Chapter 24

“Ready to order?”

Cory explained the problem.

The young lady nodded. “We have a bar menu that’s got steaks, burgers, pies.”

That sounded more like it to me, and judging by the smile on Cory’s face, he agreed.

“But we don’t serve that here in the Gaslight Restaurant.”

Cory’s face fell before it morphed into what I had come to know as his persuasive face. “You see, Tina,” he read from her nametag, “it’s like this. My boyfriend and me are on our first real date and I wanted to impress him, make him feel special. And this place,” he swept a hand around the small room with its flagstone floor, whitewashed walls, and heavy oak table and chairs, “fits the bill real nice.”

She smiled and said she’d see what she could do. Within a minute she was back, bar menus under her arm.

“Thank you,” we both said, Cory’s smile causing the young lady to blush.

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