Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 135604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Jamie laughed in my ear. I was completely serious.
I dropped my hand, grinning as I listened to that beautiful sound while turning toward the front of the restaurant. I spotted Shay tending to one of her tables, then looking near the door, I saw Kali leading Jenna, Brian’s sister, and her seven-year-old twins, Oliver and Olivia, to an open booth in my section.
I’d met them a few weeks ago when Syd started having her Sunday family dinners.
Olivia jumped up and waved frantically at me when she caught my eye. Her pigtails bounced in the air. I waved back to her and Jenna. Oliver kept his attention on the game in his hand as he slid into the booth.
“Gotta go, babe. Shit’s about to start,” Jamie announced after he was finished sharing his amusement, but he was still grinning. I could hear it. “That okay, or are you lightin’ a match?” he teased.
Yep. Totally grinning. I ignored his teasing and focused on a much more pressing topic.
“Text me after you win?”
“Call you,” Jamie corrected me, letting me know a text wouldn’t do. He was going to be wanting to talk to me after.
I could’ve argued and insisted on the text, but I didn’t. Job be damned at this point. Plus I was certain I could sneak in another quick phone call somehow.
Which led to me agreeing and giving Jamie a “’Kay,” instead of anything else. “Good luck,” I added.
“Don’t need it,” he replied.
I sighed, was in the middle of an eye roll and about to tell Jamie I knew he didn’t need luck, when he lit the match himself.
“Don’t need it,” he repeated, voice softer. “Like that you wanna give it, though, babe. Means somethin’ to me. More than anyone else givin’ me that.”
I inhaled sharply through my nose, feeling it tingle. “Damn it,” I whispered. “You suck. I’m hanging up now.”
Jamie chuckled in my ear. “Later, babe.”
I disconnected the call and stuffed my phone into my back pocket. Then I grabbed a short stack of napkins and three rolls of silverware from underneath the bar, moved out from behind it, and padded across the room in the direction of the booth Jenna and her kids had claimed.
* * *
My phone was vibrating in my pocket. Long vibrations letting me know I was getting a call, not a text.
I immediately pictured Jamie standing on a podium, cocky smirk in place, holding his first-place trophy in one hand while flipping off his competition with the other.
Was he finished already?
I stopped pouring Oliver’s sweet tea, glanced up, and saw Nate was still out on the floor talking to his mother, who had stopped in for a visit with Marley, Nate’s adorable baby girl.
My boss was right there. Barely ten feet in front of me. Crap. There was no sneaking a phone call now. Nate would totally bust me. Three strikes and I was out.
Begrudgingly, and against all of my heart’s desires, I ignored the call and went back to pouring the sweet tea.
My phone stopped vibrating, then a second later it started vibrating again, and not indicating I had a voice mail waiting on me. No. This was another call. Jamie didn’t even bother with a message. He was hitting Redial.
He was really wanting to talk to me. And I was really wanting to talk to him. Screw it. I set the pitcher down, let go of the glass, and reached for my back pocket.
Nate turned his head at that exact moment, as if he could fucking sense my unprofessionalism from where he was standing and the lengths I was willing to go to, and looked at me through his dark-rimmed glasses with eyes that were hard and suspicious and calculating firing strategies.
At least, that’s what I was seeing.
I flashed him a smile that was top-notch employee professional, and resumed gripping the pitcher and the glass.
Nate looked away and resumed speaking with his mother. The phone stopped vibrating. I closed my eyes and gathered breath in my lungs, started to expel it slowly and calmly, hoping to embrace that feeling instead of going manic up in here, but nearly choked on my breath when my pocket started vibrating yet again.
My eyes flashed open, widened, and focused on Nate’s profile. We were up to call number three.
Three. Three attempts wasn’t just wanting to talk to me. Three attempts was needing to talk to me. Later wouldn’t do. It had to happen now.
My heart started racing.
I spun around while digging my phone out of my pocket, bringing it in front of me after I was facing the kitchen so Nate couldn’t see it. I looked at the screen, my thumb automatically sliding to unlock it so I could shoot Jamie a quick text of explanation when the name of the caller came into focus.
My thumb quit sliding. Jamie wasn’t calling me right now. My mother was.