Dinner for One by Meg Harding

can change his mind.
    He’ll drop it off at the restaurant on his way to the new Indian place on Twenty-Fourth.
     
     
    AS PREDICTED, Bastien’s staff is obnoxious when he walks in ten minutes late. They start a slow clap, and there’s the odd wolf whistle or two.
    “You do know I can have you all fired?” he asks them, heat crawling up his neck.
    It only earns him more laughter.
    Jenna, one of his waitresses, comes up and presses her pink-tinted lips to his cheek. “I’m so proud of you,” she says, wiping away an imaginary tear. “You’re all grown up.”
    He lightly pushes her away, laughing. “Hate to break it to you, but I’ve been all grown up for a while now.” He’s well into his thirties, edging toward his forties. Just three more years to go.
    Jean comes into the kitchen in time to hear that and claps him on the back. “Don’t act so surprised. None of these guys have seen you get laid before. They’re just impressed you can pull off a one-night stand.”
    Bastien opens his mouth to protest it wasn’t a one-night stand, when he realizes he didn’t get James’s phone number. His stomach plummets right to his feet. He forces a fake smile. “Well now you guys know. I’ve got game.”
    There’s a little more ribbing after that, and he makes sure to look like everything’s okay, but once they let it go, he buries himself in work. He doesn’t want to think about how lovely the night before and this morning had been when the chances of it happening again aren’t good. James made it sound like it would happen again.
    Bastien had never had a one-night stand before. Did they all say that to make it feel more real in the moment?
    Of course, James could be the exception, but Bastien didn’t want to let himself hope. That just meant more disappointment down the line.
    Charley whistles at him, interrupting his sulk. “Wow,” he says. “Sex does not make you less tense.”
    Bastien stares blankly at him. “What?”
    He nods at the vegetables Bastien is chopping. “That’s some angry cutting, man. Be careful you don’t take off a finger or a chip of the board.”
    “Oh,” he says. He looks down at the vegetables. They’re all cut evenly and look fine to him. He’ll ease up on the chopping anyway. “I’m not normally tense,” he adds after a minute of much calmer chopping, when Charley’s first words actually sink in.
    “Sure you’re not,” says Charley, lightly bumping their shoulders. He’s smiling indulgently.
    He must not do a good job of hiding how off-kilter he is, because Jean corners him on his dinner break. He’s moving way too casually when he plops down in the chair across from Bastien’s desk. Bastien wrinkles his nose when Jean props his feet on the corner of his desk. He stares silently till Jean removes them.
    “I’m guessing one-night stands aren’t for you,” Jean finally says, once Bastien has taken a large bite of his sandwich. “You’ve been moping all day.”
    He chews slowly, not wanting to have this conversation.
    Jean doesn’t take the hint. “My brother knows a guy,” he starts, and Bastien has to stop him there.
    No. Just no. He swallows quickly. “Not happening,” he says firmly. “Do not set me up. I can do just fine on my own.”
    “You haven’t dated in ages. This is the first guy I’ve seen you with since we opened this place, and you come around the next day looking like someone kicked your dog.”
    Bastien doesn’t know what’s worse: that they’re having this conversation or that Jean looks so concerned. He rubs his forehead, spreading his finger and his thumb to really dig into the budding ache. “Look,” he says. “It wasn’t supposed to be a one-off. Okay? I thought it was going to be more.”
    Jean’s brows furrow. “And it’s not?”
    He shrugs. “I forgot to get his number.”
    “So it did actually go well?” Jean verifies.
    Bastien nods, can’t contain the smile that tugs at his lips. “Very well.”
    It’s