Page 9 of Nine Years Gone

“Table seventeen. It’s along the right side.”

“Thanks.” I pick up the tray, and we walk toward the back. Jillian’s is a large open space. There’s a round bar in the middle of the room surrounded by couches and tables. Video game and pinball machines flank each side of the bar, and several rows of pool tables are in front of us. There are large TV screens all around, all of them showing some sporting event.

The place isn’t busy tonight. The few people you see are in small groups, everyone casually dressed in jeans, baseball hats, and T-shirts or hoodies.

“This is us.” I point to the table and place the ball tray on it, turning to remove two pool cues from the rack on the wall. “Ready, Lopez?”

“I was born ready.”

“Confident, I like that.” I begin to rack the balls so we can start playing, but I want to know more about this woman. I’ve seen her every week for almost a year, but our conversations have always been nothing but small talk. We’ve never wandered into the personal, and I didn’t push because she had that boyfriend. But now, I want to be all sorts of personal with her.

“You said you have siblings. How many do you have?”

“There’s six of us. Three girls, three boys.”

“Oh, wow, that’s a big family.”

“Yeah, both of my parents come from big families too. My mother has nine brothers and sisters, and my father has twelve.”

“Whewww.” I whistle. “My parents each have big families too. Made for big family events with lots of food.”

“All the food is usually my favorite part.” She laughs. “Speaking of, are there menus around here? We should order something to eat before we start playing. I’m starving.” She wanders to one of the high-top tables behind me, drops her bag on the chair, and grabs two menus off the table.

I meander over and hover behind her to look at the same menu she is. Lena asks, “See anything you like?”

I inhale her unique scent before responding, “Yes.” Having her so close gives me goose bumps. I want to pull her hair and kiss her.

“I definitely want fries. Maybe I’ll just get a chicken sandwich,” she says. “What about you?”

She has no idea that I wasn’t talking about items on the menu. I’m so turned on by her right now, I need to step away, or I’m gonna have a hard-on all night. “I’ll just get a cheeseburger.” I take a few steps back toward the pool table.

At that moment, a server arrives. “Hi, I’m Cindy. I’ll be your waitress tonight. You guys ready to order?”

“Grey Goose and soda with two limes for me, and a double shot of Jack, neat, for him. Two waters, a chicken sandwich with cheese and fries, no mayo, and a cheeseburger and fries,” Lena says.

“How do you want that burger?” the waitress asks.

“Medium,” I say.

“Anything else?” asks the server.

“No, that’s all,” I say. The waitress nods and walks off.

I look at Lena and ask, “Taking charge, are you?”

“Habit.” She shrugs and picks up the pool cue, begins chalking the tip.

“How’d the opening go this weekend?” she asks.

“Lunch on Friday was crazy busy. Our computer system had some glitch, and we couldn’t get it to work, so we had to handwrite orders. It was a fucking nightmare, but we survived. Thankfully, we called support, and they got it fixed by late afternoon. Other than that, it went well.”

I saunter over to the pool table, pick up my cue, and remove the rack from the balls. “Ladies first.”

Lena bends over and places the cue ball into place—setting herself up to break. Her long curls are falling over her shoulders, brushing the table, and the swell of her breasts peek out from her blouse. She glances up over her glasses, meets my eyes, and sticks her tongue out before looking back down and breaking.

“I had fun tonight,” Lena says as she’s zipping up her jacket.

We shot a few rounds of pool before heading over to play Skee-ball and then the pinball machines. I liked seeing her relaxed, laughing, and being competitive.

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