by J. Daniels
Either she was remembering the authority I had to fire her for talking to me the way she was doing or she was rethinking this approach altogether on her own. I wasn’t sure which. But Tori’s next words to me came without a trace of boldness.
“I want the job. I think I’d be perfect for it.”
I leaned back in my seat, caught my head in my hand, and regarded her.
I didn’t have a problem being perfectly honest with Tori right now. She helped me out a lot, doing extra work like managing schedules and securing coverage when it was needed. Tori wasn’t just my top waitress. Her duties went beyond that, and we both knew it. I relied on her. I also knew how qualified she was, and the fact that I hadn’t considered her for the position was solely my error.
“You’re right. You would be perfect for it. And I’m sorry I didn’t come to you straightaway. That was my mistake. My head’s been…all over the place lately. No excuse though.”
Shock widened her gaze. Her mouth worked speechlessly for a moment before she rushed out an, “It’s fine. Not a big deal.”
I bit back a smile. “Big deal or not, I know how much you do for this company already, Tori, and I appreciate it. The carnival was a huge success. I’m already seeing an increase in revenue. I have you to thank for that.”
“Well, it was a collective effort.”
“I know it was your idea. Take the compliment.”
“Okay, sure.”
I chuckled softly, and Tori smiled. “You read the job description?”
“Yes.”
“So, you know what I’m asking of you…aside from maintaining company standards, you’ll be supervising service operations and the service team, managing food costs, overseeing stock and contacting suppliers—”
“I know,” she interrupted. “I’m good with all of it. I’d like to do more, to be honest.”
I cocked my brow.
“You didn’t mention anything about marketing, and I have a lot of experience in that. I’d like to advertise a little better than what we’re already doing. I think it’ll be received well. People love coming here, but word of mouth only does so much.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Billboards. We at least need one off Coastal Highway. It’s shocking we don’t have one already. People will see it when they’re driving to the beach.” She tapped her chin, thinking. “We definitely need a Facebook page. I can handle that. Oh, and I could see if we could partner up with Wax Surf Shop. I’m sure Jamie won’t mind. You know him, right? We’re engaged.” She quickly flashed the giant rock on her finger. “He’s one of the owners. Along with Syd’s guy. Anyway, they could have coupons at the register for free appetizers or something. We could put their stickers on the surfboards out front as a trade-off.”
I thought on her ideas, specifically the last one.
“Syd’s guy, as in Jenna’s brother?” I asked.
It would take me a lifetime to repay Jenna for everything she was doing for me. This could be a good place to start. She spoke about her brother a lot. I knew they were close. Anything I did for him, she’d most likely appreciate as well.
A slow smile twisted across Tori’s mouth. “Yep, that’s him. So, you know, it’ll be nice building up their business too.”
“I agree.”
“Great!” Tori bounced on her toes and clapped. She was beaming at me now. “When do you want me to start? Today?”
I laughed. “Uh—”
“Actually, let me just…” Tori slipped her phone out of her apron. Her thumb moved vigorously over the screen. “If Lauren can come in and cover for me, I can start right now. I could even close for you tonight. You’ve been here all day and I just got here.” She lifted her gaze from the screen to peer around the room. “Mm. Should we get another desk? I guess we could share the one. We both won’t need to be here at the same time. The whole point of you hiring someone is to cut your hours back, right?”
I stared at her, blinking.
“What? I’m excited.”
“I can tell,” I said, chuckling softly. I sat forward, smoothing my tie, and planted my elbows on the desk. “Should we talk salary first before you start decorating?”
“I’m good with the amount advertised.” She smiled as her phone beeped, then looked down to read the text, sharing, “Lauren is available,” while she typed a quick response.
“I guess you can have her come in, then.”
“Already done.” Tori slipped her phone away and grinned at me.
I shook my head, smiling. This is fucking nuts. Leave it to Tori to run this interview and basically hire herself.
