Chapter Sixteen
SEAN
He slipped out of Nicole’s bed, found his clothes and then took a shower. Was that presumptuous of him, to shower in her home? He wasn’t usually such an early riser, but he didn’t sleep well in other people’s beds, even when it was a bed filled with Nicole’s luscious curves and the scent of her everywhere. He peeked back into Nicole’s room. She was still fast asleep sprawled across the bed. He was tempted to wake her up, but glancing at the bedside clock, he saw that it was only six a.m. and they’d been up late exploring each other. He went to the kitchen to see if he could make coffee and a little breakfast for them.
He was quietly rummaging around in Nicole’s cabinet when he realized he didn’t have his phone. He walked into the living room and found his jacket on the floor.Man, what a night, he thought to himself as he checked his coat pocket and found his phone. The battery was dead. Sean looked around Nicole’s living room but didn’t see a phone charger anywhere. He went into thekitchen and checked what had to be her junk drawer, but no luck there either. He didn’t want to wake her up, so he put on his shoes and coat and went out to his Jeep to charge his phone.
He turned the key to accessories and plugged in his dead phone. At the same time, he turned the radio on low and daydreamed as he waited for his phone to get enough juice to start up. His mind’s eye replayed her sighs as he’d lapped up her sweet juices. God, she was gorgeous. He checked the clock on the dashboard. Did he have enough time to go back to Nicole’s bed?Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping.The constant stream of notifications on his phone startled him.
Sean picked up his phone and swiped to unlock it. Stunned, he saw alert after alert from his refrigeration app. When he refurbished the kitchen at Jesse’s Pub, he’d splurged on a fancy smart walk-in cooler/freezer with an app. He’d set up the alerts the same day it was installed, and he’d never gotten a notification until three a.m. this morning, and then at four, five, five-fifteen and five-thirty.
ALERT, TEMPERATURE UNSTABLE CODE 14.
ALERT, TEMPERATURE UNSTABLE CODE 15.
ALERT, UNIT NOT RESPONDING.
ALERT, CODE 19.
ALERT, TEMPERATURE ABOVE LIMITS CODE 20.
Sean’s heart was thumping in his chest. If their cooler/freezer was down, and it looked it like was, then he’d just lost thousands of dollars in frozen goods he needed for this week’s menu at Jesse’s Pub as well as catering over at Hop’s Heaven. In a panic, he started the car and drove over to see what the damage was. He pulled up to the front door of his restaurant and jumped out of his car. When he pulled on the restaurant door trying to open it, he realized he didn’t have the key for the door because it was still in the Jeep, which was running. He rushed back, turned it off and then back to the restaurant. He opened thefront door, only to hear a constant beeping coming from behind the swinging doors. He ran to the kitchen and when he stepped onto the tile floor, his boot splashed water and he skidded to a stop, barely avoiding falling. A small river was streaming out of the cooler toward the drain.
“Son of a bitch!” he shouted. He walked around the water and to the cooler. He opened the door to see how bad the damage was and discovered lukewarm deli meat, salads, and cheeses in the cooler. He continued into the freezer and found defrosting meat, soup bases, vegetables, and crusts. Sean felt a pound of ground beef, it was still cold, but it was no longer fully frozen.
“Argh!” Sean screamed as the beeping continued. The power was clearly on, so it wasn’t a power outage. He needed to call the company; he crossed his fingers that the unit was still under warranty. His stomach churned since he couldn’t remember if he’d purchased an extended warranty. Maybe if it wasn’t covered, then he could get it repaired or replaced under his business insurance policy. His mind was whirling. Tomorrow was fried chicken night. “Shit!” He spun around looking at the three cases of whole chickens that were now garbage. Worse than garbage, because all this food waste was going to fill his trash dumpster and he’d have to call for an extra pick up.
He walked out of the cooler and over to his desk to start making calls. First to the waitstaff to let them know Jesse’s would be closed tomorrow, and then to the back of the house. He gave the bussers the opportunity to come in and help him clean up and both of his guys said they’d be able to come in for a few hours. Next, he called the hotline number for his refrigeration unit, and there he got some welcomed news. The customer service representative was able to look up Sean’s account, and then it turned out he had in fact purchased the extended warranty. A tech would be out by six tonight to evaluate and make repairs. Additionally, the rep told Sean he could contacthis insurance agent and he might be able to put in a claim for all the spoiled food.
