I huff out a breath. Xena means well, I’m sure, but I don’t agree with her assessment of the situation. With this much stress, I doubt I can focus on anything until I get at least some of it sorted. And I think contacting someone about that job I saw at the local shelter is a good place to start.
“Listen,” I say. “I know you’re just looking out for me, but I need to get some of my job stuff figured out before I can worry about my vagina.”
“Gah, you’re no fun,” Xena crosses her arms over her chest and pouts. “OK, so what is your plan for your job thing then? Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Not yet, I don’t think. I’m going to go home after I finish this coffee and do what I was trying to do yesterday. I found a couple of interesting looking positions so I’ll contact them and take it from there.”
Just then, the bell over the door jingles and new customers walk in. Xena jumps up to serve them and I stay seated, watching people go by on the sidewalk outside the front window. Xena has a great location here. She’s close to downtown and a lot of the people who work in offices nearby come and get their coffee from her.
That’s one great thing about Westborough. Everyone here prefers a local place over a chain. We’ve had a few major coffee retailers try to open locations here, but other than that big one out of Seattle, none have gained any traction. Xena’s raking it in though. Bump & Grind is almost always busy.
I wave at two of her employees as they walk in to start their shifts. Tanya and Dax have worked for Xena for years, and they are two of the most amazing people you could ever meet. Tanya sees me and comes over to say hello, while Dax goes straight to the back to help Xena.
“Hey, Rhea,” she says, sitting opposite me. “Sorry about the police force thing. It sucks that you’re not a cop anymore.”
Well, it looks like the secret’s out now. I should have guessed that someone here at the coffee shop would know, at least. Xena needed someone to cover for her yesterday, after all.
“Oh, yeah. Thanks,” I say. “It’s not so bad. Now I get to find out what to do with my life all over again. Who wouldn’t want to do that in their mid-thirties?”
Tanya laughs. “I hear you. Why do you think I’ve been working here for so long? Once I dropped out of college, I couldn’t muster up the energy to look for a ‘career’ again. Plus, I really like it here. Xena is a great boss.”
I know she’s not saying that just because Xena is my friend, either. Xena pays a great wage and even offers benefits. It’s one reason she’ll never be rich, but she’s not one to abuse her position over others just to make money. She wants her staff to enjoy coming to work, and to afford to have a life when they’re not working.
Huh. That sounds pretty good, actually. Maybe Ishouldcome work for her.
“I’m not sure if I’m ready to go that route just yet. They just made it official yesterday, so I still have some time yet before I decide to go a completely different direction. But if I do, you can bet this place is the first place I’d come looking for a job.”
Tanya stands. “Well, it was nice to see you. I gotta get to work before my bitch of a boss gets mad.” She raises her voice so Xena can hear her and winks at me. “See you around,” she says.
“I heard that,” Xena yells over the heads of the customers in line. “You’re lucky I love you, Tanya.”
I shake my head and snicker at those two before taking another long drink of my coffee and standing up. It’s time I get going. I need to work on the job hunt, plus I don’t want to be taking up a table that paying customers could be using.
After I double check that I have my wallet and keys, I walk out the door and onto the street. It’s close to morning coffee break time for people and the sidewalks are filling up. I’m getting a few strange looks for my outfit of outrageously large joggers, t-shirt, and combat boots. It’s a good look, particularly since I’ve topped it off with a reusable grocery bag as an accessory. Never mind that my hair is probably a giant fuzzy disaster.
It’s a good thing I’m not one to be too concerned about my appearance, or I’d be mortified at the thought of all these strangers seeing me like this. As it stands, I’m only mortified that Aiden saw me like this before he dropped me off. He’s so hot it probably offended his sensibilities to see someone as thoroughly not hot as me this morning.
I finish off my coffee and drop the cup in a recycling bin outside my building. With a quick wave to Mrs. Dickerson, the owner of the nightmare factory, I mean, vintage doll shop I live above, I let myself in the side door and head upstairs to my apartment.
As soon as I get inside, I strip out of my clothes and go straight into the bathroom, into the shower. I still smell tequila oozing from me and the stench is making me feel sick. First order of business is a shower, and then I’ll be ready to attack the job hunt with a fresh outlook. Not to mention a much needed fresh smell.
It’s just too bad I can’t do anything about the cobwebs Xena was so concerned about.
Chapter 18
Aiden - We’re Barely Even Friends
“Idon’t know man, she was gone before I woke up this morning.” Johnny did leave with Becca last night, but it doesn’t sound like the night went as well as he’d hoped. “She is so hard to figure out.”
The whole band is sitting around in Connor’s studio space at his house. Before he reconnected with Alex and proposed to her, he bought this house and had it outfitted with a studio. He had his walkout basement renovated with a small apartment with rooms for each of us guys to sleep in, if we ever need it. When we get into a really good rhythm musically, it’s nice to have a space to sleep in your own bed. It’s way better than back in the days when the guys would crash at my place, spread throughout the house, sleeping on any available surface.
“You know what this is? It’s karma.” Ryder gestures toward Johnny with the licorice he’s eating. Denise has been craving it non-stop apparently, thanks to her pregnancy, and Ryder can’t get enough of it now either. “You were a love ‘em and leave ‘em wanting more type for so long that this is karma getting back at you.”
Leaving them wanting more is just a nice way of saying Johnny had a habit of ghosting women after a few weeks. He wouldn’t go completely ghost though. He would tell them it wasn’t working out first and then he’d block them and go on like it had never happened. Not exactly gentlemanly behaviour, but at least he did them the courtesy of telling them they were through. He didn’t just disappear completely, with no warning at all. That might count for something when it comes to karma.
“Haha. Fuck off, Ryder.” Johnny’s facial expression doesn’t match the joking tone of his voice. He’s pretty broken up over Becca. “We can’t all magically fall in love with someone who’s already in love with us. Some of us need to work for it.”
“If you have to work too hard, maybe it’s not meant to be?” I ask. “There comes a point where you will need to just leave her alone, you know.”
