“I did,” she said proudly. “I’m almost finished unpacking. I also took care of a few errands, and I found a job.”
“That’s great. Where are you going to be working?”
“At a bookstore in town. I start Monday,” she said excitedly.
“It wouldn’t happen to be Books, Books, and Books, would it?”
“Yes. Are you familiar with it?”
I grinned. “The gym I work at is next door to the bookstore.”
“Are you kidding?”
I shook my head. “Not at all. Maybe we can take a lunch break together sometime.”
“I’d like that,” she smiled.
I was a little curious as to how she got hired at the bookstore. I thought it was a front for other operations, and they only hired people who were specially trained for said operations.
After dinner, I offered to help her clean up, but she refused to let me. “I’ll take care of this. You need to go home and rest. It’s obvious you’re in pain.”
She was right, and I hated Shane a little bit more for ruining what could have been a nice evening with her.
She packed up leftovers for me to take home and walked me to the door.
“Thanks for coming. And thank you for everything you did for me this week.”
“Thanks for inviting me. It was honestly one of the best meals I’ve ever had.”
“You’re welcome,” she said and stared at me as if waiting for something.
“Well, goodnight,” I said and turned to leave.
“Goodnight,” she said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
* * *
“I’m goingto get lunch at the deli across the street. Do you want anything?” I asked Game, even though he’d just arrived.
“No, I ate before I came in.”
“All right. I’ll be back in a bit.”
A few days had passed since I had dinner with Aspen, and I hadn’t seen or heard from her, so I stopped by the bookstore on my way out to see if she wanted to join me for lunch.
“Hey, Coal. What are you doing here?” Josie asked.
“I wanted to see if Aspen wanted to go to lunch with me. Is she here today?”
“She is, but she already left to go to lunch. She should be back in about half an hour, but I’ll tell her you stopped by.”
“Thanks, Josie. Catch ya later.”
I left feeling slightly disappointed and headed across the street to the deli where I had lunch at least once a week. I walked in and started for the counter to place my order when a flash of curly, red hair caught my eye. I moved to get a better look and could not believe what I was seeing.
Aspen was at the deli having lunch, and she was not alone. In fact, she was sitting with the last person I would have expected to see her with, and it was obvious by their mannerisms that they were familiar with each other.
Forgetting about my own lunch, I walked right over to their table. “I didn’t expect to see you here,” I said, not sure which one of them I was talking to.