JFK to Dublin (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective Book 1)

by Brooke St. James

  I laughed and took a bite of a chip to hide how nervous I was. "I can't believe I came here," I said.

  "The owner is waiting on us," she said in an amazed voice.

  "I bet restaurant owners wait on tables all the time."

  "Not ones like him," she said. "How does stuff like this happen to you?"

  "Because of my dad," I said.

  "Not with him," she said, gesturing in the direction that Collin had gone. "Your dad has nothing to do with that."

  "Stop," I said, already feeling anxious and doubting my decision to eat there at all.

  "You're the one who wanted to come here," she said, reading my thoughts.

  "I know, but I didn't know he would be here."

  "Don't pretend you came for the food," Lu said, since she knew me too well. "I heard back from S&S," she added. "They said I got the spot."

  "You're kidding!" I said with a huge smile.

  "When did you find out?"

  "This morning."

  "Aww, I'm so happy for you," I said.

  "There's one catch, though."

  "What?"

  "It's for a spot that opens up in August. They chose a guy to fill the one coming open next month."

  "Why's that a catch?" I asked.

  "It means I'm gonna be crashing at your place a little while longer."

  "Lu, I really don't mind."

  "I know, and I'm thankful, but I know it'll be nice for you to have your apartment back—especially with how my art takes up that whole corner.

  "I seriously don't mind," I said.

  She smiled at me sincerely. "Thank you for being awesome. You've never asked me for a thing."

  "Because I don't want anything from you."

  "Sarah, I've been at your place for too long," she said. "I love you for not kicking me out, but it's time for me to kick myself out. I need to make it on my own. S&S is perfect. I'm too comfortable at your place. I've got to get out there and hustle—make it for myself."

  "I can appreciate that," I said. "And I'm proud of you. I just want you to know you're always welcome."

  She stared straight at me, her brown eyes glazing over like she was holding back tears. "You're awesome," she said.

  Just then, a beautiful dish of fresh guacamole landed on our table. I stared at it for a few seconds before looking up at Collin. "The way to a woman's heart…" I said.

  He smiled. "I'm trying."

  We stared at each other, and I honestly began to feel my heartbeat in the side of my neck because the pounding was so out of control.

  Lu cleared her throat. "I'll have the crawfish nachos," she said.

  "Good choice." Collin smiled at her and took her menu. "And for you?" he asked, shifting to stare at me.

  I cleared my throat since I had heard Lu do it, and I was feeling completely unprepared to speak. "How did you even know what you wanted?" I asked looking at Lu with a confused expression since we had been talking the whole time he was gone.

  She shrugged and smiled before taking a bite of chip with a huge pile of guacamole on the end. "It's what I had last time."

  "Whatever you think," I said, handing Collin the menu without even looking at it.

  His eyebrows drew together. "Anything?" he asked.

  "Yep."

  "Dietary restrictions?"

  "Nope."

  "Favorites?"

  "Surprises are my favorite."

  He was grinning as he turned to head for the kitchen.

  "You're in love, you're in love, you're the most in love anyone's ever been in the history of in-loves. You're done for, finished, caput, stick a fork in you."

  "You're trippin'," I said, giggling and taking a sip of water since I always got cottonmouth when I was nervous.

  "Surprise me?" she repeated, staring at me with wide eyes like it was the weirdest thing that could have ever come out of my mouth.

  "What? He's the owner. He knows a lot about food. I figured he knew what was good."

  "Yeah, but you are not a surprise me kind of girl."

  "Yes I am."

  "Okay, then look me in the eye and tell me you do not like him."

  I stared at her for a few seconds. "I can't," I said.

  "See?"

  "It doesn't mean I'm gonna go out with him."

  She chewed her chips as she shook her head in a disappointed manner. "That's just too bad," she said. "That's your own stubbornness causing you to mess with your own future happiness."

  "Who are you, Dr. Phil or something?"

