Page 94 of It's Complicated

“Hey,” I greeted.

“Hey,” he said, heading over to his locker.

“Are you starting early today?” I asked. Zander worked the evening shift. It was unusual to see him here so early.

“No.” He opened his locker and dug around inside. “I have to talk to Nate about something. And I forgot some paperwork I need.” He pulled out a bundle of papers and waved them at me. “Got them.”

“Nate’s in the office.”

Zander looked at me closely, his gaze dropping to where my foot was tapping a chaotic pattern on the floor.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Fine.” I stopped tapping my foot. I hadn’t even realized I’d been doing it until he brought it to my attention.

Instead of heading into the shop, Zander sat next to me.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his dark eyes intense as he scrutinized me. “I’ve known you long enough to know when something is wrong.”

I stopped myself from repeating that I was fine.

I wasn’t fine, and I was tired of pretending I was.

Zander and I weren’t as close as I was with Asa or Jesse, but that was mostly due to not working a lot of shifts together. And because of Zander’s quiet, introverted nature.

He was a great guy and a good friend. And he was right. We’d known each other for over three years, and I respected not just him but also his opinions, even if he didn’t give them often.

“I’m just stressed about some stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” he asked.

“Jamie’s going through some crap at his work. Like, I’m literally waiting for him to text or call and tell me if he still has a job because he’s in a meeting right now with his bosses, finding out if he’s getting laid off or not.”

“What?” Zander’s eyes rounded.

I quickly outlined what was going on, filling him in on some of the details.

“That’s a tough situation to be in,” he said when I was done. “How’s he handling it?”

“He’s trying to be chill about it and pretend like it’s not a big deal, but it is. I mean, how can it not be? It’s not like jobs are falling from the sky out there.”

“It’s hard watching someone you care about struggle, especially when there isn’t anything you can do to help.”

I nodded. “Yeah. It sucks.”

“And it’s even harder watching your partner go through something like this,” he added, his tone carefully casual.

“Huh?” I swung my gaze to him. “What?”

Zander leaned back in his chair. “We can keep talking about this like you and Jamie are just friends if you want, but I think we both know you’re not.”

“How did you figure it out? Did Asa tell you?”

I couldn’t see Asa going back on his word, but he was the only other person who knew.

“I didn’t need anyone to tell me. I have eyes.” He shot me a little smirk.

I winced. “First Asa, then you. And I’m pretty sure Nate figured it out too. We really weren’t as good at hiding it as we thought, huh?

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