Man Handler (Man Cave - A Standalone Collection Book 3)

by Shari J. Ryan

  “Brendan?” I ask.

  “Yes,” she answers, shyly. Her cheeks brighten and I notice she’s fighting against a smile. Poor thing.

  “No, Brendan is not my boyfriend.”

  “Is he seeing anyone?” she continues.

  “He was before we left Boston, but not anymore.”

  “So, then, he’s single?” Oh boy.

  “Um, kind of.”

  “I’ve seen him around town a few times. He’s so friendly and … ” she leans over the counter and wraps her hands around the side of her mouth. “He’s fine, gorgeous actually. I’ve never seen such a good-looking man, except for our town’s most wanted bachelor.” She giggles and waves me off. “Oh, listen to me. I promised myself I wouldn’t start with the gossip so soon after meeting you. Sometimes, I just can’t help myself.”

  I’m not buying into her gossip. I don’t want to know who she’s talking about even though I’m fairly certain it has to be Austin after she mentioned his name the last time we spoke. In any case, gossip is a no-no for me and my position at this hotel. I don’t need it in my life either. I had enough of that in Boston. “Well, Brendan is certainly a nice sight to view,” I tell her, refusing to give her any further insight into Brendan’s love life.

  She shakes her head, probably realizing this conversation is getting mildly awkward.

  “You know,” she says, looking from side-to-side as her lips purse. I know this look. It’s the I heard gossip look. What is with people and their gossiping habits around here? It’s way worse than Boston, and I thought it was bad up there. “I know someone who knows someone, who might have seen you and Austin Trace making out at the Ice Cream Festival.” Her eyes are full of questions as she looks back and forth between my eyes. Now, she just looks crazy. “So, is it true?”

  “I—can’t be discussing my personal life at the front desk. I don’t want to get in trouble, you know?”

  “Oh. Come. On. No one is here. Just tell me,” she insists.

  Unfortunately, while I’m typically good at keeping a straight face when needed, I can’t seem to control the stupid smile creeping up from the corners of my mouth. “Laurie-Cate, I—”

  “Say no more, your smile says it all,” she says, waving her hand at me along with a dramatic sigh. “Well, I won’t ask any more questions, but I hope that’s going well for you both.”

  “Actually, I haven’t seen him since that night.” Yup, that’s the story of my life.

  She leans forward, placing her arms down on the counter. “You don’t say? Well, does he have your number?”

  “He didn’t ask for it,” I tell her.

  “That’s just crazy. I can’t believe he didn’t ask you.”

  “It happens,” I tell her. To me. All the time.

  “Well, you never know when you’ll run into him I suppose,” she says with a wry smile.

  “That’s true around here.” Time to switch the topic, like now. “So, I’m going to call maintenance and have them come and check out your parents’ villa. We’ll have that fixed up for them in no time.”

  “That would be just lovely. Thank you,” she says.

  “No problem.”

  “Oh, Scarlett, you know, there’s a few of us gals who have dinner once a month down at The Tavern in the square. I’d love for you to join us next time. We’ll be going there on Thursday night at six.”

  That sounds like absolute hell. I’d rather take this pen, jab it into my eye and pull it out the back of my head. “You’re so sweet for inviting me. I’ll see if I can get out of work a little early that day. If not, I’ll have to catch you ladies next time.”

  “Of course.” Her smile has contorted at least ten times during this awkward conversation, and I can’t figure out what any of the different looks mean.

  “Let me know if your parents continue to have any issues once maintenance has been by.”

  “Will do.” She blows me a quick kiss and flips her hair over her bare shoulders, then scurries off toward the villas in her A-line, knee length, fruit-bowl-colored dress.

  I think I’ve watched enough TV and seen my share of movies to figure this all out. Austin is a good-looking, single man. In fact, he’s one of the only good-looking men I’ve seen in this town. Laurie-Cate is a single, good-looking woman. I’ll just go out on a limb and assume they were together at some point. Maybe that’s why she’s so interested in Brendan. She probably thinks there’s more going on with us since we live together, and it’s the perfect plan for payback. That’s cute.

