Page 24 of Falling for My Boss

Slowly, the night kind of petered out with only two dessert orders before close. I checked with Charlotte and made sure the orders were done and went about cleaning the stations for the night. Ally was nowhere to be found, but Jodi was still on the floor, taking care of the last of the customers and vacillating between there and the bar to count out her earnings.

I went back to shut off the lights in the back, and by the time I made it back to the floor, the customers were gone, and the only people left in the building were Charlotte and Jodi. Ally walked by Jodi and said something, then headed for the door. I nodded to myself and sighed. That must have been it. She must have left to go call Noah and get him to empty out the room so Jodi could come over.

Charlotte headed for the office, and I said good night as I made my way to the door. She had a key for the building, and I trusted her to lock up, but Cam was apparently in his office too, and I knew he checked all the doors before he left if he stayed late.

As I got out to my car, I opened the front door and noticed Jodi still had her purse in the passenger’s seat. I tried to decide if I should bring it in to her or if I should just head home. Surely, she would need the stuff that she’d left in my office if she was going over to Ally and Noah’s. I could probably just go there, pack everything up for her, and put it in the car with the purse and bring it over.

I was still trying to figure out what I should do when I saw the door open and Jodi come out. She was searching the parking lot, and when she made eye contact with me, she started heading over to my truck.

“So,” she said as she got within speaking distance, “are you sick of me already?”

I blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out why she would say that.

“Excuse me?”

“Pawning me off to Ally?” she asked, seeming to be less upset at me than just upset in general. I hated the look in her eyes. The idea that I might have done that to her.

I shook my head.

“No, I didn’t pawn you off at all. Ally came to me. She said she had that extra room, and I figured that if she was willing to have you over there, that you might be a lot more comfortable with a woman in the house and not being in the office of your single, male boss. I thought you had already accepted and were going over there.”

“No,” she said. “I told her it was okay. I was comfortable at your place.”

“Oh. You just seemed to trust Ally so much that it made sense.”

She sighed and looked down at the parking lot concrete before looking back up to me.

“I do trust Ally,” she said. “She’s a great person, and she has been so accommodating and helpful. But I trust you too.”

My chest tightened, but in a good way. I had this entire situation playing out differently in my head, and her saying that changed everything. Suddenly my ears were ringing, and I had cotton mouth. A combination of excitement and embarrassment was causing me to have trouble thinking of words.

“Well, good,” I stammered out. “Are you ready?”

She nodded and walked around to the passenger side of my truck. I walked around and opened the door for her, and for a brief moment, our eyes locked, and a slight smile curled up one side of her lips. My body stirred, and I had to look away. I shut the door behind her and made it over to my side, sitting down heavily and looking over as I cranked the engine.

“Want some music?” I asked.

“Sure,” she said. “I love the eighties station.”

I grinned and turned on the radio.

“Me too.”

16

JODI

The whole next week was an exercise in patience, and I very nearly failed. On more than one occasion, I came back to Derek’s house, packed my bags, and pulled up rideshare options, prepared to leave under the cover of night and never return. But even after booking one of them, I changed my mind each time, and I wasn’t entirely sure why. I had everything ready, I had made the decision to leave, and I had even written a note.

Then the car got there, and when I got the text, I told them I had changed my mind. I sent the driver a ten-dollar tip just for coming out so I didn’t ruin my rider reputation and lay down in the bed, staring at the ceiling and wondering what was wrong with me.

Every morning when I got up, I opened the laptop and did my daily checks on my family. Using a ghost account, I trolled social media to see what they were up to and happened to find Jack posting about how he was in town for a work thing. My body relaxed as I read his post about visiting a few places in town and that he never mentioned me.

Monday came, and work was surprisingly good. Tips were flowing in, and they all seemed to be averaging much higher than normal, and the tables were turning fast. I felt like I was on top of my game, and every time I went into the kitchen, Derek and I would meet eyes and the smile would flash across my face without me being able to contain it.

He would grin back, and I would feel my knees weaken. I wasn’t used to that and certainly didn’t want to give it any thought. But every time I went back out onto the floor, I felt my face flush and a giggle stick in my throat.

As usual, when the shift was over, I headed to the kitchen to help him clean up. It had become routine, since he was usually the last to leave, that I would help him clean up the kitchen. Mondays were the day they flooded the entire floor with soapy water and mopped up, and I had no problem getting a little wet doing that. While Derek worked on cleaning the prep table, I mopped and dried the area around him.

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