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“Yeah, well, turns out college isn’t exactly what I thought it would be.”
She wanted to push him, to dig and find out what was really going on with him.
She turned the corner into the snack aisle and found Jess. She wore the all-black Post Road Market employee uniform and was in the middle of restocking chips, looking rather pissed with each bag she threw onto the shelves.
“Oh my god, Jess is here,” she whispered into her phone, stepping back so she wouldn’t spot her. “Since when does she work at the grocery store?”
“Since always,” Jay answered. “She’s helping the bakery make cakes.”
Rory’s mouth fell open. “How did you know about her second job and I didn’t?”
“Because, believe it or not, I actually listen when my friends talk to me.”
“Aww, we’re your friends? I thought we were all beneath you,” she cooed.
He chuckled. “Not sure if Jess would actually consider me a friend, but she did tell me about her off-season gig.”
“Well, she’s not working on the cakes at the moment. She’s currently restocking chips, and not looking too pleased about it.” Rory was peeking around the Pringles pyramid, watching Jess aggressively handle the innocent chip bags, which were probably all crumbs at this point.
“Is her face all red like it got when you made her drop that cake?”
“Okay, you know what?” she said, fighting a smile. “That was an honest mistake, and again, it happened one time.”
Jay laughed loudly, his voice echoing off what sounded like an empty room. “But the look on Jess’s face when her beautiful cake was smeared all over that carpet? Never forget.”
Rory shook her head. “Should I talk to her?”
“I’m going to go with no.”
Before she could slink away, Jess looked up and caught Rory’s eye. She tossed the bag she was holding, pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, and crossed her arms.
“She sees me, I better go,” she mumbled.
“Tell Mom I said hi,” Jay said. He always referred to Jess as his work mom. “And call me later if, you know, you want to?”
Rory’s heart broke a little at the vulnerability in his voice. Throughout the past week texting him, she wondered if maybe he was talking to her because she brought him comfort—a piece of home he could easily access with a few taps on a screen. But all of the flirting and the innuendos he sent over text meant something, right? He did just call her baby, a first for the two of them.
She had no idea what to think, but after crushing on Jay for so long, Rory was a little too curious not to find out.
“Yeah, okay,” she said gently. “I’ll call you when I get home.”
She hung up the phone as she approached Jess, who was now staring at the bags of chips, her arms still crossed tightly against her black polo.
“You’re a long way from the cake aisle,” Rory teased.
Jess blew at a blonde strand of hair in front of her face. “If you’re just going to mock me, then buzz off.”
Her eyes went wide. Jess was angry angry. “Why are you restocking the chips?”
“Because we’re understaffed, and apparently my asshole manager thinks this is a better use of my time,” Jess explained. “Not like he actually looks at the numbers. If he did, he would see that the cakes are his bestselling items and we should probably double our output. But that would be too smart of a move for that little shit.”
Rory couldn’t help but chuckle. Jess was always a fireball compared to the rest of them—all business and no play. It’s probably why she got along with Calvin so well. The only times she saw Jess let loose was at their annual Haverfest beach bonfire, when she unveiled whatever disgusting ice cream cake combination she made for them to eat. She’d actually seen Jess smile for the first time that past summer, which was saying a lot, given that she’d known her for almost three years.
“That…sucks, I’m sorry. Need any help?”
Jess rolled her eyes. “I don’t need a handout, Gilmore.”
She tensed. She hated when anyone called her that, but she also didn’t want to argue with Jess. She was clearly pissed and wanted nothing to do with her right now. “I—okay, sorry I asked. Just here to get snacks and leave.”
