by Snow, Jenika
“It says here you were only there for about two months. Can you let me know the reason for the short employment?”
I shifted on the seat a little uncomfortably, knowing that as soon as she found out I’d been fired this interview would be over. She’d probably give me this condescending smile and tell me she’d be in touch.
“Well, as much as I enjoyed the position, my employer, Mr. Morgan, let me go.” My voice was tight at the end, strained.
She didn’t say anything right away, but I could see in her expression she already knew this. She’d probably already contacted them to find out my work history and why I’d left, which meant she wanted to see what I had to say about it. She wanted to see if I’d be honest and admit I got fired.
And I was pretty sure the only reason I was sitting here right now for this interview was because she’d found out about me being fired after the interview had been scheduled.
“So they let you go?” Why she would ask when I knew she was aware? Was this like some kind of sadistic play?
I smoothed my hands down my pencil skirt and nodded. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“May I ask the reason for them letting you go?”
I brought up my stay calm and act like your shit doesn’t stink attitude. “There was a scheduling error, and Mr. Morgan wasn’t happy about that.”
She nodded slowly. “I see.” She started looking at my resume again. “Okay, well we have a few other interviews lined up, but we’ll be sure to keep in contact.”
And just like that, I was denied. But I plastered on a fake-as-hell smile and stood, shaking her hand, thanking her, and leaving her office.
Once I was on the sidewalk outside the building, I closed my eyes, wanting to scream. I was so damn frustrated. This was the second interview. And both of them had given me the same look, the same “we’ll be in contact” spiel once they’d found out I’d been fired from Morgan Financial Holdings.
* * *
“Do you want me to come over and help you get ready?” Michael said from the other end of the phone.
I was currently bent over with my head nearly in the fridge as I looked for that last can of Dr. Pepper I knew was in here. I needed the caffeine. Well, honestly, I needed something a lot stiffer than a can of pop, but I was fresh out of the hard stuff.
“No, because I’m not even going to try tonight, if I’m being honest.” I pushed the jar of pickles to the side and spied the brownish can. “Ah-ha! There you are, you little bitch.”
“You talking to yourself again, Linda?”
I shut the fridge and started laughing. “No, I found my last Dr. Pepper, which makes my day marginally better.” I heard some shuffling on the other end of the phone. “What are you doing tonight?” I could hear David in the background, his voice muffled.
“We’re just staying in, ordering pizza, watching some horror movie David picked out.” A moment of silence passed. “Hey, if the date doesn’t pan out, you can always swing by and join us for a late movie.”
I popped the cap of my DP and brought it to my mouth, taking a long drink. “The way my week has been going, I’m sure the date will be a bust, so I might take you up on that offer.”
“Don’t you have one more interview?” Michael asked, and I exhaled overdramatically.
I took another sip from the can and turned around to lean against the counter. “Yeah, but in less than two weeks, I lost my job, got three interviews, failed two of them, and am going on a blind date. Only good thing that came out of all this was the fact that I got a month’s severance from my fucking ex-boss, and I found the last Dr. Pepper in my fridge.”
Michael burst out laughing. “Hey, there’s always that silver lining, right?”
I shrugged even though I knew Michael couldn’t see me.
“Besides, the date tonight might be really incredible.” There was Michael again, always optimistic even in the crappiest times.
“Have you actually seen David’s brother?”
Michael cleared his throat. “I mean, I’ve seen pictures. Like, older pictures, but still. He couldn’t have changed that much. He’s not bad-looking.”
I snorted at that. “Not bad-looking” usually meant he wasn’t good-looking at all.
“Jason’s successful and nice, and I’m sure you guys will hit it off. But like I said, if you don’t, well, you’re still getting a meal at your favorite place.”
I exhaled slowly and finished off my pop before tossing the can in the recycling bin. “Yeah, I guess. I should probably get ready though.”
“Okay, but you tell me the moment you’re home and how it all went.”
I nodded. “Yeah, yeah. You’ll be the first to know how much it sucked.”
Michael chuckled. “You’re so dramatic.”
“I know it.” I hung up the phone and set it on the counter then just stood there for a moment. The burger joint wasn’t anything fancy, so I didn’t have to worry about dressing to impress, which was a little bit of weight off my shoulders.
It had been a long time since I’d been on an actual date, so not having to worry about prepping and primping was always a plus. But still, maybe Michael was right. Maybe Jason would exceed all my expectations and make this crappy week turn out to be pretty incredible.
I wouldn’t hold my breath though.
Chapter Six
Linda
I’d arrived at the restaurant twenty minutes earlier than we were supposed to meet. I did that on purpose. Obviously.
I needed to collect myself, to decide where I wanted to sit—which was the table pressed against the wall and where I was facing the front door. I wasn’t really a control freak, but for a blind date, I was going to take that to the next level.
“Can I get you something to drink?”
I glanced at the waitress in her little white T-shirt that said Rocco’s in red across the chest. She was probably barely out of high school, what with her fresh, young face and that innocence in her eyes that spoke of the fact that she hadn’t really seen much of the world.
