Distorted Hope

Distorted Hope—Marissa Honeycutt
Text copyright © 2015 Marissa Honeycutt

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Distorted Hope—Marissa Honeycutt
Text copyright © 2015 Marissa Honeycutt
Cover design: Beyond Def — Laura Hidalgo
Edited by: Beyond Def — Tiffany Fox
Print & EBook Interior/Layout Design: EBookBuilders for Beyond Def

To Darby, who believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. This book would never have gotten finished without you. Literally.

“What can I get you guys today?”

Not that I needed to ask: corned beef on wheat with fries for Jason, turkey on white with fries for Steve, and two Cokes. They always ordered the same thing and came in at least twice a week.

“Should we be hurt she keeps asking us that, Steve?” Jason asked his tablemate with a grin.

“Maybe you’re not as memorable as you think you are, man,” Steve retorted with a laugh.

Steve was so wrong; Jason was
very
memorable. I guessed him to be around thirty. Being six feet tall, slender, with tawny-blond hair, crystal blue eyes, and a smile to die for, he was difficult—nay, impossible—to forget. Not that Steve was bad looking; he was actually quite… hot. But I’d never been interested in the tall, dark, and handsome type and they were never interested in me, so it worked.

“So, let me see,” I said, giving a mock-thoughtful look. “Veggie sandwiches for both of you, right?” I grinned.

Jason gave a mock-horrified look. “I am truly wounded, Kyra. To suggest such an unmanly food item.” He put his hand over his heart. “Do you not know me at all?” he teased, looking directly into my eyes and making my heart skip a beat.

I blushed furiously. “Corned beef and turkey sandwiches coming right up,” I mumbled, backing away from the table and almost tripping over my feet as I hurried to the computer which faced away from the tables. I took deep breaths to get my heartbeat back to normal as I tapped their order into the computer.

“What’s wrong, Kyra?” Maria, my coworker, asked with a giggle. “Did he look at you again?”

I stared at the screen, pretending to concentrate on entering their order, even though we both knew I could practically enter it with my eyes closed. “He has to look at me. He’s polite that way.”

“You should ask him out. He’s definitely interested in you.”

I gave Maria an exasperated look. She’d said this several times and I never believed her. “Why on earth would he be interested in me? He’s a… a
genius
! I’m a frickin’ waitress.” Jason really
was
a genius. Not only was he the youngest chemical engineering professor at Arizona State University, he’d also been published in multiple research journals.

“Server,” Maria corrected.

I rolled my eyes at the politically correct term.

“He comes in here at least twice a week and always sits in your section,” Maria pointed out. “I don’t think he’s here just for the food.”

“We serve good food here,” I muttered. Sure, the diner wasn’t five-star gourmet, but the sandwiches were really good.

“There are at least five other good places to eat between here and the university,” Maria continued. “Why else would he make the trek all the way here?”

I shrugged in answer to Maria’s question. “We have excellent fries.” I filled two plastic cups with soda, put the straws in my apron pocket, and headed back to Jason and Steve’s table. When the door jingled, I turned to greet the newcomers.

A tall man with a military haircut stood in the doorway, dark brown eyes sweeping the restaurant as if searching for something. He wore jeans and a white dress shirt with a blue blazer over it. I always felt sorry for guys who had to wear jackets in the Phoenix summers.

A man with red hair and freckles—without the boyish aura which usually accompanied that description—walked in behind him. He said something to the dark-eyed man, who nodded, and then walked back outside.

I welcomed the dark-eyed man with a smile. “Feel free to take any available table. We’ll be with you in a sec.”

“Thanks.” Dark–Eyed Man looked me up and down and smiled, then walked to a table in my section. I looked down at my white uniform dress, wondering if I’d spilled something on it.

I dropped the sodas off at Jason and Steve’s table with a shy smile, then gave Maria an apologetic look as I returned to the counter to get a menu for my new table. When I turned around, I saw that the table now had four men sitting around it. After grabbing three more menus, I went to greet them.

“Hi, my name’s Kyra,” I said, handing each of them a menu. “Can I get you guys something to drink while you look over the menu?”

One of the men who hadn’t been there when the others came in grinned at me, his blue-green eyes mischievous beneath light brown hair. “Hey, sweetheart, I’ll take—” he began in a flirtatious tone, but stopped when Dark-Eyed Man gave him a look. “Er, Coke.”

The others ordered the same and I walked away, returning a few minutes later with a tray of sodas. Jason caught my eye and smiled warmly at me, making me blush and tip the tray slightly. I grabbed the tray with my other hand before I dumped the sodas all over the floor.