“Dipshit?” Zoe asked.
“Yes. It’s his week. The deal is supposed to be that when it’s his week, he deals with everything unless it’s life or death. When it’s my week, I deal with it. April doesn’t feel well and went to the school nurse who said she’s running a low-grade fever and should go home. Except ass-clown is busy and I need to do it. Know what he’s busy with? Paperwork so he can make his pickup basketball game. Because his stupid, out-of-shape, white-guys-can’t-jump basketball game is more important than his daughter. It’s not like I have a business to run or anything or that I’m short staffed. No, that doesn’t matter to him at all. I wish he would keel over and die and I’m such a horrible person for wishing that.”
Zoe walked around the counter and hugged her. Elba sagged in her arms.
“Stop. Take a deep breath. How about if I go pick her up?”
Elba lifted her head. “You can’t. You’re not on the list. Although I was going to ask if I can add you in case anything like this happened again.”
“Of course. You can’t call the school and let them know I’m picking her up?”
She shook her head. “I wish. I’ve tried to do that before. They’re adamant that it has to be someone that is prearranged with the school in writing. Too many divorced couples getting their new significant other to pick the kid up and the ex losing their shit at the school for allowing it.”
“Ah. Yeah. I can see how that might cause issues.” She cocked her head. “I can stay here while you go get her.”
“Really? You’d do that?”
“As long as I don’t have to cook.”
Elba’s laugh was full of relief. “No. Rob does all the cooking. I’ll introduce you. He’s good. A student at the local culinary school. All you have to do is take the orders and keep the coffee fresh. Maybe heat up some pie.”
“I can heat up some pie,” Zoe said.
Elba hugged her. “Thank you. Let me show you how to work the register. I’ll bring April back here and she can rest on the couch in my office with a cup of tea.”
She walked Zoe through the register, which was really a touch screen attached to a money till, not an actual register, and was thankfully user-friendly. The espresso machine was a little more confusing, but was computerized and not one of the fancy manual espresso machines.
“I don’t have time for that,” was Elba’s response when she asked.
* * *
Almost five hours later,Zoe pulled into her driveway, shut off her car, and rested her head against the steering wheel. How could she have forgotten how exhausting waitressing was? It wasn’t that it had been difficult, although she’d gotten a couple of orders mixed up, it was being on her feet and constantly on the go. How the hell did Elba do that six and a half days a week? By herself with only another waitress?
Zoe had sucked it up because she owed her big time for all the additional help she’d given her by taking care of the in-person issues with the bookstore.
The takeout box Rob had given her after they’d shut down and cleaned up smelled delicious and her stomach rumbled. Right. Dinner, shower, bed. Climbing out of her car, her gaze was drawn to Tim’s house almost against her will. Who was she kidding? She’d seen his truck in the drive when she’d pulled up and wondered if he’d stop by again like he had the other night. More than once she’d wondered if he’d only stopped by because Mrs. Wilson had said something about the moving truck or because he wanted to see her again. Did she want to see him again?
The tiny flutter in her stomach said yes. Her mind might tell her she didn’t have time for a guy right now and she needed to stay focused on her bookstore, but she missed the companionship of having someone in her life. Friends were great, but she wanted someone to cuddle with on the couch at the end of a long day.
A woman walked out of his front door, then turned back around to face the house.
Zoe ducked down behind her car. Wait? What was she doing? There was no reason to hide—she was the neighbor.
“Tolo.” She stood up and checked out the woman.
Tall, with dark blond hair and a strong physique, she was the physical antithesis of Zoe. The woman waved toward the front door and walked to the older SUV parked on the road in front of Tim’s house.
She might not be a supermodel, but she was still beautiful. “Of course she is,” Zoe muttered. She might want a cuddle buddy, but it looked like Tim already had one.
