She Stole My Job… And My Nightmare! novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Ask

The following Friday I picked the pizza counter again.

It was the same narrow place in Queens, with the same red stools and the same man behind the counter, who recognized Elliot and said, "Plain slice, no fork."

Elliot sat on the stool beside mine with his coat still on.

He had asked, in a text on Wednesday, whether I would have dinner with him on Friday.

The text had said: As equals. I'll pay for my own. You may say no to anything I ask. Please make me believe it.

I had written back: Pizza.

We ate.

He had learned to fold the slice, and he did it correctly, with a careful look, and the man behind the counter nodded at him.

Maggie's friends were at the corner table and made no pretence of not watching.

"How was the foundation?" he asked.

"Tuesday I rebuilt the transport schedule for the family room. Wednesday a mother cried in my office because we found her a parking space."

"That's wonderful."

"It is."

"And you're sleeping?"

"I'm sleeping," I said. "You?"

"Six nights of seven."

"Which night was the bad one?"

"Thursday. You had the late shift at the family room."

"I called at ten."

"You did. I lay down. I woke at two, and I put my hand on the phone." He turned his paper plate a quarter turn. "Then I went back to sleep."

I put my hand over his on the counter.

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