Sean made more phone calls and by ten a.m. he had a pain that started at his eyeballs and made its way to his neck. At first, he thought it was due to the awful hold music he’d been listening to off and on for several hours. Then he realized he hadn’t had any coffee, and then, he realized he’d left Nicole’s house without saying anything to her! His headache worsened and a rush of adrenaline and embarrassment flooded him. “Oh, fuck,” he said to the piles of slowly rotting food. He picked up his cell phone and hurriedly typed a text.
SEAN: Nicole, No excuse, but I had an emergency at the restaurant. Sorry I left without waking you up, I will make it up to you. Call me tonight
As he was trying to decide if he should end the text with a kissy face or winky face emoji plus a peach emoji, his phone rang. It was Jasper calling. He’d been waiting frantically for Jasper’s call back. He exited the text screen and took Jasper’s call. He needed to see if he could move a food delivery for today to the rail car so he wouldn’t have to cancel on the farmer.
Chapter Seventeen
NICOLE
Nicole’s alarm started chiming at six thirty-five a.m., and she rolled over to hit the snooze. She was utterly exhausted, and it took her brain a moment to catch up and remind her of the night before. It hit her with full force, and she rolled over away from her phone hoping to find the six foot plus inches of Sean taking up all the space next to her. She’d love a good morning cuddle. Her bed was empty though, so she got up, went over to her dresser, got out a pair of pajama bottoms and pulled them on.
She walked down the hall hoping to find Sean in her kitchen. She walked slowly as she didn’t hear anyone stirring, and she wondered if maybe he had left her bed and gone to sleep on the couch. Nicole was sure he must be around her house some place because he wasn’t the kind of guy who’d just leave. From her living room, she could see that her driveway was empty. So, he had left. She let out a heavy sigh. She thought Sean was different, but it looked like he’d left her, just like Duncan did. Men werethe worst.Wait, she thought,maybe he left to go get coffee and donuts for them to share? Was that a possibility?She twisted a lock of her hair. She’d seen that happen in at least three or four Hallmark movies.
She looked out the window and down the street just in case he might be on his way back, and this was just a silly misunderstanding on her part that they’d laugh about later. Then she remembered her life wasn’t a Hallmark movie. She closed the blinds and went to get ready for work.
There had been plenty of days in the past when she’d gone to work even though she wasn’t feeling her best, because she needed the distraction. Those days had dragged because she was in pain or so tired from radiation, she could barely keep her eyes open. Then there was today. Today felt like a year. She kept thinking back to the night before and second guessing, trying to figure out why Sean had left. What sign did she miss? Was it the shirt thing? He’d clearly enjoyed himself, but maybe he panicked. Repeatedly, Nicole found herself staring blankly into nothing. She’d been so distracted by Sean ghosting her that she’d missed the first fifteen minutes of her lunch and then when she got back from lunch she inter-commed the wrong classroom three times before she’d gotten it right.
She’d also started and deleted at least twenty texts to Sean and about that many to the group chat. Fortunately, she’d stopped herself. Right now, her plan was to go home and hide under her covers until it was time to go to work tomorrow. In fact, she thought this was a solid plan for the foreseeable future. Maybe at some point, Sean would text her or she’d have a couple of drinks and text him.
She dropped her purse and jacket on her coffee table, toed off her shoes and made herself a tomato and grilled cheese sandwich. As she ate her early dinner, she stared at her phone. She could just delete Sean’s contact. That was one way to makesure she never drunk dialed him. Maybe she’d do that tomorrow. For now, she was going to go take a nice hot bath, then take a Benadryl and go to bed. Tomorrow was another day.
Chapter Eighteen
SEAN
Sean was a guy who needed a good seven hours of sleep to function. Being on his feet for at least ten hours a day most days of the week, while handling knifes, boiling water, and cranky customers, he required rest to make sure he didn’t screw something up.
Unfortunately, he’d barely gotten any sleep for several days now. On Tuesday, it was due to a fantastic night with Nicole. Wednesday, he’d been at Jesse’s Pub until after two a.m. disposing of all the wasted food and cleaning. Then on Thursday, he’d had to beg suppliers most of the day to get orders in and that was another day of being closed. They were finally back open on Friday, but he’d tossed and turned all night because Nicole had ghosted him.
