In the seat across from him sits Mari. Unfortunately, with her black business suit and red hair tied back in a loose bun, she looks better than your average bimbo. On the floor next to her, a black bag large enough to fit a small poodle leans against her chair and I almost trip over it as I stand next to their table.
“Oh, do you two know each other?” she casually asks.
Trey balks at her question and I want to jump across the space and hit him. A small part of my brain set on revenge wants to tell her exactly how we know one another, but I don’t have it in me to ruin their relationship. Even though she needs to know her boyfriend is an asshole, this is not the place to tell her.
I recover more quickly than Trey and answer her question. “I’m friends with Aspen.” I smile in her direction and it seems to work.
At least until she sneers at hearing Aspen’s name. “Oh, her. Yes, well doesn’t perky little Aspen get around then.”
My mouth falls open again at her blatant disdain toward someone I’m already considering a best friend. She did not just talk shit about the woman whose boyfriend helped move my ten boxes of shoes and then opened her apartment to me, did she?
“I didn’t realize you were working here,” Trey says with a bit of hesitation.
His comment makes me move my eyes to him. The distraction saved his girlfriend from losing a clump of hair. When did I get so violent?
“Yeah, well it’s a long story.” One I refuse to hash out with him. Trey doesn’t deserve to know anyway. Obviously Aspen and Finn haven’t shared and I’d prefer it stayed that way.
“Simone, I’m ready to go whenever you are.” Jamie’s deep voice carries over the space and a slow grin makes me cast my eyes to the floor. If I didn’t love that man before, I do now for his timely rescue.
Trey’s eyes widen over the male voice and he pushes his chair back a fraction, but doesn’t stand. I turn back to the counter. “I'll be right there.”
I ignore Mari but look Trey directly in the eye, my lips still stretched across my face. “Well it looks like my shift is over, but my replacement will be right over to take your order. Have a nice night.”
I untie my apron on the walk to the counter throwing it in the dirty bin past the kitchen door before I meet Jamie at the clock out station. If I hadn’t just met the boy, I’d hug him.
