“That helps explain the chip on your shoulder since you arrived.”
She tried to hide another soft laugh by dropping her head, letting her hair fall around her face. When she looked up, she cringed, her brown eyes peeking through the strands of her hair. “Sorry about that. I guess I can still be a bitch. “
“It’s okay. I can be a bitch too,” I joked, using a feminine voice.
It did the job, relieving any tension that formed from her talking about why she was there.
“Speaking of jobs. I need one.”
“There’s no rush. You just got here.”
“It’s the whole reason I’m here early. So I can get a job to start earning money to replace the car I sold.”
“What? Just so you can sell it again next summer?”
She shrugged, not denying it, making me laugh.
She looked side to side as if seeing the place for the first time. The slightly sticky wood floors, dim lights, hodge-podge of patrons, ranging from families with kids, to the stray college student, to old bikers at the bar.
“I’ll apply here.”
“Are they hiring?”
“Don’t know. Let’s find out,” she said, waggling her brows like my question was issued as a challenge. “Hey,” she called to a passing waiter. “You hiring?”
“I don’t think so.” He looked her up and down with a spark of interest. “But, let me go ask.”
And that was how I ended up walking home next to a gloating Arabella, freshly hired after not even having to fill out an application.
Damn, she was impressive.
And impressed by a woman wasn’t something I’d experienced in a long time. If ever.
Three
Arabella
“So, today is day five. How are you holding up?” my best friend, Felicity, asked.
I clutched the phone between my ear and shoulder and tied my Doc Martins. “It’s…not horrible. But I haven’t done much beyond one day of training for this job.”
“How’s living with Uncle Willem? Has he set a curfew yet?”
“He’s not my uncle.” Making the clarification didn’t do much to justify how wrong my attraction to him was. Uncle or not, I could list another ten reasons why fantasizing about him was not a good idea. “And it’s not bad. We had dinner that first night and honestly, I haven’t seen him much. He’s at the school or in his office for the most part.”
“Nice. Freedom all the way.”
“Yeah.” I did my best to sound excited, but I didn’t know if it was because Felicity was on the phone so far away or what, but loneliness hit me. “He seems cool, though. I wouldn’t mind seeing him now and then.”
“I mean, girl. I checked out his Instagram. Although a very limited selection, the man is fucking fine. I wouldn’t mind having him for dinner either. Good thing he’s not my uncle.”
“He’s not my uncle.”
“So you keep saying,” she teased.
“Shut up.”
“Will you tuck me in, Uncle Willem?” she mocked in a breathy voice.
“Oh, my god. I’d slap you if you were here,” I laughed.
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I wish you were. Todd has a new fuck toy, and she’s annoying as hell.”
“Ew. Although I’m not surprised.”
When I let Todd know I was getting ready to leave again, he let me know he couldn’t keep holding out and broke it off. Honestly, I couldn’t have cared less. Sometimes, I’d been like my dad and forgot I even had a boyfriend when I hopped around Europe.
“Hope she likes giving blow jobs without receiving,” Felicity joked.
“Right?”
“Miss you, bitch,” Felicity said quietly.
“I miss you too. Plan to come see me soon?”
“For sure. Maybe Uncle Willem can pick me up from the airport for a quickie.”
“Gross.” I made gagging noises, making her laugh. “All right, perv. I’ve got to go to work.”
“All right. Look hot. Show the girls.”
“What girls?”
“Just because you’re not a D cup like me, doesn’t mean you don’t have anything to shake. Make yo money.”
“Will do.”
We said our goodbyes, and I headed out the door, wondering if I’d see Willem tonight when I got home. It’d probably be for the best if I didn’t.
The bar was a perfect place to work. They’re open lunch until late at night, so hours could be flexible when school started. Add in that I could walk, and it was everything I needed. My first day had only been two hours of training with Amber. Any nerves about my first full day eased when I walked in and saw her blonde ponytail swinging.
She got me set up serving a small section, letting me know that if the bar got busy to help out, but only with beer orders. Apparently, under twenty-one-year-olds couldn’t sell anything other than beer over the bar.
Halfway through my shift, we hit a lull, and she introduced me to another waitress, Gia, and the bartender, Xander. Gia looked like a replica of Amber, especially when they walked side by side and their white-blonde ponytails swayed in unison. Xander had been the guy who I’d stopped to ask about the job that first day, and he probably made a crap-ton of tips from the ladies, and men, at the bar. Hell, he wasn’t even serving me, and I wanted to tip him for providing eye-candy throughout the shift.