"Love, Trust, and Secrets"

Chapter 3-4

The next time Tyler checked the clock, it read 11:00 P.M., almost time for him to call it a day—or rather, a night. The restaurant would be closing, and since today was one of his long days and he’d been there since opening, he’d get a reprieve from cleaning. He was grateful because his butt was dragging.

Tyler watched as his boss turned the OPEN sign to CLOSED. Just as the sign flipped, the door pushed open. Knowing his boss would take care of it, Tyler headed into the back room to get his gear. When he returned, he was surprised to see someone near the bar talking to Mr. Caleb. Again, figuring it had nothing to do with him, he proceeded into the kitchen to say goodnight.

When he stepped out, he stopped dead, the kitchen door almost smashing him on its backward swing. The someone talking at the bar turned and stared. It was Jarod. The first thought that raced through Tyler’s mind was, does he know my boss? The second was, s**t.

Jarod smiled and snapped Tyler back to reality. Not sure exactly what to do, Tyler let his manners dictate the way. He moved to the two men, held out his hand, and shook Jarod’s. The shock from their hands touching rocketed through Tyler’s body, and from the way Jarod jerked, Tyler was sure he felt it, too.

About to ask Jarod what he was doing there, Mr. Caleb looked at Tyler. “I was coming to tell you your ride is here.”

“My ride?” Tyler asked, his mind trying to comprehend what that meant.

“I told you I might be a little late, but everything went faster than expected,” Jarod said, his smile almost as confusing as his words.

“Wait. What?”

“I’m here to drive you home.” This time Jarod whispered so only Tyler could hear.

“What? No. I’m good. Besides, I’m going to be here for a while longer cleaning up.”

“No, you’re good to go. See you tomorrow,” Mr. Caleb chimed in.

“Great. Thanks,” Tyler said, his tone anything but thankful.

Not wanting to make a scene, Tyler let Jarod hold open the door for him as he stepped out.

His emotions ran rampant. When he’d first seen Jarod standing across from him, the desire had been instant. It had set every part of him on fire. Then he’d remembered where he was, and a list of all the possibilities of why Jarod would be there had played in his mind and had doused the flames of desire like a bucket of water.

Outside, and clear of the chance anyone from the restaurant would hear them, Tyler asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I came to give you a ride home,” Jarod said, his voice calm and rational.

“I don’t think so. Try again.”

“I came to offer you a ride home.”

Tyler was amazed and angered by how calm Jarod remained. “You couldn’t think it’d be a good idea to just show up and expect me to go with you?”

“It wasn’t the best of ideas. It was the best I could come up with.” At least this time Jarod sounded a little less certain.

Tyler’s body tensed. What is with this guy? “Why did you have to come here?”

“I didn’t have any other way to get in touch with you.” The street lights illuminated Jarod’s flush cheeks.

I knew it was a bad idea to let him drive me here. “What for?”

“So I could ask you out.”

It took a second for Jarod’s words to penetrate Tyler’s stubborn mind. When they finally did, all he could say was, “Oh.”