Page 12 of Beat around the Bush
I took a sip of the coffee, unable to wait any longer, and practically moaned when the warm liquid hit my tongue. God, I loved lattes. And with the cold, rainy weather? It made the coffee that much more mouthwatering.
Lennon didn’t move to walk away. He just stood there, watching me as I sipped the drink.
“What?” I asked, lowering the cup.
“I, uh... I wanted to apologize for earlier.” He moved his hand like he was going to scratch the back of his neck, but must’veforgotten he had a bag of food in his grip because it hit his shoulder, and he dropped his hand back down.
“No need to apologize,” I said.
“I was being cold to you, and it was uncalled for.”
I pasted on a small smile. “I didn’t even notice.”
His eyes moved to my mouth and his lips tightened. “Well, regardless, I’m sorry for the way I acted.”
I set my coffee on the shelf beside me. “Thank you for apologizing, but it really isn’t necessary.” I turned to continue peeling at the sticker, but paused, looking back up at him. “Why’d you give him the quarter back?”
His brows pulled together as he studied my face. “You’re worth a lot more than twenty-five cents, Oakley. Don’t let asshole old men think you’re less than that.”
Little did he know, twenty-five cents was about all I had to my name right now.
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I turned my attention back to the sticker, hoping he’d take the message and walk away.
“You can have your phone on the floor with you, by the way.”
My fingers stilled and I brought my gaze back to him. “What?”
“Your phone. I heard it ringing in the break room. You don’t have to keep it in there.”
“I don’t want it on me, but thanks for letting me know.”
He nodded, looking like he had something else he wanted to say, but instead of speaking, he walked past me toward his office.
Thank God.I felt like I couldn’t breathe around him.
The way the water was dripping off his baseball cap and the thought of him thinking about me at the coffee shop enough to buy me a latteanda sandwich did things to my head that I didn’t want to admit.
Jacey came out from the back with a dolly loaded with bags of feed. “You doing okay up here?”
“Yep, all good.”
I was anything but.
***
After finishing the price changes and ringing up a few customers, Jacey relieved me for my break. I headed for the break room with what was left of my latte, my mouth watering at the thought of the breakfast sandwich in the fridge.
After days of cheap noodles, I was practically a dog looking at a steak after only having eaten kibble his whole life.
I passed the open door to Lennon’s office, seeing him sitting at his desk out of the corner of my eye. His ball cap was low on his head as he studied something on the computer screen in front of him. He looked like he should be out in the elements on some ranch, not behind that desk.
He didn’t glance up as I passed, but I didn’t care. All I could think about was that sandwich. My stomach growled again as if it knew what was coming. Opening the fridge, I grabbed thebrown bag, pulling the sandwich out. I didn’t even care to heat it up, I just dug right in.
It tasted almost as good as the latte did, but nothing was better than coffee. I moved over to my coat as I chewed, pulling my phone out of the pocket of my jacket.
Eighteen missed calls.
My dad called a lot, but this was excessive.
