Page 102 of Leave

“Oh yeah? Retail or food service?”

I groaned. “Retail. I should’ve known I was in for it when they actually paid a couple of bucks above minimum wage.”

“Ooh, because they couldn’t keep employees?”

“Mmhmm. They made it sound like they were just generous and took care of their workers. But two weeks in, they were already saying shit like ‘you’re getting paid more than you would elsewhere, so we expect more.’” I tsked and shook my head, then flipped the building the bird just for the hell of it. “I enjoyed boot camp more than I enjoyed working there.”

“Wow. That says a lot. Especially since they say Marine boot camp is a little bit worse than Navy boot camp.”

“Alittle bitworse?” I shot him a look. “Bruh.”

“What?” He spread his hands and grinned innocently. “I mean, you’re there for a couple of extra weeks, and they yell at you a bit more, but—”

“Motherfucker, I will make youswimback to Okinawa. Donottest me.”

He just snickered, and I elbowed him across the console.

We continued north toward Lynnwood, where I regaled him with another summer’s misery working in the food court.

“Oh, you did the food court thing too?” He made a disgusted sound. “God, I spent three months I will never get back in a burrito place.” He groaned, rolling his eyes. “Fucking hell.”

“Sandwich shop for me.” I flailed a hand at the mall as we drove by. “I’ll never understand how the fuck people manage to make a job like that so awful. I mean, it’s an easy job, you know? Make sandwiches. Ring up sales. Don’t be a dick to customers. It’s fucking easy. But between corporate and customers…”

“Right?” He shook his head. “I remembered my brother complaining about how miserable he was at a pizza joint, and I kept thinking, how can it be miserable? You’re just making pizzas and delivering them. So the fuck what?” He whistled. “Hoo, boy was I in for a shock at my first job.”

“Same. That was some bullshit.”

“Amen to that.” We fist-bumped over the console, and we both chuckled.

Traffic was getting nastier, since my dumb ass had somehow forgotten how much of a mess rush hour really was around here. Plus I was pretty sure it had actually gotten worse in the years I’d been gone.

We were also coming up on dinnertime, so that was as good an excuse as any to get out of the car for a while.

“Anything you’re in the mood for?” I asked.

Riley shot me a look. “Is that a baited question?”

I must not have been running on all eight cylinders, because it took me a second to catch up. Then I did, and I rolled my eyes. “To eat, Riley.” Beat. “Dinner. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“But why?” he cackled. “I’m with you—my mind is always in the gutter.”

“And you’re a Sailor. Don’t forget that.”

He huffed. “Okay. Fine. There’s that. But being a very gay Sailor riding around with an incredibly hot Marine…” He shrugged.

I squirmed in the driver seat, my pulse suddenly ticking up a notch.

He sobered a little. “I, uh… To be serious, if you’re not game after this morning…”

This morning? What was he—

Oh. Ooh. Right.

Amazingly, that brief run-in with Leann had slipped my mind. I’d been so focused on enjoying Riley’s company that it had all just… faded away. For once in my goddamned life, I’d been able to live in the present instead of feeling the past clawing me back.

I wanted more of that.

Fuck dinner. I wanted more of him.

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