His grip was warm and firm, but not showy.
“Nice to meet you, too,” I said.
We slid into the booth. Robert stirred sugar into his coffee while Walter talked about a roofing job that had gone sideways. At first, I mostly listened. But eventually, Robert asked me about work.
“What do you do at the office?” he asked.
“Mostly paperwork,” I said. “Scheduling crews, billing, answering phones.”
“That’s the hard part,” he said. “Keeping things organized.”
His voice was low and calm. The kind of voice you trust.
Later, I learned why. Robert had spent nearly 20 years as a firefighter with the Cedar Rapids Fire Department. He retired after a back injury the year before.
At that first lunch, though, we kept things simple. Talked about the weather, the flooding Cedar Rapids used to get, local restaurants, small-town things.
But I remember one moment clearly.
The waitress brought our pancakes, and steam rose from the plates. Robert looked across the table and said something casual that stuck with me.
“You’ve got a good laugh,” he said.
I blinked. “Sorry?”
“You laugh easy,” he said with a small shrug. “That’s rare these days.”
It wasn’t flirting. Just an observation.
Still, it made me smile.
After lunch, we walked outside into the chilly wind. Walter headed back to the truck while Robert lingered a moment.
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