Page 23 of Holding On

I'm trying to downplay it, not wanting her to think I like him, because I don't. Any guy who's rude to his cleaning staff is not a good guy. We work really hard and don't get paid much and Ethan didn't even give me a tip.

"Are you going over there again?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Lois is out for weeks, maybe longer."

"If he's giving you a hard time, then tell your boss to send someone else." She grins. "Although personally, I'd keep working for him just so I could look at him. Did he have his shirt off? I bet his abs are ripped."

I roll my eyes. "He had a shirt on. And as for sending in a replacement, they don't allow it unless the customer specifically requests a change. And Ethan insists on having the same person there every week. You should've heard how mad he was when he opened the door and it was me instead of Lois."

Max's voice bellows behind us. "My pretty, pretty girls are back. Working at The Chicken Shack."

Tina turns around and gives him a quick hug. "Hey, Max. Becca and I gotta run. The tables are filling up out there."

"Run along my chickadees," Max sings as we go.

The dining room is busy for a Thursday night. But racing around waiting tables isn't enough to keep my mind off Ethan. I don't understand him. First he's mean, then nice, then mean again. And what does he do there all day? Just watch TV? That's gotta get boring.

I keep seeing his smile in my head. He only smiled three times but he should do it more often because he has a damn sexy smile. Slightly crooked and loaded with confidence. Or maybe it was arrogance and I read it as confidence.

I'm going with arrogance. Like Tina said, Ethan's a local celebrity so it's not surprising he's arrogant.

Hours later, the last few customers leave and Tina locks the door. "Closed! I get to go see my baby girl."

"Isn't she asleep?"

"Yeah, but she always wakes up when I get there."

Tina shares babysitting duties with one of her hairdresser friends. They both have toddlers so watch each other's kid on their days off.

"Got any plans this weekend?" she asks as she helps me flip chairs onto the tables.

"It's only Thursday. I don't plan that far ahead."

"It's a holiday weekend. I thought you and Mike might be doing something."

"That's right. It's Fourth of July. I totally forgot."

"You guys could come with us to see the fireworks."

"I don't think that's a good idea. I read this article that said guys who've been to war zones can't handle the sound of fireworks going off."

"You're right. I didn't even think of that. Yeah, you guys should do something else. Maybe have a cookout." She smiles. "Invite Ethan over."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, he'd love that. I'm pretty sure he hates me."

"You didn't do anything."

"I think my mere presence annoyed him."

"He'd probably like Mike. The two of them could talk sports all night."

"I get the feeling Ethan wants to be left alone."

"I still can't believe you're cleaning his house."

I can't either. And now I have to go back there, every week, for probably the rest of the summer. That should be interesting.

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