Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Being free to work in a career she picked was almost overwhelming. How could she do only one thing?
“I’m not sure how to pick a field to study. The last thing I want is to be trapped.”
“I get that.”
“There’s no way I could sit at a desk all day.”
He nodded as he flipped the burgers. “Yeah, a desk job would be hard for me. I don’t think I could sit around all day. It would wear on me.”
“I have no idea what kind of jobs are out there.”
He nodded. “There are so many kinds of jobs. Do you like working with animals?”
She shrugged. “Kind of.”
“There are veterinarians, and medical techs for veterinarians. We have a great zoo program here. There are jobs at the zoo. And if don’t want to work with animals, you could be a medical tech at a doctor’s office.
Or you could be a teacher, or a tour guide.
Restaurants need cooks, servers, bartenders.
If you’re into wine, there are sommeliers who know everything about wine. ”
She curled her nose. “I don’t think I’ve ever drank wine. I think it smells bad, though. So that wouldn’t be for me.”
His laughter floated around the yard. “Leftover wine that has been sitting out doesn’t smell good at all. Some wines can smell great, but liking or disliking wine really depends on the drinker.”
“I’m not a drinker. We weren’t allowed to drink. At least the women weren’t.”
Jump rolled his eyes. “Sorry, but that’s dumb.”
“Yeah, they had a lot of dumb rules.”
“I think the burgers and veggies are done.”
“Good, because I’m hungry.”
Blakely hadn’t eaten much meat before leaving the group. When she’d left, she’d stumbled into a fast-food joint and ordered a burger. It wasn’t good, so she hadn’t had another one.
Jump took the food inside, and she followed, unsure how much of the burger she could stand.
She watched Jump making his burger up and did basically what he did.
She wasn’t sure about the barbecue sauce, but she put on a little.
She refused the mayonnaise. The pickles seemed like a good idea along with the tomato, onion, and lettuce.
She ate the roasted vegetables first. They were really good. With only the burger left to eat, she picked it up, wondering if he would notice that she wasn’t eating much. She took a bite and paused with it on her tongue.
Jump’s eyebrows lifted. “Is everything okay?”
She finished chewing and swallowed. “This isn’t a burger.”
He chuckled. “No, it is.”
“It tastes so good.”
He chewed and nodded. “Wave made these up before he left. They are great.”
“I’m shocked.”
“So your last burger that you didn’t like, where did you get it?”
“One of those fast-food joints, but I swore up and down I’d never eat another one again. This isn’t even comparable. The other thing didn’t even taste like food.”
Jump threw back his head, laughter spilling out. “Some fast food isn’t good. Some of it is, but you have to be picky.”
“Before running away from the cult, I’d never had chips. I’d also never had chocolate. The cookies that we made in the cult weren’t like cookies I’ve picked up.”
He nodded. “There are some treats I just can’t start in on. There are some sweet cereals I can’t buy because I will eat the entire box.”
“I bought a box of something, but I didn’t like it. It was so dry.”
“Did you put milk with it?”
“Only a small amount. I guess it wasn’t enough.”
“There’s this one cereal that is little squares and sweet. I could eat a huge box of them. They are so good.”
“I like cheesecake. I didn’t think I would, but I bought some and ate almost the whole thing in a couple of days. It was amazing.”
“Cheesecake is good. There are some restaurants that make amazing cheesecakes. They are over the top, though. It’s almost too much.”
“Oh, I’d like to try that.”
“Most of the time I like eating natural food. Lots of vegetables.”
“I like vegetables and fruits. I also like meat. Beef is my favorite, but pork is good, too.”
“I like chicken.”
“We’ll go grocery shopping tomorrow and buy some food that you like.”
“So you said you were in the Navy, right? When do you go back to work?”
His lips screwed up to the side. “Probably on Monday. I have so many days off I need to take some extra time. Everyone on my team took the day off because of the fire.” He checked his watch then looked back up at her.
“They are all coming at three to go over to the apartment and see if we can get in.”
“Oh.”
“You don’t have to go with me if you don’t want to. You can, but it’s not necessary.”
“I should. I need to see if he really burned my place out.”
Jump nodded. “I think he did. It looked like yours was on fire when we were leaving.”
She nodded. “I thought so, too, but I wasn’t positive.”
Grayson burning her apartment was a very strong reaction.
Why had he thought her apartment being destroyed would send her to his arms?
She didn’t like him, never had, and he honestly thought she would want anything to do with him.
There wasn’t any way she would ever want to be with someone like Grayson.
She could build a life outside The Faithful. She’d had doubts over the last two years. There’d been tough days when she’d thought about giving up and going back to the cult just to make life easier. It wouldn’t have really made life easier.
Living in the real world was hard. Making decisions after long days of work was taxing.
She’d been lonely, lost in a sea of endless decision making, and tough days.
But knowing Jump and his friends, she didn’t feel so lonely.
Maybe it wouldn’t last, but she hoped it would.
She wanted Jump in her life, and not just for a few weeks.