  "I'm the girl who's sitting across from you, watching you and Mr. Right stare at each other like you want to run off and get married."

  "We were not." I said, narrowing my eyes playfully at her.

  Lu and I went on to talk about other things like the fact that Theo Duval loved her work and told Lane to make a point of saying how excited he was to give her the spot at S&S. The artist compound was a well-oiled machine run by a guy named Lane who had been Theo's right hand in the years when Theo was just starting out. Lane had contacted Lu earlier that morning and reiterated the terms of her room and board at S&S including the guidelines for commissions in the gallery downstairs. Lu was thrilled about the news that she was next in line for a spot, and we talked about that while we waited for our food.

  It was about five or ten minutes later when someone else checked in with us. "Mr. Ross wanted me to let you know he had to leave and that I'll be taking care of you from here on out." The guy smiled. "My name's Mike. Mr. Ross has already put in your order, but can I get you anything else?"

  I shook my head, feeling disappointed.

  Mike smiled. "I'll be back with your food in just a minute. I wanted to introduce myself and let you know I'd be taking care of you. Mr. Ross had to see to an emergency at one of his other restaurants. He was planning on taking care of you, and he apologized for having to step out."

  "Oh, it's fine," I said, smiling and trying to seem unfazed. "We weren't expecting him to do that anyway."

  Our food came out a few minutes later. It was delicious, and Lu and I were both satisfied with our dining experience, but I was truly sorry that Collin had disappeared during our meal. I kept hoping he would show up before we left, but he didn't.

  Mike said lunch was on the house, and we thanked him by leaving a generous tip. We ran into Nichole on our way out. She had gotten a call from my dad's casting director and thanked me for whatever I had done to make that happen. I asked if she had fun on the set of Best Chef with Collin. At first, she seemed surprised that I remembered that, but she said she had an amazing time and even got to taste some of the food.

  Moments later, Lu and I headed out onto the crowded sidewalk. We stayed close to the building so neither of us would get trampled by foot traffic. "I'm headed to work," Lu said. She was a barista at a cool little coffee and gelato place. I was tempted to follow her there for some coffee before I went home to get some work done. We hesitated on the sidewalk while I considered my options. I was lost in thought when I heard my name being called from over my shoulder.

  Chapter 6

  "Sarah," a man's voice called from behind me.

  I turned and saw Collin Ross walking toward me with two other people, both men. He had a serious expression on his face, and I wondered what he was thinking and what the emergency must have been. It had taken every ounce of my will not to ask Mike about it when we were in the restaurant.

  "Did you ladies enjoy your meal?" he asked.

  He came to a stop near us on his way into the restaurant, but it was obvious that he didn't have time to stand there and talk.

  "It was soooo good," Lu said.

  "It really was," I agreed. "Thank you so much for treating us."

  Collin smiled and gave us a curt nod as the hostess opened the door in anticipation of their arrival. I could see the underlying worry in his expression as a result of whatever was going on with his restaurant, and I felt the urge to comfort him. I had to really fight against the desire to reach out an
d give him a tight hug even though it would have been awkward and completely uncalled-for.

  "Maybe I'll see you next week," he said with one last smile and wave aimed at me as they headed into the restaurant.

  "I wonder what happened," Lu said.

  "I know. Me too."

  "Are you coming with me?" she asked.

  I was so thrown off by running into Collin that I forgot I had been considering going to get a cup of coffee. I ended up walking with her since it was just a couple of blocks, but I didn't stick around because they were slammed and there wasn't even really a place for me to sit. It was cold outside, so I made quick work of hailing a cab to take me back to my apartment.

  We passed Collin's restaurant on our route, and of course, I glanced in that direction. He happened to be standing in plain sight, and traffic was moving slowly, so I watched through the windows for several long seconds as he spoke to a group of people by the door. I stared out of the back window to see him as long as I could, but the traffic had begun to move, and my cab driver continued down the street. Soon, Collin was out of sight, and I turned to face forward again with a sigh.