“All right, just let me know when she gets here. You’ll need to fill out a few forms for payroll. I’ll get them ready for you.” I opened the desk drawer with the file folders and retrieved the one for new hires. “You’ll also need to hire your replacement.”
“Oh, I know just the person for the job. My future sister in-law is moving here. She’ll be looking for work.”
“Great. Get her in.”
“Awesome. Thanks, Nate.”
“No, thank you.” I met her eyes again. “It’ll be nice to get out of here tonight before ten.”
Her mouth lifted in the corner. “How’s everything going with Jenna, by the way?”
“Great. She’s incredible.”
I immediately began picking apart my wording as soon as it left my mouth—it somehow felt like an understatement. What is greater than “incredible”? “Saintly” might work. I watched Tori’s smile brighten knowingly as I tried thinking of a more suitable word.
“What?”
“Nothing.” She backed away slowly. “She is incredible, isn’t she?”
“That’s what I said.”
“She’s really pretty too.”
I cleared my throat and looked down, picking up my pencil and sliding the food order in front of me again.
Don’t respond, Nathan. Just act like you didn’t hear that.
“Thank you, Tori. You can go now.”
Tori’s quiet laughter followed her as she stepped out of the office.
The song changed overhead—another Top 40 nightmare. Some tool sang about loving the shape of a woman.
“Hey, Tori?”
“Yes?” Just her head popped around the doorframe. She was still smiling.
I pointed at the mounted speaker on the wall. “Pick another station.”
* * *
It was just after seven when I left work that night. I couldn’t remember the last time I got off while it was still daylight out. Even before Sadie died, I worked long hours. I typically always closed. It felt strange leaving Whitecaps when I did and even stranger pulling into my driveway without the use of headlights. But I couldn’t deny it, it felt good too.
I wanted to be here.
I pushed the front door open and stepped inside the house, expecting to hear the commotion I was becoming familiar with—and wishing for when I didn’t have it. Instead, the house was quiet.
The TV wasn’t on. There was no laughter coming from upstairs or quick footsteps against the floor. Olivia wasn’t firing random questions at me. If I hadn’t parked next to Jenna’s car, I wouldn’t think anyone was home right now.
After securing the door, I crossed the room and pushed the slider open, stepping out onto the deck. They had to be outside.
I’d hear someone if they were upstairs. Even when Jenna asked her kids to be quiet so they didn’t wake up Marley, I could still pinpoint their exact location in the house—something she always apologized for when it was never needed. I thought it was funny. Oliver had a particularly difficult time keeping his voice down. Especially when he got on the topic of football.
I moved outside and crossed the deck, stepping up to the railing. My hands curled around the worn wood as I peered out past the dunes.
The sun was beginning to set. The sand glowed orange and yellow where the water touched it, giving the appearance of colored glass. I watched Oliver
run in when the tide threatened to wet his feet. He sprinted over to the sandcastle Olivia was hard at work on and passed off a bucket. Jenna was crouched beside Marley a few feet away, pointing to something in her hand.
I’d never had an opportunity to watch them all together. Typically, Jenna and her kids left within fifteen minutes of me getting home. I never had time to spend time, and now I was realizing how much I wanted that. I liked her kids. They were amusing as hell. And Jenna…Yeah, no point in denying it. I liked her too. That admission was easy and becoming really fucking obvious—at least to me. I was pretty sure Tori had an idea, considering our conversation today. What exactly liking her meant, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t pick apart what the hell I was feeling. Who knew if I was even ready to do that? But I wouldn’t pass up the chance I was being given right now. I knew that for a fact.
I toed off my shoes and socks before descending the stairs. I didn’t even consider changing out of my work clothes. A part of me worried Jenna was close to bringing the kids inside, and I wouldn’t risk missing out on this.
The shaded sand was cool beneath my feet as I walked down the path. My presence went unnoticed until I stepped out from between the dunes. Olivia’s head came up first. She smiled big and pushed to her feet, towering over her castle.