“Yeah, give me the spiked orange cream shake, please.”
“Sure. Can I see your ID?”
I should’ve been flattered she wanted to see my ID for the drink. I fished in my purse and got it out, showing her. When she handed it back, I shoved it in my wallet and watched her walk away. I’d have just enough time to suck down this drink, giving me a little bit of liquid courage to get through this night. I closed my eyes and placed my fingers at my temples, rubbing slow circles. I was already tired and the night had just begun.
It wasn’t more than five minutes later that my drink was being set in front of me, topped with whipped cream and a cherry. This was pretty much a meal itself, and if I were being honest, I didn’t see myself stopping at just this one alcoholic beverage.
Rocco’s wasn’t just a burger joint. It also had a full bar, pool table, a jukebox pressed against the corner, and a dance floor. It had a retro ‘50s feel to it, with oldies music playing overhead and a lot of the customers more my parents’ age. But their burgers were incredible, their shakes the best I’d ever had, and when they added some hard liquor to them… it made this place my favorite in the whole city.
For the next fifteen minutes, I sat there and sucked down that orange spiked shake. By the time I was slurping up the last of the whipped cream at the bottom, I felt that warm, familiar buzz from the liquor start to make its way through my veins.
I kept glancing at the door, expecting my date to walk through at any moment. I’d never gone on a blind date before, but it almost seemed like knowing more than just his first name would probably be a lot better, and safer. If he weren’t connected to Michael in some way, I would’ve said hell no to this little rendezvous.
The waitress came by and picked up the empty glass, and I ordered another one. Why the hell not? I heard someone enter and looked over to the door, my heart instantly racing, because it had to be him, right? But it was just a woman with her two kids, the girl
and boy fighting over some little toy.
I exhaled slowly and leaned back in my seat. I was nervous as hell and I hated that. I reached in my purse for my cell phone, about to use it for some distraction. I heard someone else come in and looked up, seeing a man and a woman walk into Rocco’s. I noticed instantly they both looked out of place. I also noticed the man was attractive. Like really good-looking.
He wore a pair of dark slacks, nice, expensive-looking loafers, and the white shirt I could see underneath his dark tweed jacket was pressed almost severely. The first few buttons were undone on his shirt, the material open slightly to where I could see his tanned, muscular flesh.
He had an olive complexion, and his dark, hair short was styled impeccably. He looked like he should be in the business district of the city. They both did.
The woman behind him looked like she’d stepped into the wrong restaurant, like she wanted to see how it was on the “other” side of town, what with her Jimmy Choos, her no doubt designer pencil skirt that showed off her perfect body, and her tiny sweater that was probably made from cashmere. Her long blonde hair was styled sleekly, and she was wearing so much makeup I wondered what she really looked like without it on.
The man stopped and glanced around the restaurant then his gaze landed on me. I felt my heart jump into my throat. He held my gaze a little too long, given the fact that I was stranger, and I felt my cheeks heat.
I forced my attention to the woman he’d walked in with, and, surprising the hell out of me, she stood off to the side and greeted a man who entered. He looked just as elegantly dressed as she did, but he was far less attractive than the man who I thought she’d come with.
The woman and newly entered man looked around Rocco’s, and I saw the distaste cover their expressions right before they left.
Yeah, they’d been in the wrong establishment for sure.
I still felt like I was being watched and looked over to where the first—very attractive—man had been standing. But I gasped in shock when he was standing right by my table, looking down at me, this curious expression on his face.
“Linda?”
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
He’s here for me?
I cleared my throat and looked around. Maybe there was another Linda he was meeting, another blind date happening at Rocco’s. I felt like a damn idiot for even thinking that, but this man was certainly not who I expected to meet tonight.
“Are you Linda?” He lifted a dark eyebrow, the corner of his mouth kicking up in amusement at my clear awkwardness.
I smoothed my hand down my dress and stood. “I am. Sorry. I thought you were with that woman.”
He looked behind him, but she’d already left.
“Woman?”
How had he not seen her? She’d been drop-dead gorgeous. And here I was in my five-dollar sandals and my clearance dress that had a zipper on the side that dug into me if I slouched too much.
And I felt grossly underdressed as I stared at him. This man screamed success. I screamed unemployment and booziness on orange spiked shakes.
“Hi. I’m Jason, David’s brother.” He held out his hand, and I quickly wiped my palms on my dress again. I was nervous and sweaty and a little bit buzzed.
When I took his hand in mine, I immediately noticed how strong and soft it was, how warm and… masculine. And he smelled good, like expensive cologne that wasn’t overawing or obnoxious.
We held on to each other’s hand a little longer than what was probably necessary, and when he finally let go, I felt this tingling sensation move through my fingers.
He sat first, and I snapped out of whatever weird haze I was in and took my seat across from him. I had my freshly filled boozed-up shake in front of me and didn’t miss how his gaze dipped down to take note of that.
“I was here a bit before you came, so I figured why not,” I sputtered out and immediately wished I would have kept my mouth shut. He smiled at me, but I didn’t feel like it was condescending.
