“I got stood up by my friend who was supposed to meet me tonight. To being ditched.” Kelly held her drink in the air and I gently tapped mine to hers.
“Who needs ’em? To being saved by a beautiful stranger.”
“So, Jack, what do you do?” she asked with a goofy grin pulling at the corners of her lips.
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t want to bore you with how lame of a job I have.”
Her face instantly got serious as she put her hand on my shoulder. “If it’s so lame that you won’t even talk about it, why do you do it at all?”
I guess I had never thought about that before. I went to school for computer programming during the tech boom, got my job right after graduation, and never considered doing anything else. I had always been of the mindset that you work because you have to pay bills and take care of your family, simple as that.
“Dunno, really. It affords me the ability to have nice things?” I shrugged theatrically.
“That’s not living. That’s existing,” she stated before popping another cherry into her mouth.
“All right, what do you do?”
“I bake,” she stated with pride.
“Like, cakes?”
“Among other things. I am the owner and head chef of a commercial bakery not far from here. I supply the desserts for this place, actually.”
“You’re the owner of O’Donnell’s Bakery?” I asked in awe. Her company was a local legend and had been around for longer than I could remember.
Light crimson dusted over her cheeks as she nodded. “My dad started the company when I was a little kid and I took it over when he passed a few years ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Kelly smiled sweetly. “Don’t be. He was a great man and I get to keep his memory alive every time I use one of his recipes.”
“So, question.” I laughed a little as her name registered in my brain.
“Shoot.”
“Has anyone ever used this pickup line on you: it makes sense that your initials are KO because you’re a knockout?”
Kelly busted out snickering. “I can’t say I have ever heard that one before. That’s a good one.”
I chuckled. “That’s a real shame. Such a missed opportunity.”
It wasn’t long until last call. As Marty started to clean up the bar, I threw my card down and Kelly followed suit.
“Don’t worry, I got you.” I picked up the blue plastic in front of her, trying to be a gentleman.
“I see chivalry isn’t lost on you, but I kind of insist on paying for myself.” She took the card from me, making sure that Marty took it.
Marty ran our payments then we scribbled our signatures on the receipts and said our goodbyes to our bartender.
“Well, this was a very interesting evening.” I helped Kelly off of her barstool.
“Saving you was fun. Thanks for being such good company tonight.” Kelly giggled as we started to make our way out to the quiet street.
“So, can I…” Before I could finish my statement, Kelly’s hand was on the back of my neck, pulling my lips down to meet hers. Instinctively, I cupped her soft cheeks in the palms of my hands. I felt like a kid getting kissed for the first time as fireworks erupted in the pit of my stomach.
“We don’t have to say goodbye just yet,” she whispered as our lips parted.
Chapter 2