I'm Not Your Enemy (Enemies 2)

I scrubbed a hand over my mouth and tried to withhold the smile. No, dang it, I wasn’t gonna get ahead of myself yet.

Today was Sebastian’s last shift at the restaurant for a while. His boss was back from his vacation, so there’d be a new schedule coming out in which Sebastian would return to occasional nights and weekends. He was happy with that, but I was gonna miss our lunches.

After another poor attempt at brushing sawdust off my tee, I opened the door to the restaurant and stepped into the warmth.

These little dates we’d started having at the restaurant, especially if one was during a lunch shift, messed with my head. Work lunches were grunt affairs, and you looked like a troll coming straight from a work site, utility pants still on, and you had the dirty tees and steel-toe boots. But I was raised to dress up, smell nice, and be clean for dates.

I didn’t tick any of those boxes right now.

Sebastian appeared from the dining section with two plates and a sexy smile. “Right on time.”

“Of course.”

He led the way to the seating area by the bar, which was empty at this hour.

“Have a seat. I’ll get you a beer.” He pressed a quick kiss to my temple before he was off again.

I did love meeting up with him like this in the middle of the day, though. Maybe we could find a way to do it when he worked his other jobs too.

I took a seat and unfolded the napkin across my thigh. The food smelled fantastic as always. He’d given me the crab ravioli with lemon butter and roasted vegetables again, because it was freaking heaven, something that couldn’t have gone unnoticed last time.

They had a great chef here, that was for certain.

Sebastian came back with two ice waters and a beer.

“How will your schedule look when you go back to your regular job?” I asked. As far as I knew, he was at it again starting Monday. Every morning, he’d drive around town and pick up special needs children and take them to school. Same story when school was out and the kids had to go home again. And if I wasn’t mistaken, he had pickups in between too, when he drove kids to doctors’ appointments, care groups, and activities.

“I’ll work seven thirty to four every day,” he replied, tucking into his halibut. I’d tried that too, but it wasn’t as good as the ravioli. “Tuesdays to Thursdays will be busier because I’ll have a few hours at the Quad after work too.”

“Oh. Can I come see you at the Quad? Will you be able to meet up for lunch here and there?”

He glanced up from his food and smiled. “Yes to both.”

Thank fuck. “Good. I’ve gotten used to getting a dose in the middle of the day.”

He chuckled and squeezed my hand over the table. “You don’t know how hooked I am on what we have now. We don’t have to hold back.”

“That was half the anxiety last time.” I remembered thinking I had to make sure I wasn’t too interested or acted too affectionate, for fear he’d think I was crossing lines. “But now…things are almost too good. I’m waitin’ for the other shoe to drop sometimes. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah, it’s weird. I guess that’s our history talking.”

True. We both came from backgrounds where shit went south one way or another.

On the flipside, every relationship began because the previous ones had failed.

There was something comforting about that fact. It just made us normal.

“Circling back to the Quad,” I said, forking up another piece of ravioli. “When I picked you up the other day, I saw you had a bulletin board near the entrance with a bunch of sign-ups for classes and whatnot.”

He nodded and shoveled some food into his mouth. “We encourage the kids to learn basic stuff like budgeting, cooking, cleaning… It’s a place for small businesses to recruit holiday workers too.”

“That’s cool. Do you put together those classes yourselves?” I asked.

“Sometimes. Maggie runs a cooking class every month. Dominic teaches self-defense every now and then, I’ve done a few classes for those who don’t know how to swim, and the volunteers who’re teachers by day run their own tutoring service. Things like that. Many kids are also at the age where they’re getting ready to take their driver’s license exams, so we try to stay up-to-date if anyone needs help with the written tests.”

In other words, this could be a good opportunity for me to let my feet grow roots. I wanted to be part of a community. More than that, I admired Sebastian for the work he did, and he was a good inspiration.

I cleared my throat and sat back in my seat. “So…if someone were to offer a class to learn, say, simple carpentry, that could be a good idea?”