Read Online The Fortune Cafe by Heather B. Moore, Melanie Jacobson, Julie Wright - Free Book Online

number in my phone.”
    He drummed his fingers on the table top. “Gotta watch out for those sneaky guys.”
    “Especially when they’re good-looking.”
    Her face heated up from merely warm to sun surface temperatures when she realized she said that part out loud. But the look on his face, the one of approval, and the leap of excitement in his eyes were reward enough to make her not regret it so much as simply feel embarrassed by it.
    “I’ll call you maybe,” she said. “If I need anything. Thanks for coming in to check on me. See you later?”
    “You absolutely will,” he said.
    She rushed to the back kitchen to fetch table nine’s food and get it delivered to them. She’d been talking long enough that the orders had to be ready. On her way back to deliver the food, she halted mid-step, startled to find Harrison still sat at table thirteen. Hadn’t they just said good-bye? Why was he still sitting there?
    As she maneuvered her tray over to table nine, she shot another look back at him and her toe caught the edge of a chair. The stumble off-balanced her with the tray in her hands, and it tilted and crashed to the ground. That was when she realized that not only had she dumped an entire order on the ground, she’d nearly dumped it on an actual customer. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” Emma said, horrified that she’d been too sidetracked by looking at Harrison to focus on her job. “I’ve never done that before. It’s lucky you moved right then, or you’d have sweet and sour sauce all over you right now.”
    The younger woman shrugged off her near calamity as if it was nothing. Emma ran back to let Nate know they needed table nine’s orders remade, then rushed to table nine to apologize for the misfortune, promising the couple free dessert to make up for the inconvenience. Only then could she focus on the mess.
    Except that Harrison was already there cleaning. “What are you doing?” she asked.
    “This is that helping thing we talked about a minute ago. I’m getting the feeling you don’t let people assist you enough, or you wouldn’t have to have me continually defining it for you.”
    Cái peeked around the corner and saw Harrison kneeling on his tiled floor cleaning up Emma’s mishap. He grinned at Harrison. “You know if you want to work here, I can get you an application.”
    Harrison laughed as he scooped up sweet and sour glazed chicken and dumped it into the bin Emma had retrieved for him. “Well, I do know where all your cleaning supplies are located. Do employees get any kind of perks?”
    Cái wagged a finger at Harrison. “You already had your fortune. What greater perk could you need?”
    Emma groaned as she dumped the last bits of broken dishes into the garbage can. “Cái thinks his restaurant is magic.”
    “Really? Why?”
    “Here, the fortunes really come true.” Emma nodded as if sharing a great secret instead of a great bunch of baloney. She lowered her voice to a stage whisper. “We have magic cookies.” She nodded again and winked at Cái, who for once didn’t seem to be taking the bait.
    He only grinned at her. “Yes, Emma. Yes, we do. Don’t you agree, Harrison?”
    Harrison gave Emma a look she couldn’t read, but he didn’t answer. He straightened and made a grab for the mop, but Emma pulled it from his reach. “Don’t tell me you’re buying into Cái’s creepy cookie theory.”
    “I’m just glad to be here.” He then said, “Except actually…” He pulled his phone from his pocket and scowled. “Hey, I gotta go run some errands and keep my world turning for a little while longer.”
    She nodded her agreement, and he turned away, his face unreadable as he peered at the screen of his phone and hurried out of the restaurant. Maybe she’d freaked him out when she told him that Cái believed in magic cookies?
    She glanced around the kitchen area and swallowed her disappointment. Harrison had left, and his leaving felt abrupt enough to be called an