Chapter Eight

JESSIE

 

“You’re early today.”

Jessie glanced up from hanging her backpack on the handy hook in the entrance to the liquor closet, surprised by Brett’s good-natured tone. After their tense run-in the day before, she’d assumed he’d be more standoffish than usual.

“A little,” she murmured, still struggling to keep her emotions in check after waking up next to sweet, naked Sophie, only moments before. The vivid discord between heavenly debauchery and her G-rated, candy-coated, steel-drum-lilting workplace was as jarring as not giving her lover a good-morning kiss.

He gave her a flowery little chuckle, as if he might be talking to a guest. “A little? Your shift doesn’t start until ten.”

Sophie glanced at Brett, crisp and dignified as ever in his overstuffed dress shirt and trademark paisley tie. Though corporate didn’t insist on formal dress among their management team, she’d never seen Brett dressed in anything less than a shirt and tie. She favored what the other managers wore: a collared Beach Break golf shirt in either pink or sea foam colors, paired with a pair of khaki or off-white shorts.

Spiffy? No, but it beat a shirt and a tie any day. She wasn’t quite sure how Brett did it every day or, for that matter, why. Without anything to signify he was an employee of Beach Break on his person save for the earpiece each manager wore to communicate with each other, half the guests he approached didn’t even know he worked there.

They hadn’t spoken since her little blowup the day before at the hostess stand and now, so near the scene of the crime, Jessie wasn’t sure where they stood. Or, for that matter, how to proceed from here on out. She hated having beef with coworkers and, usually, would have been up half the night fretting about it and crafting carefully worded apologies for the next day. But she’d been thoroughly distracted by Sophie for the last twelve hours and, frankly, hadn’t given Brett a second thought until this very moment.

“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep.” She waved the cup of convenience store coffee toward where he sat like some absurd Show and Tell display.

She expected a smart response, per usual. Or a quick lecture on the fact that, as a salaried employee now, Jessie wasn’t entitled to overtime. Instead, Brett simply cocked his head and asked, “Why?”

Jessie stood, red coffee cup in hand, dumbfounded. In all the years she’d known him, Brett had never asked her a personal question before. Sure, they talked about the weather and their weekend plans and what they got for Christmas, but never something that required an actual, nuanced, personal response.

“Not sure,” she blurted, about to drift deeper into the restaurant proper when Brett used his foot to gently slide the chair opposite him out a little further onto the dining room floor. It made an almost startling sound there in the desperately quiet room. Before she could question the motion, he nodded at it pointedly. Despite his forced smile and nonthreatening demeanor, Jessie recognized it as an order from boss to employee.

She sank into it dutifully, still keenly aware of their rank in the Beach Break pecking order. “Did you drink some of that too late in the day?” Brett asked, nodding at the cup in her hand.

She chuckled despite her apprehension. Brett was still shy of forty but acted like a senior citizen, ever warning of the dangers of drinking caffeine too late—and singing the praises of things like fiber pills, fresh vegetables, and Vitamin D. “What, you mean after noon?”

He offered a wry smile beneath heavy, world-weary eyes. If anything, Jessie mused, it looked like he was the one who had been up all night, crafting some kind of an apology. “Something like that,” he muttered quietly.

“No,” she murmured, none too eager to invite Brett’s already judgy tone by confessing she’d been up all night satisfying her new lover—and vice versa. Instead, she merely blushed and confessed, “I just…have a lot on my mind right now.”

That much, at least, was true. Despite Sophie’s insistence that the two were suddenly a couple, Jessie had heard such words a time or two before, only to be ghosted the moment she yanked up her jeans and walked out the door. She worried that Sophie might regret such pillow talk in the clear light of day. That was one of the reasons she’d slipped out of bed before Sophie awoke and snuck out, into the predawn light, before she could give her the bad news in person.

“Such as?” Brett pressed.

She clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes in protest. “Brett, honestly? You don’t want to know.”

Brett met her eyes coolly. “I’m early for my shift too, Jessie. I have all the time in the world and, you know me. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t…”

She nodded. That much was also true. Jessie took a quick slug of coffee, bitter with cheap convenience store vanilla creamer that tasted more like ice cream—and not in a good way. Sighing, she set the cup down on the table and clutched it in both hands so that she wouldn’t be tempted to wave them in the telling of the story. “I…met someone.”

He seemed surprised. “No shit?”

“No shit.”

He nodded at her indiscriminately. “That why your hair’s up in that messy bun?”

She snorted, rolling her eyes. “I was hoping to have a little personal time to get it straight before I hit the floor.”

“No makeup either. And you wore that shirt the other day and haven’t had time to wash out the remoulade stain on the left sleeve, so I surmise it’s been tossed over your passenger seat since then.”

“Is your side hustle a detective agency, Brett, because…bravo.” She met his eyes and gave him a small, soft golf clap of appreciation.

He ignored her. “And from the way it’s not buttoned right, I further presume you put it on in your car as well, which leads me to believe you spent the night somewhere other than…home? And wanted to get out in a hurry?”

His words might have been observant, even cutting, but Brett’s tone was gentle. Almost understanding. “I didn’t want to disturb her,” Jessie confessed, no longer struggling to hide or camouflage pronouns for her typically macho boss. “But I knew if I went home and sat around and looked at my same four walls, I’d break the spell, so…”

“So you came here instead?”