“Nate!” she squealed. “Mama, look, it’s Nate!”
I smiled at her, then passed that smile over to Jenna when she peered back at me over her shoulder.
Her face lit up with surprise. She spun Marley around, getting her attention off the ocean, and pointed in my direction. “Look who it is!” Jenna sounded just as happy about me being here right now as I was.
I couldn’t deny how hearing that made me feel. Compression pinched in the center of my chest. Then that pressure spread out and filled my lungs, making it damn near impossible to breathe when Marley looked right at me and grinned.
My daughter was always honest with her reaction. She was also mostly indifferent to having me around. If she ever smiled at me before, I was damn near positive it had been by accident.
There was nothing accidental about the way she was looking at me right now.
“Hey, Nate!” Oliver yelled from down the beach, spotting me when I reached the sandcastle.
I held my hand up for him to see, and getting that, he started making his way over.
“Daddy, wook! Wook dis seashell.” Marley reached her arm out, showing off the shell between her fingertips.
I couldn’t get to her fast enough.
“Let me see what you got,” I said, crouching beside her and Jenna. Marley let me hold the shell, then passed me a handful more after digging around in the bucket at her feet. On the third handful, I joked, “Baby, did you leave any on the beach?”
“We’ve been busy. Someone loves digging in the sand,” Jenna said.
Marley dumped the bucket over, squealing in delight at the little mess she made, then lost interest in the shells altogether when Olivia called out for her to help with the castle. She rushed past me.
“How come you’re home so early?” Jenna asked, collecting the shells in the bucket again, something I was certain she was doing for my daughter without being asked to do it.
I gave her a hand with it, dumping what I was already holding into the bucket and then moving on to the ones sticking in the sand.
“I hired Tori for the assistant manager position. She basically kicked me out of my office.”
“What?” Jenna smiled big. “That’s great news! Well, not about getting kicked out of your own office.”
“I didn’t mind. I’m here, aren’t I?”
Her green eyes went soft. “Mm. True. So, I guess your hours are going to be changing in a couple weeks, then?”
“Starting tomorrow,” I answered.
Jenna’s smile faltered the slightest bit. “Oh. That soon?”
I figured the reason for her surprise and quickly explained, “Tori doesn’t really need to go through any training. She knows the restaurant. She’s more than qualified. I’ll work shorter days through Tuesday with her just to make sure she’s good on her own. Wednesday I’m planning on being off.”
Marley giggled, and I turned my head to watch her dump a bucket of sand onto Olivia’s foot. The girls laughed together. Then Marley bent down to repeat the action after receiving encouragement from Olivia.
When I looked at Jenna again, she was back to smiling, looking nothing but happy for me.
“That’s really great, Nathan,” she said.
I nodded, agreeing with her. I couldn’t believe my luck. I’d worried it would take weeks to fill that position, something I hadn’t shared with Jenna. The fact that she wasn’t pulling out of watching Marley for me before I did hire someone was a fucking miracle.
“Hey, Nate!” Oliver skidded to a stop beside me.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing. You wanna play catch now?” He tossed a football into the air.
“Oliver, he just got home,” Jenna said, getting to her feet now that all the shells were picked up.
She was wearing white shorts that sat low on her hips. Her top was a simple pale-blue tee with a pocket on her breast. It gathered at her waist and held with a knot, and I knew with every shift of her body, teasing hints of her stomach would peek out. A stomach I was currently eye level with.
I pushed to my feet before it seemed like I was waiting out an opportunity like that.
“Maybe another night. I’m sure Nathan wants to relax a little,” Jenna added, looking to me for confirmation.
“No, it’s cool. I’m always down for playing catch.” I tugged at the knot in my tie, getting it loose enough to remove.
Oliver’s smile took up his entire face. He tossed the ball into the air again. “You hear that, Mom? Nate just said he’s down for it.”
