3. Ellie
3
ELLIE
I’d only been working at the pub for a little more than a week, but I had already started to recognize the regulars from everyone else. The pub was packed, and while my current shift had only started about two hours ago, it already felt like it had been closer to eight. But this place was great. It had some Irish pub vibes, with a rustic, cozy atmosphere to it.
Due to the proximity to the Dobbington Air Reserve Base down the street, there was a strong military theme. Vintage military uniforms and equipment like helmets and canteens decorated the walls. Just above the bar, a World War II parachute canopy hung from the ceiling. It definitely gave it a unique setting.
The Irish pub vibes came more from the old, worn hardwood floors, the warm but dim lighting, and exposed wood beams and posts. All the tables and the bar top were made of dark wood and many of them had names of soldiers who had been killed or lost overseas carved into them. The various military logos or slogans were also carved into some of the tables, some even scratched out and written over in a bit of a friendly rivalry sort of thing.
I hadn’t seen Wade since that first day. Tammy said he spent most of his time holed up in the back office or up on the second floor, helping Archer and Vince with security stuff. I couldn’t help but feel he might also be avoiding me.
One person who was not avoiding me was Ruthie . She and I chatted almost every day as I went to and from the building. She always asked about the pub. How my shifts were going. What it was like working for Wade . That last question was hard since we didn’t work much together, but he was always friendly. Ruthie and I had planned to actually go out after work today on the Chattahoochee River for a hike, and I was looking forward to it.
I rotated between shifts behind the bar or out on the floor waiting tables I liked working behind the bar more because I got to work with Tammy , and she was a hoot. She bantered just as easily with new customers as she did with regulars. She was the perfect combination of friendly and sassy. She had an easy charm to her, but also had no problem cutting people off who’d had too much to drink or started getting too rowdy.
I’d met all the other employees by now, too. Chuck , the main cook in the evenings, was a big, burly dude, who apparently had worked here almost as long as Tammy . He was a great chef, but not great with people, so staying in the kitchen, I’d learned, was perfect for him.
I’d only met Sam briefly, but fully planned to pick his brain as much as possible about the colleges here so I could get back to that goal as soon as possible.
Several of the wait staff were also students around my age and all seemed very friendly, including Beth , whom I’d been chatty with during the last few shifts. There were also two other waitresses who had been here for more than a decade.
Tammy and I had just finished the lunch rush and were trying to clean things up a bit and get ahead before the happy hour crowd came in.
The phone rang, and I grabbed it since I was closer.
“Hello, this is the Watering Hole . How can I help you?” I said, but there was just silence.
I swore I could hear someone breathing, but there were no words.
“Hello? Is anybody there?” I asked again. Still nothing, so I hung it up, figuring someone probably had the wrong number and went back to cleaning.
“Please tell me that wasn’t somebody else calling in sick,” Tammy inquired.
“No, I think it was a butt dial,” I told her. “ Who called in sick?”
“Sam is out tonight, so the boss-man is comin’ in to do bar duty for the late shift,” she said as she took out clean glasses and filled the shelves with them.
I found myself a little nervous, knowing that Wade was coming in. Since I’d worked the mid-day shift, I would only work with him for about two hours, but there was just something about Wade that brought a sensation to my body that I had never felt before. Sure , he was attractive, but it felt like more than that. Likely it was just his connection to Jack , or at least that’s what I was telling myself.
“Since I’m about to clock out, why don’t you take the group that just sat down at the end of the bar, and I’ll finish out Hank’s tab,” Tammy said.
Hank was one of our regulars. In his late sixties, he flirted endlessly with every female employee who served him, but he was super sweet and tipped very well.
I nodded to Tammy and walked over to the far end of the bar to what appeared to be three guys in their military fatigues. We tended to get a lot of military men and women here. In fact, the base usually brought us about half our clientele.
“Hey guys, what can I get you?” I asked as I slid some coasters in front of them.
“How about a Coke and your phone number, gorgeous,” the first one said with a wink.
Internally, I groaned, but this was part of the job.
“Gentlemen, I saw her first,” Hank piped in, looking straight at the man who just asked for my number. “ I’ve been asking her for two weeks and knowin’ how sexy I am–” he paused and rubbed his beer belly, “–if she won’t give her number to me , she probably won’t give it to you,” he said with a wink back at me.
All three of them chuckled, and I winked back at Hank , knowing he was doing it just so I wouldn’t have to turn the man down awkwardly.
“Sorry. Apparently , my number belongs to Hank ,” I said, smiling at the three guys in front of me.
I got their drink and appetizer orders and then turned around and typed the order into the computer.
“Those guys giving you a hard time?” a low voice rumbled in my ear.
I whirled around and came face-to-face with Wade . He was so close and smelled so good. I just stared at him dumbly. Then I realized he was waiting for me to say something, but I couldn’t remember what he asked.
“Uh…what?” I asked.
He turned his head and stared in the direction of the guys at the bar. “ The guys at the end of the bar. Are they bothering you?”
“Oh, uh, n-no,” I stuttered.
Get it together, girl.
“They, uh, asked for my number, but Hank put them in their place,” I said with a small smile. “ Even if he hadn’t, I’ve worked in bars long enough. I know how to take care of myself.”
He nodded, but then turned back to the men, and his eyes narrowed a bit. He stayed close to me, and I found myself needing to break the tension currently rolling through his body.
“Though I didn’t realize the Air Force had similar uniforms to the Army ,” I told Wade .
“What do you mean?” He looked back at me with furrowed brows.
“Their uniforms,” I said, nodding over in their direction. “ They look a lot like Jack’s , but I thought Dobbington was an Air Force base,” I explained.
