Sasha has always tried to play it safe, to keep her life as simple and risk-free as possible. Things change, however, when she garners the interest of a handsome, charming, younger man from a completely different world than hers. As she starts to qu...
Sasha shuffled around the Grill, wishing she could just lie down and sleep for the rest of the day. Where the headache came from, she didn't know, but it needed to go. She needed to work and it was imperative that things went smoothly, like it always did in Reggie's absence. So downing some aspirin with a cup of coffee, she ploughed on, attending to customers, telling Amber off, making sure Old Man Maurice was taken care of, plunging back into her usual rhythm until she felt some semblance of normality again.
"You've been damn cranky lately," Amber griped, shutting the cash register before facing the older woman. "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing," Sasha answered a little too quickly.
"Something or someone's pissed you off. Is it T.K.? Lover Boy? Whose ass do you want me to kick?"
Sasha snorted. "Ha. You can't even kick a football right, let alone someone's ass."
"Hey, don't knock me, Sash. I may be all skin and bone but I step up when I need to."
"Right." Sasha flipped the notebook in her hand and swiftly changed the subject. "Reggie says the new guy is coming in next week. You and I need to plan out his orientation."
"Can't we get Oliver to do it? I mean he hardly does anything around here anyway," Amber complained. "I may sound like a total bitch for saying this but I really think-"
But Sasha had stopped listening. A chill had swept through her spine out of nowhere. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Something pushed her to direct her gaze towards the entrance of the Grill, and she did.
Joe stood by the door. Staring right at her.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
It took Sasha a couple of seconds to establish that she wasn't hallucinating. She stood frozen as his eyes trapped hers, slowly bleeding out her surroundings and everything else around her until it was just him, and her, and the pain and hurt from three weeks ago. It felt like a lifetime and a monumental effort before her inner defenses finally broke the hypnosis. Tearing her gaze away, she wordlessly handed Amber the notebook and made a beeline for the back room.
Amber tried to stop her. "Where are you going?" She glanced curiously at the entrance. "Are you running from him?"
"No," Sasha lied, not liking the way her heart was currently racing.
"Well, he's obviously here to see you," the brunette retorted, carefully observing her colleague. "But if you want I can hold him off."
"Thanks," she said gratefully. She ducked into the back room, which suddenly felt like the safest place in the Grill. She put her hands on the long table in the corner and took deep breaths. This was the first time she was laying eyes on him in three weeks. She tried not to speculate or figure out why he was here. It didn't matter. What he did was no longer her business. At least that was what she'd been telling herself for the past three weeks and she would keep drumming it into her head until she believed it.
