Page 77 of Hard To Leave

Chapter 25

Chloe

I wasin the middle of putting my things into the storage closet when Kristen snuck up behind me. “How was the concert last night?”

I jumped and covered my chest with my hand. “Jesus, you scared me.”

She strolled over and sat down on the stool against the wall.

“Yeeesh, you’re awfully jumpy today.”

“Just a little out of it. That’s all.”

I was more like an emotional wreck. When I got home last night, I sat in my car for over an hour, too chickenshit to go into my own house. I was afraid Jack would take one look at me and be able to tell that something was wrong. So, I waited until I knew for sure that he was asleep. I spent the entire night tossing and turning and rehearsing in my head what I would say when he asked me about the concert. This secret was eating away at me, and I wanted nothing more than to get it off my chest.

We both walked over and punched our codes into the machine to start our shift. She twisted her hair up into a ponytail and watched me. “You seem a little off.”

“I’m just tired. Late night and early morning, that’s all.”

She started up the coffee machine while I dusted off the counter. “Well, I hope you had a good time.”

Eric, one of my favorite customers, came shuffling in through the door with his crew. They were linemen from up North who had been stationed here for storm repairs over the past month. We bonded one morning over Nickelodeon shows we both watched with our kids. He had a daughter who was the same age as Tanner.

“Hey Eric,” I said, giving him a wink. “Seat yourself. I’ll be right over.”

I watched Eric and his guys settle into a table of eight and pull out their menus. I brought them their coffee, wrote down their orders, and took care of my other customers that started to fill in. The breakfast crowd was always the busiest, but the easiest, because it was mostly my “regulars” coming in for their “usual.”

Jack and Tanner were stopping by later for breakfast to hang out while I finished up my shift. After that, we were headed to the beach for a few hours of fun and sun. Normally, I looked forward to our time together, but I was too distracted today. And with Jack flying out later tonight, there was no way I was going to miss a second of my time with him. Regardless of how I felt.

The bells chimed over the door, and I lifted my head to greet my next customer. The smile slipped from my face as Brogan strolled through the restaurant looking like he just walked off a photo shoot.

Everything around me came to a crashing halt.

“Holy shit, did you see who just walked in?” Kristen blurted out, jabbing her fist into my shoulder.

How could I not? His hair looked like it had been professionally styled, his deep cheekbones stood out against the squareness of his jaw, but his eyes. God, I always loved his eyes. They were always so expressive. Just like his son’s. Not to mention, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past eight years, it would be impossible not to recognize him.

The restaurant started to buzz with excitement when people started to realize who just walked in, I placed the rag on the counter and took a deep breath. “Can you give me a minute?” I ignored Kristen’s voice, as I made my way over to greet Brogan. I adjusted the collar of my polo shirt and ran my hands down the front of my uniform.

He looked me over, and I wanted to die. My hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. My work uniform was less than impressive, and my eyes were puffy from a complete lack of sleep. I’m sure I looked like hell.

“Brogan, what are you doing here?”

His mouth curved into a smile. “Good morning to you too.” He glanced around, ignoring my lack of enthusiasm. He was probably used to being swarmed by people wherever he went. “What happened last night? You left before we even got a chance to talk.”

My fingers fumbled with my work shirt. After the brief conversation I had with D, the drummer, I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. “I’m sorry, it was way past my bedtime, and I knew I had an early morning shift I had to work. No rest for the weary, you know.”

Lying seemed to come so naturally to me lately.

He looked around the restaurant. “A waitress, huh?” His tone wasn’t demeaning, just curious. He was probably wondering how I ended up here. The last time he saw me I was one year away from finishing my nursing degree.

“Not quite what you were expecting, right?”

“There is nothing wrong with being a waitress, CC. I’m just surprised, is all.”

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that nickname. He thought it was cute because it was my first and last initial. I always thought it was weird, but whatever…

“How did you know I worked here?”

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