  “How's it going today, Miss Scarlett?” Ellis asks, walking through the front doors.

  “Everything is going well so far.” I’m just entering my notes on Laurie-Cate’s parents’ issues into the computer. Then, everything from today will be noted and documented.

  “You’re about done here in a few minutes, aren’t you?” Ellis asks.

  “Yes, sir. I have an appointment down at the hospital. Got to get this baby checked out again,” I tell him, lifting my cast-encased arm.

  “Well, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for good luck and that everything is healing well.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Say, Miss Scarlett, does your friend, the one who lives with you, have a job of his own yet?”

  I look up from the computer, finding Ellis directly in front of the counter. “Actually, he’s been having a difficult time snagging a job anywhere. We don’t have a car yet, so he’s exhausted options that are within a walking distance or close enough for a cheap Uber ride. I’m sure he’ll find something soon, though.”

  “Well, I was going to say, we’re in need of a new bellhop. Ralphie was let go this morning, and I’m going to be hiring.”

  Rather than jump out of my pants with excitement that Ellis is considering a job offer for Brendan, I’m wondering why Ralphie was let go. This hotel isn’t very big and layoffs don’t sound like something of the norm around here. “What happened to Ralphie?”

  Ellis squints his eyes and his lips unfurl into a straight line. “I’m not sure if you know, but he’s older, going to be seventy soon. Anyway, he was having difficulty lifting bags, and I had a number of complaints from guests that he was asking them to help with their own bags. I feel terrible, but I need a capable person for that type of job.” For a man who looks like he takes baths in hundred dollar bills, I’d think he would try to find a more suitable position here for Ralphie rather than just kick him out, but what do I know?

  “Well, as sad as I am for Ralphie, I’m sure Brendan would be honored to fill out an application.”

  “Great,” Ellis says. “Have him stop by my office when you see him next.” With that statement, he taps his hand on the counter a few times and walks off, leaving a trail of clacking echoes from his designer shoes in his path.

  I guess job security isn’t a thing around here. I’ll keep that in the back of my mind as we come closer to the one-month mark of me figuring out if I’ve transitioned to a normal life here, or if I’m still homesick. I’m hovering somewhere in the middle, leaning toward the side of homesick at the moment.

  The hour hand on the grandfather clock hits five, and I grab my belongings to head off toward the hospital.

  For the last week, I’ve debated how this will turn out. If Austin is there, do I act like nothing happened? Or do I give him the cold shoulder? I didn’t give him my number. He didn’t ask for it, but I also didn’t offer it. However, Brendan did inform me that Austin has his number, which solidified the fact that Austin didn’t intend to contact me. Though I could have contacted him since I have his number, I felt like I needed to wait it out and see where his thoughts were at. I don’t like to be forward, not after my track record.

  I can’t say I haven’t been wondering how two people can share a kiss like we did, then find their friends, go in two separate ways, and close the book. I shouldn’t have let him kiss me in the first place. Maybe he’s avoiding me. He could have come to his senses, especially seeing how we haven’t r
un into each other in this teeny tiny little town. Whatever. I’ve put him out of my mind, and he can stay there. Hot lips or not, it was just a kiss, and it was just one night. I’ll live.

  The walk to the hospital is just about twenty minutes, but much easier on me now that I’ve purchased flat shoes—they’re the trendiest ones I could dig up. I’ve been against this style for a long time since I’m just over five feet tall, but heels do not work in this town with its cobblestone streets and sidewalks.

  I walk through the main entrance of the hospital and check in at the ER’s front desk with Daisy to ask where the Orthopedic department, so I can say hi to Daisy. By the time I greet her, I realize I feel mildly awkward around her now too.

  “Scarlett, how have you been?” she asks with excitement.

