“Nope. We’d have never made it out to eat. You’re too much of a distraction, sweet thing. Why don’t you watch TV while we get ready? Otherwise, it will take forever,” he said.
She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was right. If she followed him to the bedroom, they’d end up screwing around instead of getting ready. While that idea had merits, she was hungry and already knew they were going to screw around later regardless. If she could deal with being in the basement, that is.
Forty-five minutes later, the three of them rode down the highway to Myrtle, a small community not far from Perkins City. Tag swore she’d love the food at the little joint. Right now, Tessa was hungry enough she figured she could eat burnt shoe leather.
When they pulled up in front of the building, she wasn’t too sure about the place. It didn’t exactly look like a place she wanted to eat out of. Granted it was dark, but the place looked to be at least a hundred years old and someone needed to do some work on the place before it fell down around them. When she mentioned this to the guys, they just chuckled.
“Food’s worth it, babe. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it,” Tag said.
“I promise it’s better than it looks,” Zander added, giving Tag a shove on the shoulder. “Get going, man. I’m starved.”
Once inside, Tessa wanted to punch both of them in the stomach. The place wasn’t a dump or even old. It was a clean, down-home restaurant that had obviously been made to look that way. The smells coming from the kitchen were going to kill her before she got a chance to try anything. Her stomach growled loudly, causing the men to laugh and the waitress to smile at her. Warmth crept up her neck to settle in her cheeks.
“Sounds like baby girl might be a little hungry. Think she could tackle the Chuck Wagon?” Tag asked.
“Doesn’t matter. If she wants it, we can eat whatever she can’t squeeze in,” Zander told him.
Tessa ignored them and looked up at the waitress who couldn’t be much older than she was.
“What do you suggest? I’m obviously hungry, but I can’t eat a lot,” she told the woman.
“Actually, I think you should try the Chuck Wagon. It has a little bit of everything on it and all of it can be warmed up again if you can’t eat all of it in one sitting,” she said with a warm smile.
She narrowed her eyes at the two men watching her and nodded up at their waitress. “That’s what I’ll have, then. Thank you.”
After the woman had finished taking the guy’s orders and left, Tessa shook her head at them. They were going to drive her crazy, but she didn’t want to change anything. She wanted to be with them. They had to follow the rules they’d set on Monday. That meant compromise and picking her battles. She had agreed that if they were afraid for her life or safety, what they said was law. She had to trust them enough not to abuse the power she’d given to them. They had to trust her to be honest with them and follow their edicts. That was going to take some work on her part.
“How was work today?” Zander asked her. “Were you as busy over there as I was?”
“For a Saturday, it wasn’t that bad. Usually I’m worn out by the end of the day, but not so much this time.” She turned to Tag. “You sure looked busy when I walked in. Don’t you have someone helping you in the front part?”
“No. There’s just me and Brent there. We’re usually both working in the back and listen for the buzzer we have rigged for the door. Some days we’re so busy one of us has to stay up front and some days no one comes in at all.” He shrugged.
“When I’m not working at Heavy Trinkets, I’ll take care of the front and maybe do some paperwork for you until you’re ready to go home. You get free labor and I get a ride home.” She grinned at him.
“That’s a great idea!” Zander said.
“You don’t have to work, baby girl. You can just hang out with me, or I’ll take you home like I’ve been doing,” he said.
“It’s wasting time and gas to do that. Besides, I’d rather be there with you than sitting at the house all alone. If I want to read, I can read at the shop.” She grinned, pleased that she’d thought of it. It gave her something to do and she would be helping Tag in the process.
“We can try it out and see, but if you start getting tired, you’re going home. I don’t like that you work anyway,” he groused, having already lost that battle during their conversations at the first of the week.
“I told you. I’d go crazy with nothing to do. I’m used to being busy.”