A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews on the last chapter, your reassurance on the direction and pace of the story has been so helpful. I appreciate ya'll for real!


On Saturday morning Tobias heads to the construction site that he had sat quietly at the night before thinking about Tris. He had to admit he was in a better mood that morning than he had been in a while and even slept better. He had thought about what he should do to go back to the restaurant.

Maybe I could go for dinner alone and ask to be seated in her section, he thought to himself while he got dressed that morning.

He and Gabe are going over the plan for the next week and how to get caught up on the construction timeline due to the heavy rain over the past few weeks. Tobias is sketching out the modifications he will have to make to the plans to accommodate beams going in on the south side of the building.

"Oh, This restaurant called the Pit called and they have your work phone," Gabe says looking over some papers and walking back to his desk.

"Who called?" Tobias looks up his heart pounding in anticipation.

"The restaurant called," Gabe replies again not understanding the big deal.

"Who called from the restaurant?" Tobias asks eagerly.

"I don't know some woman," Gabe says with a shrug wondering why Tobias was being so weird about this.

"A woman? Young or Old?"

"I don't know, bigger than a bread box, I'll send that new intern over to get it" Gabe shoots back annoyed now at Tobias asking 20 questions.

"No no, don't worry about it, I'll go get it." Tobias takes a deep breath and smiled to himself. This was definitely a sign, now he had to be brave a run with it, she had to be there when he went to retrieve his phone.


Tobias paces in his bedroom on Sunday afternoon. He had been worn out after work on Saturday and wanted to finish the updated plans for the project on Upper Wacker while it was fresh on his mind. By the time he finished the sketches, it was pretty late and he decided to go to the restaurant the next day.

He pulls out a pair of khaki pants and a blue button-down and a navy blue sweater vest. He couldn't remember the last time he had put this much effort into an outfit. He turns in front of the full-length mirror in his bedroom questioning himself if he looked okay. He did want to show up completely dressed down.

I am overdoing it? Ugh? He thinks as he runs a hand over his face. Marlene had suggested that he keep his beard but trim it lower. It was a new look for him but he was starting to like it he had always been clean-shaven before he stopped completely after Lauren passed. Marlene and Lynn both assured him that he quote looked sexy and women would dig it. He could get with it but he was getting used to all of the new products Marlene had bought him to keep it soft and shiny.

He was just sitting down on the edge of the bed when his phone rings. Tobias groans, he forgot Will had asked him yesterday to have drinks tonight. It sounded like he was already at a bar.

"Will, What's up bro?"

"So you, keep dodging me and I'm starting to feel neglected"

"Man get outta here with all that, I'm not dodging you besides you always got some chick on your arm when we go out, I figured I'd save you the drama of me ruining your night"

It was actually part of the truth. Tobias wasn't in the mood for another bad blind date or being a third wheel.

"Stop tripping, you know that's not the deal. You have bailed me twice, cat and you said you were going to hang out tonight, so where you at?"

"Ummmm… I'm just at home, watching the Cubs game" Tobias lies, as he puts on his loafers. He wasn't ready to tell Will or Marlene about Tris yet. He'd be too embarrassed if she shot him down. Even though he was sure the two of them would be ecstatic that he was finally putting himself out there, he wanted to take this step on his own just for right now.

"What's the score?"

"Ummm..." Tobias tries to find the remote to turn the television on but he can't find it "The Cubs are losing, nothing new"

"Come on it's still, early, come hang out for a bit and have one drink. I promise I won't make you talk to any women tonight."

"I'm just gonna hang out here and go to bed early. How about we hit up the Cubs game next weekend, I'll get the tickets"

Will sighs on his end of the phone, at least that was progress for Tobias. "Alright, bro, Get at me later in the week".

"No doubt" Tobias laughs out as he hangs up the phone.

"How do I look?" he asks Pharaoh who cocks his head curiously at him as Tobias stands up and brushes his pants off. Pharoh barks and wags his tail excitedly.