He nodded in understanding.
“Dobbington is the 22nd Air Force headquarters, but it’s also home to Navy operations support, Army Reserve , Marine Reserve , and Georgia National Guard ,” he said.
“Oh wow, I had no idea.” I looked up at him and smiled. “ Thanks for the lesson.”
Wade and I stayed busy at the bar and didn’t chat much for the next two hours, but I found myself drawn to him. Each time I caught his gaze, he was always looking right at me. When I glanced over at him, I could have sworn I caught him looking at my ass.
When he leaned over the bar, chatting with a customer, his arms stretched out as he grabbed the edge of the bar, I took a moment to fully soak him in.
God, when his arms flexed like that, I swore something in me just tingled. I continued to stare at him for a few more beats while pretending to rinse the same glass I had been rinsing for several minutes now, but I just couldn’t turn away. Even his butt looked great in those jeans. He looked like sex on a stick, as Katie would say. He straightened and turned toward me. I looked away before we could make eye contact, knowing if we did my face would be multiple shades of red.
I was wiping down the counter and about to take some empty plates to the back when Wade came up next to me. God , he smelled so good. His scent of musk, bourbon, and the great outdoors were intoxicating. When he neared my body buzzed with need and excitement.
“Go ahead and closeout, and I’ll take it from here,” he rumbled, startling me out of my deep and inappropriate thoughts.
“Oh…umm…are you sure?” I asked and looked around at several people still at the bar. “ We’re still pretty busy I don’t mind staying for a bit.” As flustered as I was being around him, I found myself wanting to stay and keep working next to him just a little longer.
“No, I’m good. Go ahead,” he said, though his face seemed strained as though he wasn’t sure if he wanted me to go or not. But I wasn’t going to force my company on him just because I had this irrational urge to stay.
“Okay. I’m going hiking with Ruthie so thanks,” I told him.
I closed myself out from the register and finished cleaning up my portion of the bar. Then I went to the back to grab my purse and phone and saw Beth sitting in the breakroom.
“Hey, Ellie ,” she said smiling. “ Boss -man treating you okay? He’s chattier with you than he is with the rest of us, but that’s not always a good thing with a boss.”
“Really?” I asked, because I would not classify Wade as chatty, and I told her that. “ It might be because of my brother.”
She looked at me with a confused face. I chuckled and told her that Wade had served with my brother, which was how I found the job. I added that I was staying at his place upstairs until he came back from overseas.
“Ahhh, okay. That makes more sense.” She nodded and continued to drink her water. “ He hardly ever says much unless it’s to Tammy , but she’s got a way of making anyone talk, and he and Sam just usually grunt at each other like some weird bro code.”
I laughed because it was so true.
“But he’s cute, don’t you think?” she asked.
I wasn’t sure how to answer that. I definitely found him attractive, but he was the boss. Were we supposed to say that about the boss? Plus , I didn’t need to be thinking about a man like that. The last time I did that, it was a disaster. I decided to just ignore my lustful thoughts toward my boss and focus on me.
“I guess, if you like that sort of look,” I said to Beth while shrugging, hoping my indifference would play down the reality of my thoughts.
She looked at me like she thought I was crazy. Not wanting to give her more time to ask questions, I grabbed my bag, said goodbye, and then made my way out. I didn’t look at the bar as I passed it but instead pulled out my phone to text Katie and see how she was doing. I knew she was getting ready to go on vacation with her family soon and she needed the break.
I felt eyes on me as I reached the door. I turned around and saw Wade’s eyes locked with mine. I smiled and waved at him like a total dork and then walked out. He grinned back at me, and let me tell you… Wade was gorgeous when he wasn’t smiling, but when he grinned like that with a hint of wickedness, he was downright dangerous to a woman’s self-control. I definitely needed to be careful around him, especially since my focus right now needed to be on myself, not a man.
* * *
Just under an hour later, Ruthie and I were walking through the entrance to the main trail at the river park. I was stunned at how beautiful it was and how many trees there were. It was summer, and a very hot one, but with all the trees providing shade it felt at least fifteen degrees cooler on this trail, which made it very pleasant.
“Atlanta is called a city in a forest,” Ruthie informed me.
“I admit I haven’t ventured out much, but if the rest of the city looks like this, I would believe that,” I confirmed.
“Supposedly fifty percent of Atlanta is covered in trees, which makes it one of the most forested cities or something like that,” Ruthie informed me. “ Wade and Vince are both from here originally, so when I first moved here, they filled me with all kinds of facts about the city.”
“I’m surprised you could get that much out of Wade . He’s not very chatty, at least not to me,” I noted, and also, admittedly said it to fish for information. She also worked with him, but in a different capacity, so she may have some insight.
She laughed a little. “ So true. Honestly , none of them are particularly chatty, unless they’re complaining to me about paperwork. Then , suddenly they’re all chatty and telling me how awesome I am and how I would be their favorite person in the whole world if I did their paperwork for them. Especially Wade . Based off the paperwork I do for him, we should be besties by now.”
I knew she meant it in a joking manner, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit of jealousy about that. I shouldn’t, but there was definitely a twinge of envy in me. Part of me wanted to offer to help with the paperwork to ease his burden. He’d done so much for me already. It would be nice to help him out. At least that was the reason I told myself I would be doing it.
Ruthie and I walked for another forty minutes or so, chatting and taking in the sights. I didn’t realize how much I’d needed this. It felt good to get out in the fresh air. It felt good to make a new friend. I also found myself wondering what it would be like to hike with Wade out here and just sit on one of the benches along the river. Maybe one day I would work up the courage to ask him. On second thought, maybe that wasn’t the smartest idea since he was my boss.