16. Sawyer
Jet trekked in,heavy-footed in his leather Doc Martens and all, as I was sending Mel and Cherry home for the day. “You guys can get out of here early if you want, I’ll take care of the closing side work.”
They shifted their shock between each other, then back at me.
“What’s the catch?” Mel asked suspiciously.
“No catch. Enjoy your Thursday night.” I said, gathering the stack of tickets for the day from Cherry’s grip. They didn’t give it another thought.
As Jet emerged from the kitchen, the girls almost knocked into him and his fresh crate of glasses. He didn’t hold back from groaning as the girls passed him.
“Please never let them work my shifts,” Jet grumbled into his workstation, starting in on his opening side work. “Uh, hey. I’m Jet,” he said with his focus kept down in front of him.
Lucy looked around and then at me, evidently unsure if Jet was speaking to her or not. “Oh, yeah. Hey, I saw you here at the opening. I’m Lucy.”
Jet didn’t utter another word. Instead, he wiped the pint glasses. Holding them inches away from his face, he made sure not to miss a single dry spot.
We were in our afternoon lull where the late-lunch patrons had cleared out. The in-between time of now and bar hours was blocked off as Jet’s time to give prep work his full attention. So, he wasn’t going to allow the two seconds it takes to greet someone to throw him off. Jet took his work seriously and was particular about the way he handled his responsibilities. It was my favorite trait about him.
But I’m not going to lie, the unmistakable neglect to acknowledge Lucy irked me. Sure, he wasn’t the most sociable person. But he is one of the nicest that I know. So I guess for that alone, I wasn’t going to hold it against him.
The three of us were the only ones here now, so the uncomfortable silence poured over the bar rapidly. Lucy angled herself towards me as she pushed her empty plate across the bar. She and I had been picking at a shared portion of fries for almost two hours. The sun started to set, It seemed as though we spent the better part of our day here.
“Well,” I waved the fanned-out tickets in the air, “I’m going to take these to the office, I’ll be back in a bit.”
I reached my hand out and Lucy softly placed her hand in mine as she jumped down out of the stool. We busted through the kitchen doors, the slapping sound against the opposite walls echoed down the hallway.
And the pitter-patter tapping and occasional scuff of her shoes on the ground behind me drowned out the sound of my heart, which was now beating inside of my head.
I was really about to let her into my sanctuary.
We poked our heads into the walk-in. Stacked cases of produce and poultry were suddenly the most interesting thing between two adults pretending not to be nervous around each other. She and I have been alone together before, so tell me why knees were about to buckle out from under themselves.
The back-stock of inventory was stored away in the closet on the other side. We skimmed right over that. Next, we reached our last stop on our short-lived tour. My office.
I stepped off to the side, letting her walk in before me. She immediately dragged her attention over to the photos up on the wall.
“Gus is in some of those,” I say, tossing the lunch tickets on the desk. I throw myself into my desk chair and log on to the computer.
She strolls along the few feet that the wall will allow her and gawks at the collage hanging up. “I remember when he had them out on the walls out front.”
The way her head tilted back, her neck extended, I found myself thinking about the way it tasted. She started twirling a long strand of hair as she was fixated on each frame.
“Why aren’t there any of you or your family up here?” she says pointing up.
I pushed away from the desk and stood up. I walked up beside her, taking a closer look at the photos for what I think is really the first time since moving them in here.
Gus and Leanne were smiling in all of them. Their kids looked as though they genuinely enjoyed being around their family. Only a few small babies were pictured at the time, one being Mel who was running around the front yard of their cottage with nothing but a diaper on and a water hose in her hands.
Had I wanted photos of my own up there, I don’t think I’d have any that I’d be proud to display. The only ones that I own were taken because my grandfather bribed my parents and me to be there. I don’t know what’s worse. That he made the offer, or that we took him up on it. The second one I knew of was disgustingly photoshopped. Only my grandfather, Holland, and my uncle showed up. The rest of us were edited to appear as though we were there.
That’s Lewis Banks for you. He didn’t want to tarnish the family-man image he held with the voters.
“Eh, you know… We aren’t a very photogenic group of people.”
