White style sweep of his hand, motioning to the packed restaurant. “I’m not the only one. The place is packed for a reason.”
Levi sat back in his seat and nodded at Luke; his brother had a point. The waitress came to the table, and he waited until drinks and appetizers were ordered before he asked, “You guys are part of Dishology, Inc., right?”
“Yep,” she answered, never looking up as she wrote on her pad.
“I work for the company. Do I get a discount here?”
“Yep, fifty percent,” she replied, finally looking up at him. “Where do you work?”
Thankfully Luke’s excitement got the best of him, before Levi had to answer. “No way!” Luke quickly lifted his menu to the waitress, pointing to an item. “We’ll take the bacon cheese fries then too.” That might be the most excited Levi had ever seen Luke in all his fifteen years. The whole table, including the waitress, laughed at his enthusiasm.
“All right. I’ll just need your employee ID number.”
“We have employee IDs?” That was news to him.
“I just need the number. It’ll connect you in the computer and apply the discount,” she explained, looking over her shoulder at the table next to theirs. She lifted a finger in their direction to get a minute.
“I’ll have to get it,” he said, tugging his phone from his back pocket. He’d text Julian to ask, praying he wasn’t already busy at the club.
“If you have a check stub, it’s on there too,” she said, taking a step backward toward the other table.
“I do. Out in the car.”
“Okay, I’ll get your order started.”
Levi shoved out of his seat. Before stepping away, he said, “If she comes back, I’ll take the all-American bacon burger, medium well.” He was off, hoping there might be a check stub in the glove box of their car.
~~~
Thane edged his way through the front doors of the Baconator and gave in to the momentary surprise. The place was packed. From the outside sidewalk, all the way to the hostess stand, there was standing room only. He worked his way through the crowd and didn’t even care that they hadn’t met their required greeting times. The restaurant was slammed but efficiently moving people in and out as fast as humanly possible. He could find no fault with that.
Thane skirted past the masses, heading inside the dining room. There was supposed to be a reserved table waiting for him. He stood in the middle of the aisle and scanned the area for the front-end manager. They were so busy he had no idea who was who, so he started to make his way to the kitchen. He got a couple of odd looks as he walked through the waitstaff area, and as he came out the other side, he spotted the only empty table in the place, a handwritten reserved sign sat on top.
Probably his space since they didn’t normally take dinner reservations. As he started to make his way to the bartender to ask her to send over the manager, something drew Thane’s attention. He couldn’t name the feeling, but it stopped him in his tracks. With his hand still lifted in the air, his gaze shifted from the bartender to a side table a few feet away. He instantly recognized Levi’s little brother, Luke.
“Yes, sir?”
Thane’s attention stayed transfixed on the table, scanning all the heads. That had to be Levi’s family. Two spots were open at the six-top table—both next to Luke—and one empty space had a menu placed in front of the seat.
Was Levi here? Thane instantly began looking around, hopeful to spot the guy.
After the week from hell, could he seriously be lucky enough to have stumbled on Levi and his family having dinner there?
“Sir?”
He managed to turn toward the now clearly aggravated bartender. “I need your front-end manager please.” Thane didn’t wait for a response. Instead, he made his way to Luke’s table, coming to a stop in front of one of the empty seats. He opened his mouth to speak and froze, at a complete loss for what to say, as all but the older woman’s eyes landed on him. This was important. He needed them to like him. When nothing readily came to mind, he just smiled. Luckily, recognition set in Luke’s eyes.