He gently pulled my hand away from the sleeves. “I want to, but I might not get out right when my schedule says. You know how it is.”
“Yeah, I know.” Chaos reigned supreme. When our jobs needed us, we stayed. I rarely had the heart to turn away families at the end of the night. Who’d want a memory of being rejectedby Santa? Or Harvey, for that matter? If he wanted to be with me, he would find a way. I sunk onto my heels. “Never mind. We can hang out some other time.”
“I’ll look at our schedules and text you.” He rolled his lip ring between his teeth. “Which cup sleeve do you want?”
“Snowflake, please.”
Once he handed me the order, I headed for the door.
“You’re not staying?” he called.
“Not today. I have something to do.” I flashed him a smile on my way out. I didn’t have the energy to mask my anxiety about this whole job thing. If I ate fast, I’d have time to color in the car. There wasn’t a single 'Help Wanted' sign posted in any of the store displays. Didn’t anyone need a person with a positive mental attitude in their ranks? Not that Mom would find any of these jobs good enough. But at least I’d get money doing something other than child-wrangling.
I dropped off Chestnut’s coffee and hurried to the break room, where my pseudo-friend’s bright green Fancee’s shirt caught my eye. “Can I sit?”
She pulled out an earbud. “Yeah. How’ve you been?”
“Good.” That was usually the extent of our conversations, but today I clenched my sandwich and hurried to ask a question before she put her earbud back in. “Do you know of any open positions at Fancee’s? Or do they lean towards layoffs after the holiday season?”
She frowned at her phone. “I think my manager was talking about scaling back hours. Other departments are definitely letting people go.”
“Firing people after the holidays is so mean.”
She shrugged and continued scrolling. “They made their money.”
Now, how was I supposed to make my living? I huffed at my mushy tuna salad sandwich.
Why couldn’t I hold onto the magic a little longer? An amusement park wasn’t too far away if I wanted to be a character in general. But that was only open in summer. I had to find something else. Iwould. I tore a hunk of sandwich with my teeth and chewed it diligently. That Nice bonus would have to tide me over.
A chair screeched and someone vaguely protested at the table next to me. Harvey flipped a chair around and sidled up next to me. “No PB and J today?”
“I ran out of jelly,” I said sheepishly. Mom probably didn’t buy any more in a passive aggressive protest against me dating a guy with piercings. Especially since I already 'chose' him over the family. But I was a big girl. I had my own life, sometimes. Assuming I could afford it. After work, I would swing by the grocery store and see if they had any job applications. But if I worked there, my family would want me to run errands for them every day. Part of me wanted to flop on the table and have a mini pity party, but I’d rather not do that in front of Harvey and Fancee lady, who was staring at us with one eyebrow raised.
“This is Harvey, my boyfr–er, barista,” I said, brushing crumbs from my traitorous lips. We’d only been on one date and I was already laying claim to him. And what was Fancee lady’s name? I vaguely gestured across the table, ignoring Harvey’s smirk. “Why don’t you introduce yourself so I can get a feel for your people skills?”
He frowned and nudged my knee. “Seriously?”
I nodded encouragingly. This would be easy.
He gave me a deliciously dark look promising that I’d pay for this later, then faced my friend with a bit of a huff. “Hey, I’m Harvey. I work at the Bern. I’m dating Shelby.”
My friend tugged on her lime green t-shirt. “I’m Nicole. Fancee’s footwear. Dating a musician.”
“That was great.” I clapped.
Snorting, Harvey shook his head. “You’re easy to impress.”
“Lucky for you,” I joked back.
Nicole good-naturedly rolled her eyes, then popped her other earbud in.
Whoops, was I batting my eyelashes too much? It was hard not to flirt with Harvey now that I knew he liked me back.
“This is only the beginning.” I nudged Harvey closer to the people beside us. “Now should we try that table?”
He curled his arm around the back of my chair and pulled me closer. “You can’t get rid of me that easily. How about we hang out tomorrow? It’ll give me time to clean.”
I covered my smile with my hand to contain the smell of tuna salad and desperation. “Sounds like a plan. Do you want to eat something?”