  I worked for a few hours on some number crunching and invoices from the past week's online orders. Paperwork was my least favorite part of the job, so I always saved it up till I absolutely had to pay attention to it. Oh, how I wished I could just make pottery and not worry about selling it. But it that were the case, I'd just have a bunch of stuff sitting on a shelf, never getting used. My father had a trust set up for me, and technically, I didn't have to work, but ultimately it made me feel good.

  So, I threw myself into dealing with the business aspect of my art all afternoon. It might have been in an effort to distract myself from Collin, but I was glad to have it done regardless.

  The bad part was that my work didn't succeed in making me forget about Collin. I thought about how sweet he had been for wanting to serve us lunch, and how he took time to stop and talk to us at the door even though he was obviously in a hurry. I thought about him saying maybe he'd see me next week, and I experienced a longing feeling in my chest like next week was entirely too long.

  Before I knew what was happening, I had picked up my phone and pressed the buttons to call Macy. I held the phone to my ear, realizing how weird it was for me to call her when texting was all we ever did.

  "This is Macy," her recording said. "Leave a message after the beep."

  "Hey." I paused to clear my throat. "Hey, I was, uh, wondering if you still maybe had that napkin from the other day. This is Sarah. Let me know. Okay, bye."

  I cringed as I disconnected the call.

  I got a text from Macy a minute later.

  Macy: "Sorry, I lost it."

  I blinked at the screen, feeling incredibly frustrated at myself for letting her have it in the first place.

  Me: "No biggie." I included a smiley face emoji even though I was annoyed. I reminded myself that me not having it was nobody's fault but my own.

  Seconds later, a text came through from Macy that said, "JK", along with a clear picture of the napkin.

  The level of relief I felt from that text was comical. I might as well have been standing on the edge of a volcano, being made to jump in, and doomed for certain death when someone came up and said, "Stop! Don’t make her jump!" That's how relieved I felt. A sense of giddiness washed over me as I stared down at the photo of the napkin with Collin's number written in perfectly legible, plain English. There was no name, but next to the number, there was a simple circle with lines coming off of it in what was clearly the shape of a sun. I literally let out a giggle. I knew there was humor in the 180-degree shift that had happened with my emotions as a result of Macy's conflicting texts.

  I text her back with a few emojis, including a praying hand, a thumbs up and a heart, and she responded with a couple of her own.

  I took the phone number in the picture, and typed it into a contact that I appropriately named, "Collin." I got to the screen to compose a text to him, but I hesitated since I wasn't sure what I wanted to say.

  Me: "Thanks again for lunch today. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

  I stared at my text and ended up deleting the second sentence—the one about making sure he was okay. I left it at; "Thanks again for lunch today," and out of nerves, I pressed send.

  I instantly regretted it since I had neglected to tell him who was texting. I typed, "It's Sarah Spicer BTW," and pressed send again, feeling like the biggest dork in the whole world for sending two texts in a row like that.

  I tossed my phone onto the couch and flopped down beside it, dreading him texting back almost as much as I dreaded him not texting back.

  Nothing.

  When I still heard nothing from Collin after five minutes of sitting there waiting for him to reply, I decided to take a shower and get out of the house. My parents had a great apartment right by Central Park, and they always had good food to eat, which was a bonus since I hadn't been grocery shopping in two weeks.

  My parents were both home, and my brother, Eli, and his wife, Rebecca, were also there, so it ended up being somewhat of an impromptu family dinner (minus my brother, Joe) featuring pizza from my dad's favorite place down the block.

  My parents were both in great moods, and this set the tone for an enjoyable evening. We had a good time, and I was truly enjoying myself. This was why I was completely thrown off when my dad randomly said, "Who's this Collin character?"

  I was on the couch and he was standing near the kitchen counter talking to my brother. My head whipped around at the sound of that name, and my dad held up my telephone. "Why are you digging in my phone?" I asked with a warning glare aimed at him.