“Hey, no judgment,” he said in this deep, very masculine voice that had all my girly bits tingling, as if they were shouting out to me to just take him home right now.
God, I was so confused. It was either the alcohol, desperation, or I’d finally lost my damn mind.
The waitress was by our table in the next moment, and I could see how enamored she was by Jason’s presence.
Girl, I feel you.
He shifted slightly so he could remove his tweed jacket. He put it over the back of his chair, his button-up shirt just as crisp as I thought it would be.
“Have you ever eaten here before?” I knew the answer before he even spoke. He didn’t seem like the type to eat at a place like this, not because it was a shithole or anything, but because I envisioned him dining at some five-star, three hundred dollar a meal establishment.
His looks screamed he had money.
Jason leaned back in his chair and looked around before shaking his head a second later. “No, and I’m kicking myself in the ass for not trying this place out sooner. I’m loving the whole retro feel going on.”
Huh, this guy might have money, but I was liking his attitude, which was not stuck up at all.
He ended up ordering a beer, and after we placed our hamburger and french fries order, we were left alone. I’d sucked down half of my second shake by this point, and although I was feeling pretty buzzed, I was trying not to act like I was. I didn’t want him to think I was a lush within the first twenty minutes of us meeting.
There was a moment of this weird, heavy silence as we waited for his beer to arrive, and the entire time, he stared at me, this little smirk on his face as if he knew I was uncomfortable, as if he kind of liked me squirming under his stare. But the reason I was uncomfortable was because I certainly hadn’t expected him to be so damn attractive.
When his beer arrived, he immediately picked it up and took a long drink. The expression on his face when he set it back on the table was one of pleasure, as if he’d been waiting for that moment all day.
I idly wondered if that was the expression he had when he came.
Oh my God. My thoughts were filthy. I blamed the damn alcohol.
“Good I take it?” Why the hell I even said that was beyond me. At this point, I should have just kept my mouth shut.
“You have no idea how good that tasted.” The way he said that made chills move along my body. “I swear my entire week has been one big shit show.”
I felt this wave start to fill me after he said that. “We must be having the same type of week.” I leaned in and took a long drink from my shake, looking at him, him looking at me, a connection bouncing between us.
Before long, I realized I was nearly finished with my shake. The waitress set our food in front of us, but instead of ordering another shake, I went with a beer. I probably shouldn’t have been mixing alcohol, but I didn’t think I could take another orange freeze. The things were like a meal in itself.
“Damn, this is what I call a burger.”
I didn’t hold back my smile after Jason spoke. He’d ordered the Pulp Fiction burger, which was a massive prime rib patty with cheese and was topped with everything you could imagine, and had the “Royale” sauce. The fries had some secret sauce topping them, but really, I thought it was just Miracle Whip and ketchup. But that combination in itself was incredible.
And I’d gone for the Plain Jane, which was just a regular old cheeseburger with the make-it-yourself toppings. And of course, my fries had that secret sauce on the side. Maybe a girly girl would have gotten a salad, but hell, I didn’t care if I got a bunch of crap all over my face. I was getting drunk and was starving.
I was surprised at how comfortable I felt around Jason, given the fact that we didn’t know each other. Or maybe it was all this alcohol I was drinking. Speaking of alcohol… I picked up my glass and took a long drink, the frosty beer refreshing.
I started eating my fries as I watched Jason pick up his massive burger and take a bite. He was
n’t even concerned about dripping sauce on his pristine white shirt, which I found incredibly sexy for some reason. I just assumed a man like him, who looked like him, who clearly had money, would be uptight as hell and worry about his appearance. But he didn’t seem to care as he had ketchup on the side of his mouth after he took a bite.
He picked up a napkin and wiped it off then made this low, pleasure-filled groan. “Goddamn. That’s the best burger I’ve ever had.”
I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, Rocco’s burgers are the best. It’s a shame it isn’t more well-known than it is, but I think, because it’s not in the greatest part of the city, it keeps people away.”
“Yeah, but I’ve had some incredible eats at some of the shadiest restaurants.” He grinned, and I felt my belly tighten at the sight.
I don’t know what it was about Jason, but I felt this pull toward him. And that’s how I should have known to pull back or I’d end up making a fool of myself.
Chapter Seven
Linda
For the next twenty minutes, we ate our meal and did small talk. We didn’t discuss anything personal, and I wondered if he was conscious of that fact like I was. We mainly talked about how we liked living in the city, how our food was, that Michael and David really seemed to like each other, and I realized Jason was a pretty down-to-earth guy.
This blind date was actually turning out to be pretty incredible, but I didn’t feel any vibes coming from him, none that gave me the impression he was into me the way I was into him.
And honestly, that kind of sucked, because I was really liking him.
“Can I be honest?”
I was midbite, nearly finished with my burger, when he spoke. He was done with his meal, was working on his second beer, and had his focus trained on me when I glanced up at him.
“I prefer honesty over bullshit,” I said after I swallowed. Of course, if I weren’t feeling pretty damn loose right now from the drinks, I probably would have had a better filter, especially on a first date.
