10. Elijah
Ifelt like the wind had been knocked out of me as my eyes found their way to the source of the voice.
It was her.She was here working in the café. I tried to ignore the Officer Sunshine comment, but I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of annoyance at the nickname. She was goading me, trying to get a reaction. I was not in the mood for her antics.
There were a few moments of silence as we seemed to stare at each other in a state of shock. I allowed my eyes to wander down her body briefly. Having only seen part of her in the car, I took a moment to take the rest of her in. I’m not sure how long my eyes had been lingering before Jane broke through the silence.
“You two know each other?” she questioned, her eyes darting between the two of us. Charlotte cleared her throat awkwardly before she spoke.
“I got pulled over by Officer Weatherston on my way into town.” She paused, turning to frown at me. “My tail light was out,” she added.
“Oh! Did you help her fit a new bulb? He once helped me fix mine when it was out. Elijah’s always so helpful,” Jane beamed.
Charlotte snorted, as if the idea of me being helpful was a hilarious concept to her. I would be lying if I said that didn’t sting a bit, but it was probably deserved given our interaction.
“Oh no, I sorted it elsewhere,” she answered as Jane moved off to clear some tables. “So, you don’t have to worry about pulling me over again,” she added for my benefit, turning her attention back to me.
“Well, I am glad to hear it. Although, I’m still waiting to hear about your complaint from my supervisor or did you just go home and rant about it to your husband?” I asked with a raised brow.
“I didn’t make a complaint and I don’t have a husband, so no ranting about it at home, either. Although, I did have some choice words for you in my diary.” I laughed almost a little too loud at that.
“I don’t know whether to tease you about still writing a diary or be honoured that I was important enough to be in it.” The egotistical part of me enjoyed imagining her writing about me in the diary; her features all scrunched up as her pen scribbled obscenities about me on the pages. Our interaction forever entrapped in the pages. I also couldn’t help but enjoy hearing her say there was no husband. I had assumed, given the child in the back of the car.
A smile formed my lips as I watched her blush a little.
“You should try writing in a diary sometime, might help with your anger issues.” There was a hint of tension in her voice as she bit back.
“You know, I find people pulling over when I ask them to helps massively with my anger issues.” I couldn’t help but rise to her remark.
“Are you going to order a coffee or do you just enjoy wasting my time?” Truthfully, I did quite enjoy wasting her time.
“Don’t let Jane hear you talking to customers that way,” I teased. “A nice large coffee to go, please,” I said, overemphasising the last word, pulling some cash out of my wallet. I had a night shift tonight so I definitely needed the caffeine.
“So, when did you start working here?” I asked, hoping to extend some kind of an olive branch following our previous, tense interaction.
“Today was my trial shift, although Jane has just signed me on as an official employee,” she said, turning away from me to make my coffee. It gave me an excuse to look at her again. Her long, auburn hair flowed down to her sides. I caught myself staring at the way her jeans hugged her hips. In my rage the other day, I had clocked that she was pretty, but I hadn’t quite appreciated just how beautiful she was. She turned back to me and I realised I needed to break my gaze before she caught me.
“Well, I guess we will be seeing a lot more of each other,” I quipped, taking the coffee from her.
“Lucky me, I can’t wait,” she responded sarcastically. Before I could counter back, the bell of the door caught both of our attention.
Officer Taylor and Lawrence strolling in, I had hoped to avoid them before the start of the shift.
“Well, unless Jane has gotten younger and more beautiful, I would say we have a fresh face in here,” Officer Taylor said as he walked over. I tensed, ready to jump to Charlotte’s defence, but to my surprise, his words were met with a giggle from her. Was she being polite or did she actually find this asshole funny? Her laugh did nothing but make my body even tenser than before.
“I’m Lottie,” she said, smiling over to them. I’ll let Lucas off; she did introduce herself that way.
“I’m Daniel, or Danny, if you’d prefer, and this is Andy,” he said, pointing to Officer Lawrence.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you both. What can I get for you?” My eyes narrowed on Daniel as she took their orders. I watched as his eyes followed her around with a smug look on his face. I could feel the anger rising up inside of me. The irony of the fact I had been looking at her too was not lost on me, but this was different. Daniel and Andy were not good people and they didn’t deserve to get to look at her like that. I wanted to keep her safe and far away from assholes like them. I was finished being served, but my feet didn’t move. I watched and listened as they asked her questions about when she started working here and where she moved from.
“So, what’s a pretty girl like you doing moving to a place like Rosehaven?” Daniel asked. I saw her blush slightly at his words and I tensed just a little more. If I tensed any more, I was sure I was going to combust.
“Just getting a fresh start for my son and I. I heard this place had a pretty low crime rate. Must mean you guys have a pretty good police force, eh?” she added with a wink.
“For sure. We have some bad guys around, but don’t worry; keeping you safe just became my top priority,” Daniel replied with a smirk.
I gripped my coffee cup so tight it exploded in my hand, sending the burning liquid straight down my arm. Charlotte gasped before running around to my side of the counter. I could feel all eyes suddenly on me, but the anxiety of that did nothing to lessen the pain from the burn. Before I could react, Charlotte grabbed my other arm, adding a slight bolt of electricity to my burning pain. She dragged me behind the counter towards the sink, taking my wrist gently in her other hand she placed it under the cold tap.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly, our faces mere inches from each other.
“I’m fine.” My voice was gruff. My pride wanted to snatch my hand away from her, but I left it there. I allowed her to take complete control of my arm as she rinsed it off. She stood there with me for a while as I felt the burning sensation starting to lessen. Jane had taken over Daniel and Andy’s orders and I turned my head slightly, watching them walk away. I took a small pleasure in having interrupted their attempts to flirt with Charlotte.
“Let me make you another coffee. Keep your hand under there for a bit longer,” she said as she removed her hand and walked away to the coffee machine. My eyes lingered on the spot where her hand had been. A slight empty feeling took over me in the absence of her touch.
I removed my hand from the cold water. There was still a slight pain in my arm, but the wound to my ego was a lot worse. I had allowed my anger to bubble over again. I couldn’t help but feel anxious watching Danny and Charlotte interact. I couldn’t place why, but the thought of it made me feel sick. This was not how I wanted to start my night shift. Suddenly I felt myself longing for my piano. To feel the keys under my fingers and allow the calm to wash over me. I would be able to play after my shift, I would have to hold out till then.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Charlotte asked as she brought over a replacement coffee.
“Yeah, I’m good. Sorry about the mess.” My eyes moved over to the spot where I had dropped my coffee. Jane had already been round and cleared it up. I reached my hand in my pocket to get some more cash out.
“Don’t worry about that,” Charlotte said, holding her hand out to stop me. “I’ve already squared it with Jane.” She took a step closer as she spoke.
“Thank you. I better get to work,” I said, clearing my throat as I took a step back.
“Of course. You better get to it–the citizens of Rosehaven are desperate for Officer Sunshine to spread his joy around,” she teased, chuckling as she headed back behind the counter.
I had a feeling I would be drinking even more coffee now than I already did.