  "I'm not," he defended. "It just flashed across the screen."

  He continued by repeating the question, "Who's this Collin character," but I barely heard him because I sprang up and over the back of the couch so quickly that it caused my mom, who was sitting next to me, to yelp.

  "What'd it say?" I asked, sliding across the kitchen floor with my slippery socks, and almost crashing into my dad as I reached for my phone.

  He let out a rumbling laugh, holding my phone just out of my grasp as if he were intrigued by my excitement. "Who's Collin?" he asked, smiling with raised eyebrows.

  "Please," I said.

  "I thought you were off men," Eli said, teasing me.

  "I am," I said, crossing my arms at my father for seriously not giving me the phone. "He's my friend."

  My dad handed me the phone with a skeptical grin, and I wrinkled my nose at him. I wanted to act cool and not look at my phone right away, but that was impossible. I pressed the home button as soon as it was in my hand, and here's what I read:

  Collin: "You're welcome. My pleasure."

  I stared at the screen, feeling the heaviness of disappointment at the brevity of his text.

  "Why are you blushing?" Eli asked.

  "I'm not," I defended, even though I clearly was. I crossed the kitchen so that my dad and brother would stop looking at me, and I stared at my phone, deciding what, if anything, I should say back.

  Before I could text back, I got another text from Collin.

  Collin: "Sorry I had to leave."

  I smiled, feeling so grateful for the open door to ask about his restaurant.

  Me: "Don't be sorry. Mike took excellent care of us. I hope you got things worked out."

  Collin: "Glad you enjoyed it. It's been a day for the books. We had a kitchen fire. Things are squared away now. I'll be able to head home soon."

  Me: "I'm sorry to hear that. I bet you're tired."

  Collin: "I'm always tired. If I'm rested, I'm not working hard enough."

  Me: "How about Sunday?"

  Collin: "Are you asking me on a date?"

  Me: (Smiley face with a tongue sticking out.) "I meant don't you rest on Sundays?"

  Collin: "Maybe a little."

  I stared at the screen, wondering what I should say next. Sure, I had all sort
s of confusing emotions swirling around, but the fact of the matter was that I wanted to see him. Forget rules or trust issues. I took a deep breath, staring at the keypad. My heart was beating a thousand miles an hour as I tapped out a response.

  Me: "How about Sunday?"

  I bit my lip and cringed as I waited for his response.

  Collin: "Are you repeating your question, or are you asking me on a date?"

  I giggled, which made my whole family look at me.

  Me: "I try not to repeat questions."

  Bam, bam, bam, went my heart as I pressed send.

  Collin: "Sunday's out. I'll be out of town. How about Thursday?"

  Me: "Tomorrow?"

  Collin: "Yes."

  Me: "Yes."

  My eyes burned with tears from straight excitement.

  Collin: "Send your address and I'll pick you up at 7."

  Me: "Dinner?"

  Collin: "Yes."

  I responded with my address, and he replied back, saying he'd see me the following evening.

  Chapter 7

  I had seldom experienced the nerves I felt in the hours leading up to my date with Collin. I was at my parents' house when we set up the date, and I got a hard time from my entire family because I couldn’t wipe a huge grin off my face for the rest of the evening.

  It was now almost time for Collin to pick me up, and I was fit to be tied. I had so much nervous energy that I had cleaned my apartment from top to bottom, shaved my legs, whitened my teeth, and given myself a manicure and pedicure. I had done my very best to prepare myself for Collin's arrival. My apartment was clean, and I was having a good hair day. What could go wrong, right?

  Here's what.

  At about five minutes till seven, I put on my shoes. I was wearing a pair of black pants, and I wanted to make sure they looked okay together. The shoes had a heel of only a couple inches, and I never had a problem walking in any height heel, but tonight was different. I stepped into the shoes, and somehow, in the three feet of space between myself and the full-length mirror that was hanging in my closet, I managed to roll my ankle painfully to the side.