Chapter 20

The Association luncheon was actually at B Smith's at Union Station instead of their main office. B's brother bought three investment properties from me. As far as I knew, he still owned them. He and I always met at B's to talk business so the staff knew me well.

After the food and speeches, Juan had arranged for us to meet Zane in the train station's food court.

"We'll chat for ten, maybe fifteen minutes. No pressure, no stress." Baby assured me. "If he's not cute, we go home."

When we arrived, we weren't sure where he was in the crowd.

As my eyes scanned the room, they landed on a doe-eyed Cutie pie sipping a latte, which was the same creamy brown color his skin was. He had light brown curls that cascaded down to his shoulders. He happened to look up and our eyes met.

I smiled; he blushed. I couldn't remember having that kind of effect on cute boys before. Maybe it was 'pity the old guy' day. Cutie's phone rang and I went back to scanning the food court for someone who looked like a job applicant.

"Hi, It's Juan." Juan was on his phone. "We're here now. What are you wearing? Ok. Wave something." We both scanned the room.

Cutie was waving a piece of paper and looking around. "Oh, you are kidding me." I muttered and turned Juan in the right direction.

"Ok! We see you." Baby waved at Cutie. "We'll be over in a second." Juan hung up. "He's a little cutie pie."

"Yeah. Why are we here again?"

"To see if we want to bring him in for a full interview."

"Oh right. How much does he know?"

"Nothing."

I rolled my eyes as I pondered this one. How do I interview him for a job if I can't talk about the job?

"Hi." Juan shook hands with Cutie as we reached his table. "I'm Juan. This is John; he's our hiring manager. We just wanted to clarify a few things. Let's see." Juan pulled out a folder and handed me a resume with several details high lit.

"You're in culinary school now." I said, since Juan had put a star next to it. "When do you graduate?"

"Well, I have two more years, but I have a lot of kitchen experience."

"Yeah?" The resume listed some retail work. I looked at the back. "Where?"

"Well..." He hesitated. "It wasn't formal experience but..." He licked his lips and looked both nervous and delectable.

"We had some other concerns as well." Juan interjected. "This is a live-in position and we don't have a lot of outside contact. We want to be sure you understand that. You left the whole section on family and friends blank."