Love in Slow Motion

45. Reed

45 REED

1 Year Ago

I don’t know what to do with myself. Quinn is in my restaurant. She came here without Chase, and I know she came here to eat and not to see me but…she’s here.

I want to hover around her like a honeybee around a flower, but I don’t want to make her uncomfortable. She deserves to have her dinner in peace, but her waiter has told me that she and Brooke are pretty much done eating and are contemplating dessert. I don’t want her to leave without me getting one more chance to talk to her, one more chance to see her face, to burn it into my memory because I know it’s going to be a long time before I see her again. I’ve slowly been backing out of family get-togethers since Quinn became a Lynch. I went to Christmas last year, but I don’t know if I can do it again. Seeing Quinn slowly lose her glow as the years go on has been like slowly losing my soul. I can’t sit across from her again and watch my brother ignore her.

I round the corner and step up to their table. I put them close to the kitchen so that I could keep an eye on them to the best of my ability. They’re looking at their menus, having a quiet debate about something. Both of them look very serious.

“Everything to your liking, ladies?”

Quinn slams her menu closed and smiles up at me, like I caught her doing something she wasn’t supposed to.

“Of course,” she says, polite as ever. “The swordfish was delicious.”

“Great. Hey, you wanna come back and meet Oscar?” I don’t actually want her to meet Oscar, but I’m not ready to let her leave yet. Mostly I don’t want her to meet Oscar because he has a tendency to let his mouth get him in trouble, and I don’t want him to say anything that might offend or shock Quinn. There’s also the fact that I’m very certain he’s been coming to work high.

“Sure.”

“Oh, I’m actually going to go use the bathroom. I’ll meet you back here for dessert.” I whip around to look at Brooke. I sort of forgot that she existed, and I’m fine if she wants to get lost long enough to let me spend a few minutes with Quinn. Maybe I can take her out back and we can talk for a little bit.

In the hall outside the kitchen, Quinn comes to a halt. All the sound from inside has flooded out into the hallway, and I know it can be a little intimidating. I offer her a reassuring smile and a nudge in the direction of the door. I can feel the heat of her through her thin blouse, making my hand sweat.

“Don’t worry,” I tell her. “It’s always like this. It’s part of the kitchen experience.”

She turns her face up to mine, and I’m stuck for a moment, my eyes hungrily taking her in. She’s so beautiful, her eyes rimmed in eyeliner and her lips a pale pink. A light sheen of sweat has settled along her hairline. I’m fairly certain that the sight of her in this moment will be the thing I see when I’m on my death bed.

“Reed, get the fuck out of the way.”

I pull Quinn out of the way of Leo, who’s coming through with a tray.

“Sorry. These guys don’t know how to play nice.” I turn and see Oscar, coming up to us with a look on his face like he wants to make trouble.

“Who’s this?” he asks. When he looks Quinn up and down like she’s something for him to eat, I have to keep myself from lunging at him. He knows what Quinn looks like, and he knows Quinn is Chase’s wife, but he still has to turn every single woman he sees into a potential sex partner. Just the thought of it makes my skin crawl.

“This is Quinn.”

“Ah. The elusive Quinn. Happy to finally meet you.” My stomach rumbles. I don’t need Oscar opening his big mouth and making it clear that I talk about Quinn much more than a person should speak about their sister-in-law. Not to mention that Oscar has already met Quinn. He just doesn’t remember because he was acting like an ass when I brought my family here before the opening.

“Yeah, that’s me,” Quinn says pleasantly. “The swordfish was lovely.”

The door opens behind us and Romeo sticks his head in. “Mr. Lynch, you’re needed up front.”

Dammit. This is what it’s always like on Saturday nights. I’m running around like crazy, not even overseeing the desserts like I want to be, just flitting from place to place, putting out fires.

“Oh, sure,” I tell Romeo and look down at Quinn. Maybe it’s for the best. Look at how beautiful she is. Maybe I wouldn’t have been able to keep myself from saying something stupid to her or doing something like begging her to leave my brother so that she could be mine instead.