  “I’ve been well. How about you?” I’m unsure of what she knows about the happenings that night with me and Austin, but hearing the excitement in her voice, I assume she knows more than I wish she did, so I’m going to keep our conversation brief.

  “I’ve been great. What can I help you with?”

  “I was wondering if you could tell me where the Orthopedic department is?” I should have just looked at the map in the lobby.

  “It’s on the third floor,” she says.

  I’d like to know if Austin is working right now, but I’m not going to ask. It will open a dialogue I don’t want to have.

  “Thank you,” I tell her while turning toward the elevators. “Scarlett?”

  Dammit.

  “Yeah?” I turn back.

  “I know this is none of my business, but did something happen between y’all that night of the Ice Cream Festival?”

  You’re right, it isn’t your business. I’d say that if I was up north and someone asked me, but Daisy seems like the type to tear up if I were to talk to her that way.

  “Nope,” I tell her, lying through my teeth.

  “Oh,” she says, pressing her lips together as if she’s trying to hold in her words. She quickly glances down at her papers and ends the conversation, making things far more awkward than they were a second ago.

  “Is he working tonight?” I ask her. Might as well know now since I’m already feeling nice and uncomfortable. At least she brought it up first.

  She looks down at her watch. “Yes, ma’am. His shift ends in about an hour.”

  “Cool,” I say, making it look like I don’t care.

  I don’t care. Nope. Not at all.

  I head over to the elevators and try to put everyone in this town out of my mind for the time being.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Austin

  “You’re really just going to avoid her?” Daisy asks me.

  “Yes, I am really just going to avoid her,” I tell her for the third time today.

  “That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot of dumb things,” she continues.

  “Will you just trust me?” I ask her.

  A deep belly laugh erupts from Daisy. It’s not that funny, but whatever is going through her head evidently is. “You want me to trust you?” She covers her mouth and continues laughing away. “Hush your mouth, Austin. We both know that is crazy.”

  “You know what? I don’t go callin’ you crazy when you decide you’re in love with some guy after just two dates, so I’m not about to take advice from you of all people. No offense.”

  “None taken, but you are just downright rude, Austin Trace.”

  “I’m right, though.”

  “Whatever. You may want to go back to your hiding spot before Scarlett comes back downstairs and mistakenly runs into your dumb butt.”

  “Clara said she’d warn me if she saw Scarlett,” I inform her.

  “First, Clara is on break right now. Second, Clara is not on your side, Mr. Austin.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Clara likes you, Austin. She always has. She’s got it stuck in her head that you shooed Scarlett off because you have feelins’ for her. I told her that wasn’t the case, but Clara is lost in that head of hers somewhere, and who knows what’s really goin’ on with her?”

  My stomach turns into a giant knot while listening to what Daisy is saying. Why wouldn’t Clara talk to me? We tell each other everything. I’m not sure I can pinpoint a time when anything changed between us, which is a little worrisome I suppose. “So she talked to you about her and me?” I ask, prying for more information.

  Daisy rests her elbows on the desk and pushes up her thick, black-framed glasses that I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have a prescription for. “Not exactly, but I have intuition, and I know she’s got feelings for you, so I just put it in her head in case that’s what was going on.”

  “So, you brought it up to her is what you’re saying?” She looks guilty enough to avoid answering me directly. “Daisy, it ain’t happening with Clara and me, so if you can avoid the topic, that would help me out a great deal.”

  “You truly do want to die alone, don’t you?” Daisy asks.

  She asks because she doesn’t understand that it’s a possibility I’m okay with. If I end up an old man, alone on my damn farm with a dog, it’s fine by me. “The thought doesn’t bother me, and I still have some time left, thank you.”

  “Austin?” Daisy and I are interrupted by the interruption that has been flying around like a ping pong ball in my head for the last week. So much for hiding.

  I swivel around on my heels. “Scarlett, how’s it going?”

  Her eyebrows pull in toward her nose as if she’s trying to figure me out by just a simple form of hello. “Fine. You?” she asks.