“Of course I heard him. I’m right here.” Jenna laughed.
“Cool. Just making sure you know.” Oliver spun around and took off running, putting space between us.
“Thank you,” Jenna said, her eyes heavy with gratitude. “He’s been dying to do this ever since he found out you played football. This really means a lot to him.”
“Yeah, no problem. I’m happy to do it.”
I meant that in more ways than one. Aside from making Oliver happy by obliging his request, this was another thing I could do for Jenna. Her joy ran parallel with her kids’. She’d said it before—if they were good, she was good.
I knew how much this would mean to her.
I untucked my shirt and worked from the collar down, getting it unbuttoned so I could slip it off. Not that I gave a shit about messing up my clothes right now. I just needed range of motion to throw. I had a white tee on underneath, and I untucked that as well before I lifted my head.
Jenna was staring hard at my shoulders, chest, and abs, her gaze moving all over me and fuck if her eyes weren’t heavy with something else right now.
“Nate! You ready?” Oliver yelled.
I watched Jenna suck in a breath like she was startled. Her gaze snapped up to mine and widened in panic as heat burned like fire across her cheeks. Her reaction was instant. She was obviously embarrassed, and before I could even attempt to make this less awkward for her by saying I didn’t mind her looking at me like that, she shot her hand out and grabbed the shirt and tie I was still holding.
“Here, I can—”
“Yeah, thanks.” I released my hold on the garments when she tugged, and she quickly stepped away.
Jenna set my clothes aside, then knelt between Marley and Olivia, who were both working on the sandcastle now. They were focused on that and nothing else around them. And suddenly, so was Jenna. She helped Marley fill a bucket with sand and smiled easily at Olivia.
That did just happen, right? She was definitely staring at me…
“Nate!”
“Yeah!” After setting the bucket of shells aside so I didn’t knock them over, I looked down the beach and raised my hand, signaling for Oliver
to throw.
He grinned, excitement pouring out of him, and didn’t waste any time putting the ball into the air, and even though there wasn’t a ton of distance between us, he still got it to me without much of an effort. That impressed me.
“Your coach doesn’t know what he’s talking about! You’ve got an arm!” I hollered, spinning the ball in my hand.
I didn’t think it was possible, considering how pleased he looked already just from getting the opportunity to play right now, but somehow Oliver became the happiest kid I’d ever seen.
“I’m trying out for quarterback next season!” he shouted.
“You should!”
We tossed the ball around for a while, gaining an audience pretty soon after I gave Oliver that ego boost. On my second throw, Jenna cheered for him after he made the catch. When he made me run for it, whipping the ball toward the ocean, I noticed Jenna watching me on my jog back in and held my arms out to encourage applause.
A laugh burst out of her. “Woo!” she yelled, hands cupping her mouth.
“I see how it is. He gets a cheerleader and I don’t?”
“I’ll cheer for you!” Olivia bounced on her toes and punched the air. “Go Nate! Go Nate! You’re the best! Whoop! Whoop!”
I chuckled. “Thank you, sweetheart.”
Olivia immediately began to challenge my earlier assessment of her brother being the happiest kid to walk the earth when her grin amped up to full potential. She pushed her glasses higher up on her nose, then tipped her chin up proudly, like hearing my appreciation meant something big and important to her.
Jenna’s smile was soft when I looked at her again. Until I winked, which was something I don’t do. Not once before. I wasn’t a guy who winked at women—what a prick move. But when those full lips of hers parted like a heavy, heart-pounding breath was leaving her, I became the guy who winked.
If it got a reaction like that, I’d wink so much around this woman, people would think there was something wrong with me. Holy sh—
“Nate, I’m going long!” Oliver yelled, turning my head.
I adjusted my grip on the ball, cocked my arm back, and launched it. The ball sailed into the air and hit the sand a good ten feet past his outstretched arms.