“I beg to differ,” she said, moving her attention over to me. I kept my sights straight ahead. The corner of my mouth on the opposite side started to lift, though. “I keep up with the Connecticut news. Your grandfather has a new headshot every six months it seems.” And then my face returned flat.
Lucy took my place in the office chair making it sway back and forth. I sat on the edge of the desk and faced her. I tugged at the chair, pulling her in closer, and made the wheels stop as she rolled between my legs. I tilted her face up at me and took her chin in between my finger and thumb, “Thanks for helping out today. You keep proving to be good company.” I dropped my hand from her face.
“Yeah. A-anytime,” her lips wavered with a stutter.
“I know this wasn’t what you signed up for. I volunteered my help, and then all of a sudden you’re the onehelping me. I owe you, I promise.”
“I might hold you to that,” she wagged a playful finger at me. “But no, I promise, it’s no big deal. I had fun.”
“You mean it?”
“I needed this,” she spoke softly as she quickly rested her hand on my knee.
But as quickly as it appeared, it was gone and she pulled her hands into her lap. She started to pick at the polish on her nails and the trembling of her fingers occurred the same way it did the first time we met. I wanted to take her hand back in mine, this time I wouldn’t pull away like I had before. I’d calm her down the best that I could and tell her that I was there to help or vent to or…I don’t know. But I couldn’t. So I sat there and watched her be at war with the leg that tried with all its might to start shaking, too.
“This whole selling thing is more involved than I expected. And as you’ve seen, the cleaning process isn’t going too well. But Kai is a mastermind and is taking care of all of the real hard tasks. I appreciate them. And you, for giving me their card.”
“Hmm, I wonder if this means they’ll give me a cut of their commission,” I said, tapping my finger to my temple.
“Oh, if only!” she mocked as she pushed away from the desk.
As she stood, her eyes leveled out with my chin and she sucked in a breath, one deep enough that convinced me she got a handle on her nerves. She slowly tilted her head back to meet my gaze, they shifted between one another.
I was now familiarizing myself with every inch of her innocent face. Hesitantly, but instinctively, I allowed myself to inch closer toward her. I glided my thumb over the inch-long scar that sat at the top of her forehead.
“Where’d this come from?” I muttered in a broken whisper.
“Oh,” she ran her finger over it as if she was unaware of its existence. “A reenactment of Risky Business in the living room, I was twelve. No one told me that sliding across a hardwood floor was actually that slippery.”
I traced the indentation once more. Then my hand trailed down the frame of her face. Her whole body shuddered at my touch as I cupped my hand beneath her ear. Her breath got caught on the way I skimmed the nape of her neck as my fingers fed themselves through her hair.
Her anxious breathing had subsided, but now it had grown into a heavier—hotter—tempo. And my eyes… They’ve grown heavier—softer—as I stared deeper into her sea-green irises. “I really want to kiss you,” I said following from her eyes down to her lips.
“Then do it,” she said firmly.
I was less than an inch away—mere centimeters—from knowing what she tasted like. Our lips moved closer, only to be interrupted by the door flying open.
She stumbled away from me.
“Oh, shit. I—” Jet stuttered. “It doesn’t matter, I’ll talk to you about it later.” Even thrown off guard, Jet remained monotone.
“No, it’s okay,” I lied. “What is it?”
Jet had already turned away at the door. “It was about scheduling. Nothing important.” He shut the door behind him, but it didn’t matter—my serendipitous moment was officially over.
She neared me again and we let out a sigh of distraught into one another, her forehead pressing into the center of my chest as she let out a giggle.
“I-I-I, I’m sorry. I?—”
“It’s okay.”
“I really should get out there and help close up, so he has less to worry about for bartending tonight.”
“Sheesh, that’s right, I forgot. Guess I gotta get used to that. I don’t really think of this place and then think of alcohol,” she said.
I huffed out a quick laugh, then gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head.
“I’ll talk to you soon, yeah?”
“Yes.”
A confident yes. No hesitation on her end whatsoever. That almost made up for the interruption. Almost.
I was less than an inch away, mere centimeters, from knowing what it felt like to feel as though Lucy was mine.
Even if it lasted a fraction of a second, I would pack up my bags and travel to that state of delusion if it meant I got to have any part of her.