Page 60 of Why Not Now?

Chapter 19

Ava

WhileI’mcashingout,my boss comes up to me and stands there like he’s waiting for my attention even though he hasn’t said anything.

“Something wrong, Ross?” I ask, not looking at him.

“You said you need to be off early in a couple weeks, right? On the 21st?”

“Yeah. Just an hour.”

“Hm.”

I turn to him. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to give that shift to Stacey,” he says.

“What?” My heart rate spikes as I mentally calculate what that will do to my next pay cheque.

“I need someone who’s going to be here the whole time. I can’t keep bending the rules for you.”

I clench my fists. “Bend the—Ross, I’ve worked here for over seven years. My schedule has been the same four days for the last three. I’ve asked for a day off here and there and occasionally to be done an hour early. I’m your most consistent employee.”

He shrugs. “Not so consistent if you keep asking for time off.”

Then he turns and walks away so the only way I can continue the conversation is by yelling after him. If I cause a scene, everything will be so much worse. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, turning back to cash out.

“Um, Ava?” This time, Bethany interrupts me.

“Yeah?”

“There’s someone here to see you,” she says with a smile and a wink.

I turn to see Derek waiting by the door, leaning against the wall, his legs crossed at the ankle and hands stuffed in his jacket pockets, his cap pulled down over his face so he’s looking at me under the bill. My stomach flutters at the sight of him standing there. He nods to me as though he has all the time in the world.

“Are you dating him yet?” she asks next.

My gaze shoots to him again, but he couldn’t have heard the question from all the way over there.

“I—we haven’t—” I sigh. “It’s complicated.”

“Mm-hm. I’m sure it is. But the way that man is looking at you?” She shrugs. “I’d lock that shit down.”

I look at him, standing there, waiting for me. Bethany is right. But what do I say? That we’re sleeping together because I can’t seem to not? That I’m half in love with him again and I have no idea if my heart is about to be shattered into a million pieces? That I want to trust that I can lean on him, let him help me, but what if he leaves like he did before?

“I’ll think about it,” I promise Bethany.

She snorts. “If you say so.”

I finish my cash out, say goodbye, then meet Derek. As soon as I’m close enough, he pulls me to him, kissing me in front of the whole restaurant. Not that people are looking, but they could.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he says softly, smiling down at me. “Ready to get out of here?”

I nod, following him out to his car where he opens my door for me and I slide in. He hands me his phone before he even goes to the driver’s side and I scroll through the music app to find a song to play.

As soon as the car starts and the Bluetooth connects, “Barbie Girl” by Aqua starts playing.

Derek groans. “No, Ava. Anything but that.”

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