Chapter Twelve
Sienna
The next morning, I woke up sore in many places. After taking a shower, I inspected my body in the full-length mirror attached to my closet door. Bruises dotted my skin from the multiple paintball hits. And as much as they hurt, I smiled at the memory of how much fun we all had. It was nice to see that Parker and I could still keep up with high school kids. I tried to ignore the fact that each of them hit on me at least once, and some multiple times. It was all in good fun, even though I was paying for it today.
I took a picture of the big one on my neck and sent it to Parker.
He texted me back, “Nice hickey.”
“You wish!” I wrote with a gun emoji.
“Rematch,” he replied.
“You’re on! Be prepared to get your ass handed to you again.”
“Thanks for that bruise, by the way. I can’t sit right.”
I sent a smiling emoji.
Thinking of going out there again with him made me smile. And that smile lasted all the way to work.
Later that morning, Tony came into Sunny’s after I’d prepped for the breakfast crowd. He had trouble with his bike that morning and needed to catch a ride from a friend.
“When can you pick up your bike?” I asked.
“Tomorrow, probably,” he said, reaching for his apron. “It’s the bill I’m worried about. I feel like this is going to be way more than I want to spend.”
“Way more than getting another bike?”
He whistled through his teeth. “It’s going to be close.”
That totally sucked. Tony loved his bike. It would be a hard decision for him to make. “Well, if you need to keep it at the shop until you get the money together, I can give you a ride.”
“Are you sure you can?” he asked.
“Why wouldn’t I be able to?”
“Well, you and Parker are always off gallivanting around the place doing wedding stuff.”
I rolled my eyes. “I can give you a ride.”
“Speaking of Parker, how was paintballing? Did you kick his ass?”
“You know it. It was so much fun. I have like a million bruises, but it was worth it. Oh! And I wanted to plan a big bachelor party for him. Are you in? I’ll need a man’s touch for this one.”
“Yeah, of course. I’m always down to party.”
I clapped my hands together. “Awesome. I was thinking of doing it here. Is that weird? Maybe if we move all the tables in a different formation, it might look more like an appropriate restaurant. I don’t have a ton of money, and I refuse to ask Parker to give me any for his party—”
Tony’s hands rested on my shoulder. “Sienna, breathe. It will be fine.”
I took a breath and hadn’t realized I was prattling on. “I just want this to be fun for him.”
“Parker may be a billionaire, but he has fun with you. So, whatever you think would be fun, I’m sure he’ll love it.”
“You think?”
“Definitely,” he said, smiling. “And to bump it up a notch, I can get a stripper.”
“A stripper?” I asked. I knew a lot of bachelor parties had strippers, but I couldn’t imagine some chick taking her clothes off here. I would have to sanitize a lot if things got crazy. But I was sure I could make this really special for Parker. I thought he’d get a kick out of having a stripper.
“You can’t have a bachelor party without a stripper, Sienna.”
“I know, yeah, let’s do that. Call whatever pimp you know and let’s get that going,” I teased.
“I don’t know a pimp. It’s called a service.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Cool, I’ll get to work on that today.”
The Lamontes were our first customers for the day. We all exchanged pleasantries, and I started preparing their meal before they even sat down.
When I brought the food out to them, a stream of customers came in through the door. Outside there were two vans parked in the lot and I knew we were going to be busy for a little while. The thought brought a smile to my face. We’d been picking up lately, and I knew we were getting close to the busy season, but I had an inkling that Parker’s promotion had helped as well.
“Sienna, dear,” Harriet said, touching my arm. “Ken and I were talking about you the other day.”
“I hope all good things?”
Kenneth coughed into his handkerchief. I’d know that cough anywhere; he’d been doing it a lot lately. “Always,” he squeaked out.
“We were curious why you wanted to open a diner.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the other customers filtering in. Four tables worth.
“If you’re busy, we can talk later,” Harriet said.
I slid into the booth next to Kenneth. “I’m never too busy for my best customers.”
Harriet nodded and leaned closer to the table. “I’d love to know how you got here. Such a strong woman. You’re a great influence for other girls.”
“I don’t know about all that,” I started, “but I’ve always loved to cook, even when I was a little girl. We didn’t grow up with much money, so I had to make food with whatever we had. It was sort of like a fun game for me. And while there have been some disasters in the kitchen, it helped me understand cooking and opened my mind a bit. I think of recipes as a jumping-off point more than a blueprint. And I’ve always wanted to open up a place for myself, never really wanting to have a boss.”
“That’s lovely,” Harriet said.
“And I get to meet wonderful people like you.”
“Is business good?” Kenneth asked.
I shrugged. “It’s not as profitable as I wanted, but I live in a beautiful home and am able to pay the bills each month. So, I’d say it was worth it.”
Harriet looked at the other group who was starting to get loud. “We appreciate you sitting with us. But you should probably get back to work. We’ll talk later.”
“Enjoy your meal,” I said, sliding out of the booth.
Tony was already in the kitchen starting on the orders for the larger group.
“Sorry,” I said, grabbing the next ticket. “Harriet had a question and I rattled on too much.”
“Don’t worry about it. These people think this is a fast food restaurant. They can wait. Harriet and Ken are more important.”
I knew Tony would understand. We were almost the same person in a lot of ways.
“If I didn’t have this place, I would have never met them. That’s wild, right? I can’t even imagine it,” I said.
“They are pretty amazing. Did you know Kenneth was a Marine? That’s a tough job, man.”
I glanced out at the dining area; I could imagine Kenneth when he was a young man. Under the wrinkles and constant coughing, I could see him kicking ass as a Marine. I wished I had more time for them today. But I’d make up for it another day. They weren’t going anywhere.
We carried on with preparing the food. A few times, I glanced over at the Lamontes. Harriet was chattering away about something while I saw the back of Kenneth’s head bob as if he were in rhythm with a tune. They were adorable, and I hoped they’d keep coming back for a long time.
After the Lamontes and the van-crowd left, we had a steady stream of customers throughout the rest of the day. Tony covered for me while I ate my lunch. I made myself a grilled cheese and thought of Parker while I ate it.
“So, what should I prepare for food for the bachelor party?” I asked. “Maybe mini grilled cheeses. Oh! Sliders, too. Maybe more finger food-type things? Unless you think we should do a sit-down dinner? Not sure that would go with the stripper theme, though.”
Tony turned around. “It’s not a stripper theme; there will be a stripper at some point. Maybe two. Usually after we eat. And appetizers sound fine.”
“Good, I’ll make up a menu.”
“You’re really getting into this,” he said.
“Into what?”
“This whole planning thing.”
“How else would you expect me to plan a party?”
“I mean, you’re really into it. Like more than I’ve ever seen you.”
“Well, I am the best man,” I said.
He gave me a look that said, “Yeah, okay.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Forget I said anything.”
I couldn’t forget it, but I also couldn’t explain why I wanted everything to be perfect. I wanted this party to reflect me in some way. It was almost a last hurrah for me and Parker. And I wanted it to be a night he always remembered. And if I was honest with myself, I wanted him to remember it even more than his wedding day.