  I shrug. “Same.”

  “Okay … well, see ya,” she says, quicker than I’ve been able to even process a single thought since she walked out here.

  “Oh, for the love all things holy, knock it off, both of you,” Daisy scolds us.

  We both look at her with question, but Daisy doesn’t know what’s going through Scarlett’s head. She only knows what’s going through mine. At least that’s what I think. She’s probably double teaming and playing us against each other. Though, if that were the case, we probably wouldn’t be acting like confused strangers at the moment.

  “Excuse me?” Scarlett places her hand on her hip, waiting for a response. She’s irritated. That much, I can see. I notice Dr. Lane gave her a new shorter cast. I’m assuming she’ll have that one for another few weeks, then a splint for a while longer.

  “You both like each other, but you’re both playing ‘not it,’ and that’s weird and stupid. You’re grown adults, so act like it.”

  I wasn’t playing “not it,” and Daisy knows this.

  “You’re off work, Austin. Shift’s done. Get out of here,” Daisy says.

  “I have to change,” I tell her, eyeballing her so she knows to cut it out.

  “Then go change,” she says.

  “Scarlett, how did your appointment go?”

  “Dr. Lane said three more weeks.” Scarlett is obviously good at avoidance. You’d think we’d never met by the way she flips her wavy hair to the side so she doesn’t have to see me standing next to her.

  “I’ll see ya around,” I say to Scarlett, purposely not addressing her. Not that I have to. She knows who I’m talking to.

  Scarlet flips her hair back and looks at me as if she isn’t sure I said something. “Sorry, did you say bye? I just heard a weird buzzing noise. It sounded like you, so—”

  “Yeah,” I tell her.

  “Oh, well then, goodbye!” She purses her lips and grins before waving me away. It pisses me off, but I know it shouldn’t. She can be mad at me like I’m sure she is, but it isn’t exactly like she came here looking for me either. I mean, I know where she works, and I could have gone looking for her, but I chose not to for an important reason. In any case, there’s no way she doesn’t care. I was half of that kiss, and it wasn’t just any kiss.

  I walk off toward the locker room and feel the steam shooting out of my
ears by the time I open my locker. What am I doing? Maybe Daisy’s right, and I am a moron.

  I take my shirt off and toss it into the laundry-pick-up bucket of dirty scrubs behind me before opening my bag to grab a clean shirt. Just as I drop my bag heavily to the ground, I hear the door to the locker room open. Whoever it is can stare at my back because I am not in the mood for chit-chat right now.

  That plan might have worked for me if a cool hand didn’t just touch the center of my back, causing me to jump and spin around. “Dang it!” I was not expecting to see her behind me. “What in the hell are you doing back here?”

  “Daisy told me it would be okay,” she says, keeping her voice to a soft whisper, which is odd because Scarlett doesn’t speak softly. Scarlett speaks affirmatively.

  “Well, it ain’t okay.”

  “Why didn’t you ask for my number?” She’s looking at me with these doleful eyes, making me feel like an asshat for not being the typical man and making all the moves. After the way she’s acted—being all tough and mighty—a woman who’s in control at all times, I wouldn’t have expected a question like that to come out of her.

  “Why didn’t you ask for mine?” I reply.

  “Because … I don’t like to chase men. It isn’t becoming,” she argues.

  “Wait a minute now ... so, you don’t like to chase men, but you have no problem telling men what’s what and who’s who, and walking in on them naked in the staff-only room?”

  “Don’t act like you know me so well. I know Brendan must have given you the rundown on the inner workings of my brain, but don’t think that’s a guideline you should go by with me.”

  “First, Brendan didn’t say a whole lot about you that I hadn’t already figured out for myself. Second, while I like a good puzzle every now and again, it doesn’t mean I always have things or people figured out correctly the first time. I just kind of assumed you were the type to take the reins and giddy-on-up if you were interested.” None of what I just said is an actual reason why I didn’t ask for her number, though.