"I'll take that as a sign of approval" He chuckles in admiration as he gives Pharoh a good belly rub and a treat before walking out the door.

Tobias pulls up to the front of the restaurant and his heart sinks. He looks at his smartwatch and it's only 7 pm but it looks closed. He gets out anyway when it looks as though the lights are on in the building.

He bounces on his toes trying to channel the nervousness moving through his body as he knocks on the door. His hands were sweaty with anticipation. He can hear laughter inside so he feels encouraged again. Maybe all the staff was hanging out still or cleaning up and he could see her again.


Andrew, Harrison, and Max are having their weekly poker game in the restaurant after closing on Sunday. Sunday's had always been family days at the restaurant. They attended early church service and came back to the restaurant for brunch before opening at 1 pm. After closing at 6 pm, the men always stayed after clean up for their poker game. With so much death, it had become important for the family to keep the Sunday traditions going. With the exception of Caleb, all the kids in the family loved the closeness of their family unit and made sure to be as present as possible.

"Best female R & B singer" Harrison calls out as he takes a sip of his beer and Max deals the next round of cards.

"Anita Baker," Max says looking at his cards and shifting them around to get a measure of his hand.

"I have to go with Aretha Franklin" Andrew decides as he throws a poker chip in the middle.

"Yeah, I'm going to agree with that one" Harrison nods as he puts two cards down on the table for Max to give him two more before throwing in a chip.

"Best male R & B singer," Max asks across the table.

"Luther Vandross" Andrew offers.

"Marvin Gaye" Harrison counters.

Hana comes by leaving some leftovers from the kitchen and starts fussing at Max about the cigar hanging from his mouth. Harrison laughs as he digs into the plate that Hana leaves for him, Max and Hana went through this every week. Christina would join in if she was here too. Andrew hears a knock at the door and he chuckles as he gets up to go get it. His sister-in-law was the mother hen always making sure the men took care of themselves. He doesn't miss the look his brother has as he thanks Hana for his plate and watches her bicker with Max. He suspected that Harrison was sweet on Hana by the way he looked at her but he left it alone. Harrison's wife had died giving birth to the son who didn't survive before Natalie died.

Andrew is surprised when he sees a handsome young man standing on the other side of the door patiently waiting with his hands in his pockets.

"Well you are either very late or very early" he announces as the young man smiles at him as he opens the door.

"Yeah, Someone called that I left my cell phone here the other night"

"Ah yes, Well come on in and have a drink with us"

"Have to get home to your wife?"

"Oh no, not exactly"

"You're not married?"

"No, not exactly"

"She didn't walk out on you did she?"

"No, umm she passed away a little over a year ago"

Andrew turns around "Oh that's very sad to hear, come on in and we'll have a drink on that" Well, he was a good looking young man and seemed presentable. Maybe just maybe his appearance here after hours could do more than retrieve his missing cell phone.

Tobias chuckled at the man in front of him and his deep Caribbean accent. He got a good feeling from him. Maybe he could find out more about Tris if he stayed for a while. Hopefully, she was still around cleaning up.

"Hey This is my new friend, umm, I'm sorry didn't catch your name" Andrew announces as he approaches the table where the card game still going.

"Tobias"

"Um yes Tobias, His wife is dead," Andrew says in more of a cheerful tone than Tobias expects.

Tobias is shocked when the other men around the table jump up and shake his hand. Apparently, he had just stumbled into being inducted into a new club.

"You play poker?" A man that looked similar to the gentleman who answered the door asks.

'"Ummm a little, I'm not very good though," Tobias says with a shrug.

"You got any cash?" Tobias nods in response.

"Well then your in, sit down and we'll deal you in a new hand"

"I'm Andrew" Tobias shakes his hand to formally meet him. "This is my brother Harrison and over there is Max"

Tobias smiles as he sits down looks at the cards he's been dealt.