I hold the kitchen door open for her and escort her out. In the hallway, I say, “I’ll see you later, Quinn, okay?” before I can do something idiotic, like tell her I’ve been in love with her for four years. I rush to the front of house, where there was a mix-up in the office with a staff schedule, and when the fire is out, I turn back toward the dining room, hoping to catch Quinn before she’s gone.

But when I swing the door open that leads back into the lobby, it’s to find Brooke there, standing and looking out the front windows onto the street, like she’s waiting for someone.

“Looking for Quinn?” I ask her. She must still be in the back, though what she could be doing back there, I can’t imagine. Maybe using the bathroom.

“No,” Brooke says, looking up at me. She’s a very small person, but her eyes hold a confidence I rarely see. Whatever she’s about the say, she’s pretty certain of it. “I was waiting for you.”

“Oh,” I say, putting my hands in the pockets of my slacks. “Is everything okay?”

“No. Everything is not okay.”

All I can do is stare at her as an unsettling feeling begins to brew inside me. She clearly has something to say, and I want her to say it before I lose my nerve.

Brooke takes a step toward me, and I realize that my ma?tre d’ is listening, that whatever is about to happen here will be all over the staff before the night is out. “I have no idea how Quinn doesn’t see right through you, but I do. Everything you’re doing, it’s so transparent. And while the fact that you’re clearly in love with Quinn isn’t a problem for me, I have a feeling it would be a problem for your brother.”

I will not speak. I will not open my mouth and incriminate myself further than I already have. Which is clearly what Brooke was hoping for because she keeps talking, her chin tipping up and her feet coming closer to mine. “I get it, Reed. Quinn is amazing, and I get why you would be so into her. But…” She looks away from me, her confidence slipping for a moment. When she looks back, it’s clearly re-doubled. “But I’m worried that if Quinn knows how you feel about her, it would mess with her head. And she doesn’t deserve that. I know you’re too good of a guy to try to snatch your brother’s wife out from under him, and I think Quinn is too good of a person to let you. But feelings can destroy everything. So, I need you to tread carefully.”

I open my mouth to argue, feeling like I’ve already tread pretty carefully here, but Brooke speaks over me.

“You named one of your desserts ‘the Quinn,’ you idiot.”

My eyes go to the floor. I forgot about the stupid cookies. It was an idea that I had that I wouldn’t let anyone talk me out of, and at the time, it felt like a friendly gesture. An inside joke between the two of us. But now, through Brooke’s eyes, I can see that it’s clearly insanity.

There’s no getting out of this one, but I can’t bear the thought of Brooke being the one to tell Quinn that I have feelings for her. I’ve worked hard not to let her find out, and I don’t want it all shot to shit now.

“Brooke,” I say, lowering my voice and taking a step toward her, in hopes that my staff will butt out. “I’ve loved her for a long time. I’ve never made a move. I’ve never tried to…do anything. She doesn’t know, and I need it to stay that way. I want her to be happy, and if that means being happy with my brother…well…I’ve already accepted that, so can we just…drop it?”

She crosses her arms, takes a deep breath. When she speaks, her voice is much softer. “You’re not going to try to ruin her marriage.”

I want to laugh. I’m the one that talked her into her fucking marriage.

“Never,” I finally say.

She taps her foot a few times, glances over my shoulder toward the dining room. When she looks back at me, she’s clearly made a decision. “Okay. But if I ever catch a whiff of you trying to charm her away from Chase, I will castrate you myself.”

“You would have my blessing.”

She nods once and moves around me, heading back toward where I left Quinn.

“And dinner is on me,” I call out to her.

“I know,” she shoots back over her shoulder at me.

I duck back into the staff room, sitting amongst everyone’s bags and jackets while I wait for them to leave. Now that I know I’ve been so obvious that Quinn’s best friend figured me out, I can never be in the same room with Quinn again.