She shrugs, looking thoroughly perplexed.
“Could you be giving back too much change?” I ask, grasping at straws.
“No, the register tells me how much to give, and I always count it out.” She bites her lip and looks at Kat imploringly. “Honestly, I’m not taking money that doesn’t belong to me. At the end of my shift, I take my cash tips, and I add up the credit-card tips and take those too.”
“Wait.” I hold my hand up, stopping her. “You take your credit-card tips at the end of the shift?”
“Yes.”
“That’s it,” Kat says, her whole body sagging in relief. “I must not have told you, Leah, but the credit-card tips are added up during the pay period and added to your paychecks.”
“Oh!” Leah clasps her hands over her mouth. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay,” Addie says with a nod. “Now you do. Crisis averted.”
THE NEXT MORNING, Landon and I are having coffee and getting ready for our day ahead when his phone rings. I make myself busy feeding Scoot, trying not to eavesdrop.
Who am I kidding? I’m totally eavesdropping.
“Are you kidding me?” he asks, a frown on his handsome face. “They couldn’t have caught this before I left Italy?” He sits back in his chair and scowls at his coffee. “So I have to take a day off of work and drive two hundred miles out of my way because someone else fucked up.”
Uh-oh.
He’s quiet for a moment, and then says, “I’ll be there this afternoon.”
He hangs up and sighs. “What do you have going on today?”
“Just the usual, why? What’s wrong?”
“I have to go up to the Naval base north of Seattle to sign some paperwork that the morons in Italy forgot.”
“You have to go all the way to the base? They can’t fax it to you?”
“No, I have to sign it in person.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “Come with me.”
“Sure, I’ll just blow off work and go up to Seattle with you.”
“Great.”
“You’re serious.”
“Absolutely,” he replies, and smiles. “Let’s make a night of it.”
He wants me to spend the night in Seattle with him. In the middle of the week. I bite my lip while I think about work. I don’t have anything that won’t keep a couple of days.
“What do you say?” he asks.
“Let’s do it. I’ll make some calls.”
“Great.” He tugs me into his lap and kisses me firmly. “I get you all to myself for a while.”
“I’ll be a captive audience in the car,” I reply with a laugh.
“Good.”
In less than an hour, I’ve called Addie and Kat to fill them in, and Kat agreed to stop by to feed Scoot tonight. I packed an overnight bag and we are on our way north. Thankfully, there is no winter weather to speak of, so it should be a smooth ride.
Landon lets me choose the music, and we sit in silence for about an hour, listening to music, holding hands, just being with each other. Sometimes, these are my favorite moments with him. When we just are.
He squeezes my hand and I look up to find him smiling at me. “Doing okay?” he asks.
“I’m great.” I lean in and kiss his shoulder. “You?”
“I’m great too. A bit irritated that we have to take a trip up for this.”
“So, this is paperwork that they should have had you sign before you came home?”
“Yes. Pain in the ass.” He shakes his head and then offers me a smile. “You’re welcome to sleep if you want.”
“I know, but I’m fine.” I shrug and look out the window, watching western Washington pass us by. “It’s been a mild winter.”
“I prefer it that way,” he replies. “Makes it easier to work.”
“How much longer until the restaurant is done?”
“Just a couple of weeks. The floors are going in today. It’ll be mostly finishing work for a bit, and rehabbing Mia’s kitchen. Odds and ends.”
“I’m so excited,” I reply. “You guys have done great. What’s next?”
We spend the next hour talking about work, until he pulls up to the gate of the Naval base. “You don’t have to bring me with you. You can drop me off at the hotel.”
“No need, this will only take a minute,” he replies, and asks for my driver’s license to show the armed guard at the gate. We’re cleared through and he drives to a simple building and parks. “Come on.”
Once we’re inside, he’s recognized by several guys, and Landon waves or says hello as he leads me to an office where a man in uniform is sitting at his desk. He waves us in.
“It’s good to see you, Palazzo.”
“Sir,” Landon replies, his Navy voice sounding very hot. “Do you have the paperwork?”
“I do,” the man replies, and opens a file, then sets one paper before Landon. “I’m sorry you had to come all this way.”
“It should have been handled,” Landon says, sounding not pleased at all. “Are you sure this is the last of it?”
“It is.” Landon signs and passes the paper back. “Thanks for coming in.”
“You’re welcome, sir.”
And with that, we turn right around and leave. We’re back in the car less than ten minutes after we parked it.