I remember seeing her at McDonald’s,
I just got off from my job and cashed in my check, then got lucky and hit the jackpot at the casino afterwards.
The image of myself bathing in luxury kept me in a good spending mood and that’s when I went to McDonalds for lunch to get my favorite meal, number one.
I went in the store and the bell as it dinged was music to my ears.
*ding*
I closed my eyes to bask in the scent of the food,then sighed in relief.
“Its a good day to eat a burger”
I went over to the counter and I could hear the workers whispering too each other
“He’s here,Mr #1”
I didn’t get that nickname just from luck as you can tell, I come here everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“What would you like sure?”
The man at the register asks me in a worried way,
“Haha you should already know this by now kid”
I tell him laughing,
“Yes sir, a number one right? With water?”
I nod my head, then he takes my card and looks at me
“I’m sorry sir, but I think you should stop coming here, too much fast food is bad for your health”
I look at him and think about what he just said,
“Thank you for the concern, I suppose I do come here too often.I’ll take a break after today,”
That’s right, my occupation is a chef at a nearby restaurant called “high standards diner.” So it won’t be too hard to quit my habit, being a guy like me who always comes up with recipes to fit the always changing community taste.
The boy at the register hands me back my card,and no matter how much I asked he was against providing service.
The manager went on break waving at me yelling.
“Its for your own good, ”
Then he points at a sign stating
“We have the right deny service to customer”
I sit down, then realize the manager clocked out half an hour earlier than usual. I grew accustomed to the workers scheduled since I stop by so much.
*ding*
I hear the sound, and notice a tall beautiful woman I never seen before enter.
She scans the area to look for a seat and I call her over, she has to look at me twice to notice my hand movement was toward her.
She walks over, then I put money on the table
“Will you bye me a number one with water miss?”
I gave her a twenty, the rollover that would be left is her tip.
“Just buy it yourself”
She responds then i tell her my plan about letting her keep the change.
She takes the cash, then heads over to the counter.
“I’ll take a two number ones with water”
Hearing the words
“Two number ones”
Blew me away. I see the lady in a new light.
Then when she got our meal in two bags. She sat by me, and handed me my meal in the other bag the cashier old her to give me.
“Is it okay if I sit by you?”
She asks
“Yes, don’t worry about it.”
I grab the bag, and look inside
“No fries…”
She looks at me then asks
“What?”
“Nothing”
I reply.
Before I went up to tell the cashier, I checked my burger and opened the box to discover nothing.
Nothing but a blank receipt .
I grab the piece of paper and read it in my head
“I’m sorry sir, just know I’m doing this for your own good, I gave you a full refund in the bottom of the bag”
I look over and see the boy waving with a forced smile.
“Do you guys know each other?”
The lady asks
“Yeah, we are close.”
“Oh wow, must be nice to know someone in this store”
Then she takes a bite of her burger.
I watch her eat her meal, and realize she is a natural beauty.
Plus she is enjoying my favorite meal of the whole day, and she is done.
“You looked like you enjoyed the meal, would you like another one?”
I ask her, it was to my amaze I didn’t ask for myself.
“Its okay, thanks for the meal sir, she replies getting up”
Then after she left I wanted until she left so it didn’t seem like I was following her.
I went back home and made myself a lunch.
As I was eating I was wondering what the lady was doing right now and regret not asking for her contact information, at least her name would have helped.
The thought consumed me so I decided to clear my mind by walking around downtown.
I passed through all the stores and I was waiting in line at a clothing store, and a lady in front of me was having trouble buying a jacket she really wanted.
She was digging in her purse
“I think I lost my wallet”
The sight of someone struggling made me feel like doing something, even earlier I was handing out money and snacks to the homeless. Even if they were sleeping I slipped in a twenty behind them where they can’t get robbed. It was embarrassing but I cleared my conscious believing they’ll have a good meal tonight, maybe a number one.
Although right now the woman in front of me was turning red, she was looking for something non-existent at the moment.
I walk over beside her
“I’ll pay for this lady”
The lady is astonished
“Are you sure sir?”
I nod my head and smile to show how I enjoy helping people just like how I enjoy making people happy with my cooking and lending out a helping hand.
“That will be 1500 Mr”
I was blown away at the remark, although I didn’t budge, out of habit I pulled out my card with my jackpot earnings in it and hand it to the cashier. The lady looked at The jacket feeling bad says
“You don’t have to do this”
She clenches her hand nervously.
We look at each other and notice we met earlier today at McDonald’s.
“It’s you”
“It’s you”
Sinultanously saying “you” to substitute not knowing each other’s names.
Afterwards I got my receipt, the cashiers phone number was on it with a message saying
“We should go out sometime,your just my type”
Although I interpret it as
“You should let me use some of that money you careless spend sometime, I like rich guys”..
Anyways, now me and the lady are at Starbucks drinking hot chocolate she paid for.
We were sitting and she innocently insists
“Let me pay you back, I really did have the money I just forgot it in my ride”
I reply
“Don’t worry about it, i have more than I can spend, I’m a chef but I enjoy eating out because i like spending time with people.”
The truth is I go to McDonald’s every day and hand out the meals to the homeless people so they don’t starve and then I go back in my ride and eat meals I prepared before-hand. Nearby my restaurant is flooded with people in desperate need of help and I contribute by handing out a happy meal.
“By the way I am Miguel, I didn’t expect to run into you two times in a day”
She smiles
“Nice to meet you miguel, my name is Ashley. Occupation is model, and business woman”
That explains her beauty I realize, and a business woman too.
We exchange our contact information when I walked with her to her ride after spending the day with each other.
She tells me to wait outside, and she pulls out her purse,
“I really like you, You aren’t like other people I could tell after spending the whole day with you”
She pulls out 15 100 dolls bills and gives them to me after counting them to me.
I accept so I don’t be rude to her gesture. .
When I get home she sends me a text saying
“Thank you! I had fun today we should do it again”
I smile and reply
“Maybe tomorrow”
We end up calling each other and decided to meet after her business meeting tomorrow morning.
We created a routine and I eventually found
Out she was watching me help the homeless people last month and was dying to meet me.
Eventually, I moved in with her and we had our troubles for a few years but everyday out feelings grew stronger for each other..
Eventually I invited her to McDonald’s and gave her a number one and myself one in different bags.
She looked at her bag and was surprised her fries were missing.
I knew what was going on and tried not to laugh at her reactions.
She decided to check her burger before she complained and found nothing but a blank receipt.
She read in her head
“Will you marry me? The ring is in the bottom of the bag”
I got the idea from the cashier who used to work her before he became manager, and continued to watch Ashley.
She began to cry and muttered the words
“Yes”
That eventually got later the more she said it.
The New manager was smiling at us.
Ashley used her connections to get us a hall to get married in and we invited out friends and coworkers to the party.
I even invited the people I fed everyday and bought them clothes so they wouldn’t feel ashamed. Some found jobs with Ashleys friends and decided to help each other out and created connections of their own.
Everyday was fun with Ashley and we had a girl named
“Nicole”…
15 years later
“Hey father, how did you meet mother?”
I look at my beautiful daughter Nicole who definitely took over her mom’s features.
“You are going to love this story”
Then I tell my story to her.
Thanks for reading.
Please comment and show your interest. It will motivate me to write more stories