She glanced down at the red cardboard cup. “I guess this is my home away from home, Brett.” She struggled to keep the emotion out of her voice but wasn’t sure she succeeded.

“Well…” He sighed heavily, then surprised her with some real talk. “I apologize, Jessie, if I’ve made your second home anything other than welcoming. That was never my intention.”

She nodded, not quite giving him the reply he probably wanted to hear. She was simply too tired, or perhaps too blissed-out, to trade bullshit with him at that moment. Instead, she lobbed back some real talk of her own. “Maybe not, Brett, but…that was certainly the result.”

“I can only apologize, Jessie. I guess I just didn’t realize until your passionate speech yesterday how much resentment you had against me.”

“I don’t resent you, Brett. I feel like it’s the other way around. Ever since you caught Carol and me at the Christmas party, I feel like there’s been this…thing…between us. Like, to me, that’s the most natural thing in the world. And to you? It’s some deep, dark secret you need to keep buried.”

Brett glanced away thoughtfully, as if forming a careful response. His eyes remained fixed on the nearby “Daily Specials” board as he replied, “I have a daughter like you, Jessie.”

Jessie smirked, eager to break the ice-cold tension that had frosted up the table between them. “What? Smart? Sassy? Talented? Hardworking? Loyal?”

His tense exterior broke into a soft, gentle smile she’d never seen before. “Actually, yes. All of those things, and more.”

“Funny, I’ve never heard you mention her.”

“Rosie and I don’t speak. Anymore. Not for years and years.”

“Why?”

His sigh was heavy and deep. “I guess for the same reason I’ve kept you at bay ever since, well… I’m old-fashioned. I admit it. I’m stubborn too. Think I know what’s best for everyone. No coffee after four p.m. Fiber pills every night. Hydrate, that kind of thing. I’m trying. Honestly. To change. It’s hard. I’m old.”

“You’re not that old and, Brett? It’s not that hard to just mind your own business.”

He chuckled wearily. “It is hard when you care about someone, Jessie. And believe it or not? I do care about you. Very much. I want a bright future for you. That’s why I push you and worry for you.”

Jessie thought about Sophie’s sweet, sheltering embrace, her tender, aching kisses and earnest eagerness to please. How different would Brett have reacted if she’d been doing the Walk of Shame from a boy’s house, instead of a girl’s? And why was she still fighting this battle in 2023? “There’s nothing to worry about, Brett. Love is love, you should know that by now.”

He shrugged. “I do, honestly. Who knows? Maybe I’m just a crotchety old man who’s jealous that you’re out here catching feelings left and right and I’m going home to a TV dinner and romance novels every night.”

“Left and right? Sophie’s the first girl I’ve had feelings for in years, Brett. You should know, you see me every day.”

He grimaced a little, hearing her gush about Sophie, and she chuckled. “Wow, you really are old-fashioned, aren’t you?”

Brett blushed slightly before sitting up, as if the blunt discussion had resolved whatever issues he’d been grappling with since their brief run-in the day before. “Hey, I’m working on it, okay? In that vein, you’ll be happy to know that I put you up for a promotion in this quarter’s review. I can’t imagine corporate giving me any pushback considering my glowing review appraisal and your blemish-free work record, so…” He offered a hand across the table. “Congratulations in advance.”

She shook it firmly. It was the one useful piece of advice her male chauvinist stepfather had taught her over the years. “Wow, Brett, thanks.”

He squeezed her hand gently before slipping from her vice-like grip. “Long overdue, Jessie, honestly.” He stood then, as if eager to distance himself from sins both real and imagined.

She joined him. “Either way, Brett, thanks for taking the time to clear things up today.”

He made an uncomfortable face, as if he’d allotted all the patience he had for apologies already and couldn’t muster another conciliatory smile to save his life. “Well, like I said, it was long overdue.”

She nodded, tight-lipped, and waited for what might happen next. He noticed. “What?”

She smirked. “Nothing, I just… Awkward, right?”

He nodded. “Better honest and awkward than to have beef at work, right?”

She snorted, surprised he felt the same way about workplace conflicts as she did. “You can say that again.”

He arched a stern eyebrow, getting back on more familiar, Brett-like territory. She almost felt relieved. At least his standard operating procedure was predictable. “Hopefully I won’t have to, Jessie.”

She had taken a soft step away, as eager to undo the bad vibes as he was. “Well, like the kids say, don’t start none, won’t be none.”

Brett chuckled, unexpectedly and heartily. Jessie used the slight diversion to inch deeper into the restaurant, hoping he wouldn’t follow. As she started brewing the tea and prepping the expo station for another busy summer day, she was glad he stayed where he was. He’d said all he had to say, and now they could move on. All the same, Jessie was as relieved as she was surprised. Not only had they cleared the air, but she’d earned a promotion in the process.

Not bad for a day’s work, she considered, watching the tea brew as her mind drifted back to Sophie, taffy-colored limbs stretched hither and yon and blissed-out in the twisted bedsheets back home.

She smirked as her mind continued to drift to the soundtrack of steel drums lilting quietly overhead: Not bad for a day’s work, and the day’s only just begun…

Jessie couldn’t remember the last time she’d been as eager for a shift to end as she was this one. And she only hoped Sophie was feeling much the same way. To make sure, she reached for her phone and shot Sophie a quick text, just to test the waters and technically pinch herself to make sure these feelings were real after all.