"Who's the best all-around basketball player," Max asks Tobias as he gets his own cards situated

"Ummm, Michael Jordan but I will also have to add in Bill Russel"

Harrison and Max both nod at the younger man's choice, an impressive one but clearly a choice one that was made outside of their normal age group banter.

"So is everyone gone for the night? Waitresses, Busboys…." Tobias casually asks looking around. He settles into the game guessing he missed his opportunity again.

"Alright you three, I'm calling it a night" Hana announces bringing out their normal pitcher of beer and set it in the middle of the table chuckling at the banter going on between the three men. They debated everything from football, baseball, basketball, and music whenever they had the opportunity with the most lively discussion always occurring at their Sunday night poker game. Her late husband used to be a part of their weekly games. It always made her smile thinking of them still continuing on the tradition even though he was gone.

"Oh, who is this? How did you get caught in their web?" Hana says as she noticed the handsome young man who was sitting at the table.

"This is Tobias, Hana is wife is dead" Max replies gesturing toward Tobias.

"Ah, Welcome," Hana says and Tobias chuckles, he really did unknowingly get inducted into a club.


Tris hops out of the shower and throws on a pair of sweat pants and a tank top then her bathrobe. It was a bit chilly and she knew if her Dad came upstairs he would start fussing about her catching a cold. Even though it had been a year since her transplant, Andrew still hovered over her. She moves to her vanity in her bedroom to start the process of detangling and deep conditioning her curls. She puts calls out for her Echo to play and she sings along to Jill Scott and Erykah Badu while she works. Once she's flat twisted it down with the conditioner and places a shower cap and bonnet on for the next hour. She sat there for a moment looking at the scar down her chest. Even though she was so self-conscious about it, it was a part of her. She sighs and closes her robe and stands up to close her balcony doors when she feels a cool breeze.

"Ugh, my plants!" Tris had been working on getting her new plants for the season ready for her garden. Since she had her new heart she actually hadn't been spending as much time as she used to garden and painting even though she still loved it. Painting allowed her to think. Being lost in her thoughts about Tobias, she had picked up her brush Sunday morning before family brunch. She had left the painting she was working on earlier down there to dry too, she would grab it when she covered her plants. She would hate for her summer flowers to die so early in the year.

Tris slips on her slides, throws on a pair of pajama pants and a shirt, and throws her housecoat back on. She knew her father and her uncles were still downstairs playing poker. She didn't care if they saw her in her pajamas with her hair bonnet on, they had seen her much worse when she had been sick. When she gets downstairs she opens the door that leads to the restaurant from their apartment.

"Daddy, I'm going to go cover my plants, it's getting chilly out there" Tris comments as she breezes through the back of the dining room. Tris stops dead in her tracks and she wishes a hole would open up in the floor and swallow her whole. Sitting there smiling at her playing cards with her father and her uncles is the man she had been dreaming about since Friday.

"Bea dear, I'd like you to meet my new friend, Tobias. Tobias, this is my daughter, Beatrice. Isn't she lovely?"

"Hi," he says standing up to shake her hand. "Yeah we met the other night, I was here with um water lady"

"Ummm Oh yes, Ummm Hello, It's just Tris, Nice to see you again," Tris says awkwardly trying to figure out a way to end this moment.

God this was the absolute most embarrassing moment of her life as she remembers she had a hair bonnet on with a shower cap underneath. She reaches up touching her bonnet and her eyes go wide as pulls her lips in over her teeth mortified at her appearance. After wishing he would find her, this was in no way how she expected it to happen.

"You called about my work cell phone, I left here the other night," he says trying to fight back a smile. He could tell she was embarrassed as she tried to keep from making eye contact with him.

"Oh yes, it's um behind the pajamas... Ugh I mean bar," Tris says clutching the top of her robe tighter closing her eyes as she fumbles over her words. When she opens them she sees Tobias still smiling at her. Wait, What? How can he not think she is ridiculous right now?

"I'll get the phone, go cover the plants Bumblebee," Harrison says as he chuckles when Tris widens her eyes again silently cursing at his use of her nickname. Just kill me now, could this night get any more embarrassing!

