“Oh, okay,” she said. While she was tempted to try again, she decided to go put his order in and then come back and give it another try later. She didn’t want to push too hard at the beginning.
She wrote down his order as she walked back toward the counter and stopped short as Joe came through the door in front of her. “Hey, there,” she said, smiling. They’d had several more conversations recently, and she felt as if she was really getting to know him better. He wasn’t quite the person she’d originally thought he was. “How is Rufus the Great Dane? Did his surgery go well?”
“It did,” he said, but his smile seemed forced. Something was off. “I’m actually pretty tired, though. I called my order in earlier. I think I’ll just take it to go.”
“Oh, okay,” Valerie replied, stepping behind him s