"Tobias go give her hand," Max says gesturing for Tobias to follow Tris.

"Do you need a hand?" he asks as he watches her bolt to the door.

"Nope, I'm good" She calls as she quickly closes the door behind her.

"Should I go give her a hand?" Tobias asks the other men sitting around the table.

A resounding chorus of yeses from the three men follow and Tobias goes out the door of the courtyard.

"And there they go" Andrew smiles brightly as he shuffles the cards while Harrison and Max chuckle. All of them quickly noticed immediately how Tobias lit up as soon as he saw Tris. They hadn't missed the fact that Tobias had been asking about any waitresses and looking around during their card game. They all wanted Tris to be happy and in love, hopefully, this was the start of her first romance.

Tobias eagerly follows Tris out to the courtyard. He grabs a piece of plastic from the table and follows Tris's lead in fixing the covering over the flowers. She can see him fighting a smile as he watches her.

"I know I look ridiculous right now, I was deep conditioning my hair, I'd take it off but then I'd look even crazier with my hair flat twisted with conditioner in and you saw my hair the other night. Not that you were looking or anything...um" Oh God, I'm rambling.

Tris tries to calm her nerves. Could she make a bigger fool of herself? And now that she got another look at him, he was even more gorgeous than she remembered from Friday night which was adding to her nervousness. There was no way a man this sexy was interested in her. What reality was this!

"I'm sorry you got roped into this, I can handle it really," Tris says apologetically noticing how Tobias is watching her out of the corner of his eye as they work together but still smiling.

"No, it's cool, I'm happy to help. You bought me dinner the other night so I kind of owe you. It was absolutely delicious by the way"

Tris smiles in response and bites her lip and watches him take in the courtyard. She had planted all of her summer flowers about a month ago just as the weather broke, the colors were already vibrant and magical just the way she loved them. She had turned on the twinkle lights when she walked out the door to give herself some light.

"This place is amazing, I've never seen anything like this in the middle of the city, it's like a garden"

Now it was Tobias's turn to be mortified. He finally gets to talk to this girl and he's already messing up his flow with stupid comments. He mentally kicks himself and tries to calm down. Tris smiles again feeling a bit calmer noticing Tobias stumbling over his words too. They work together silently for a few moments covering the plants both stealing small glances at each other. Tris leans over to adjust a stem of one of the plants and she gets close to Tobias so he gets a waft of her scent.

"God you smell really good" Damnit Tobias, Chill the Fuck out! he tells himself quickly. Of all the things to slip out right now, it had to be that.

"Oh umm, it's the flowers, but not this particular one it's a tomato plant"

"Oh"

"Can you put this one under the table?" she asks and points to where she wants it placed. What the hell Tris, Calm down! she kicks herself trying not to groan out loud at her awkwardness.

"Wow, did you paint this? It's really good" he says taking a closer look at the painting sitting on an easel near the flower bed. The painting depicted a setting sun over a beach with white sand and palm trees. Tobias is impressed with the level of detail. It was vivid with the use of color. "Where is this someplace in the Caribbean?"

"I don't know really, someplace from my dreams that just came to me"

"How many times have you been?"

"Oh, I've never been anywhere but here. I think I paint places from my dreams, I always dream of the possibilities of where I can go because there is a possibility in every situation, every new place you want to journey."

"I like that" he smiles at her again. "Would you go out with me? On a date?" Tobias blurts out again mentally kicking himself wishing he had done it smoother.

Tris feels her heart beating fast and her palms are sweaty. Was he serious right now? He really did like her.

"Yes?" She says with a smile and groans internally that it came out like a question.

"Is that a question?" he grins at her nervous fidgeting.

"No, I mean yes, it's a yes" she corrects herself quickly.

"Saturday night?" He asks hopefully.

"I'm working Saturday night but how about Sunday? We close at 6 but I could probably get off a little earlier." She offers.

"Sunday at 7?"

"Yes, Sunday at 7"

You still got it, T! he says to himself, proud of making this step for himself but also excited about the possibilities of getting to know Tris.

"Perfect, can you give me your number?" he says fishing his phone out of his back pocket. Tris quickly keys in her number and sends a text to herself.

"I'll finish these up, you get inside," He says with a handsome smile that made her knees go week.

"I'll go get your work phone from behind the bar," Tris grabs her painting and takes it inside with her while Tobias finishes covering the last row of plants. She tops before she goes in to admire him working. This brief encounter made her feel more alive than ever.

You could have knocked Tobias over with a feather as he finishes up. He was proud of himself, he was brave a put himself out there, and now he had a date with this beautiful and intriguing woman named Tris.

When Tris comes back into the restaurant with her painting and a smile on her face but she stops when she sees no one sitting at the card table but the beer, poker chips, and cards still there.

"Daddy? Uncle Max, Uncle Harry?" she calls out looking around the room.

"We're not here!" Her father calls out from behind the swinging door to the kitchen. Tris lets out a laugh and shakes her head as she goes to grab the phone for Tobias.


Tris couldn't wait to text Shauna and Christina as soon as Tobias left. She felt like a kid on Christmas morning she was so excited as she left her father and uncles gabbing away about how nice of a young man Tobias was.

Tris: Shauna you were right! Guess who has a date now after someone came by the restaurant?!

Shauna: I told you! When are you going out?

Tris: Next Sunday... I'm slightly freaking out right now...

Shauna: I have a good feeling about this already.

Group Text with Shauna, Christina, and Rose

Shauna: Tris met a guy!

Christina: Shut up! Oh, we are having lunch tomorrow and you are telling me all about him!

Rose: What? Where? Is cute? What's his name?

Tris: He is very cute. His name is Tobias. He came into the restaurant for dinner the other night.

Christina: We have to plan your outfit! I'm so excited!

Tris laughs at the excitement of her girls as the texts continue to fly. Rose was home on Summer break and she, Shauna, and Christina were already making plans to help Tris get dressed on Sunday afternoon for her date. She flopped back on her pillows in her bed. Despite everything she had been through, things just kept getting better and better at this thing called life.


Monday morning Tobias grabs the four to-go cups of coffee off the seat of the truck he picked up on the way to the construction site office. He had a spring in his step and a smile on his face. The night before he had the best night's sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about the way Tris smiled at him and how adorable she was even though he knew she was probably mortified to see him standing there while she had her bedclothes on. She had sent him a sweet yet hilarious text that morning that confirmed how much he liked her personality.

Tris: Good Morning. I still can't believe after being hustled into a poker game by half the men in my family and being subjected to my hair bonnet bathrobe wardrobe fiasco you actually asked me out on a date. But I'm excited to see you again.

Tobias: Well you've made my day already but I have to admit I did enjoy the poker game. Your father and uncles are hilarious. Wait, so you mean you won't wear the bonnet on our date?

Tris: I see you got jokes this morning!

Tobias: Gotta keep you on your toes, Tris.

He couldn't wait to see her again.

"Good Morning Gabe, Good Morning Drew! I got coffee and donuts for you. Amar, How's it going? " Tobias says with a smile as he holds out the coffee container as Amar, Gabe, and Drew slowly each take a cup and look at Tobias as if he had two heads.

When Tobias goes into the trailer Gabe and Drew turn and look at each other without saying anything. Amar raises his eyebrows and goes through the door shaking his head. What on earth had gotten into Tobias this morning. A moment later Tobias pokes his head out the door.

"Are you two coming?"

Gabe and Drew shake their heads and go to get their day started, Tobias hadn't been this pleasant in over a year, who knew how long this was going to last. Gabe looks up at the sky and mouths a thank you to the heavens. Whatever or whoever was that cause of this good mood Tobias was in he hoped it would continue.


A/N: Let me know what you think and leave a review!