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“I…she…” Though his hands were full, Logan tried to point and motion to her. He lost his hold on a package of green cups and jiggled his shoulders to secure them back into place. “Her brother and I…fought.”
He looked her way, his face pale and desperate, his gaze begging her for something she didn’t understand.
Returning his attention to Gus, he added, “I think she’s required to hate me on principle alone.”
Again, her new boss glanced between them, looking utterly poleaxed. “Well, you’re just going to have to put all the family rivalry aside. We have a juice bar to run and customers waiting.”
Paige’s mouth fell open.
Family rivalry? Family rivalry, her butt.
Since Xander had been the one to speak up about their enmity in the first place, Paige sent him an expectant look, waiting for him to correct their boss.
But he didn’t say a word.
“Good,” Gus announced with a wide smile as if everything was settled. “Get back to work then.” Turning away from them, he left her alone…with Logan Xander.
“Uh…grab a time card and clock in,” Logan told her, trying to motion her in the right direction with his arms full, all the while looking as rattled as she felt. After he told her to sign her name at the top of the card and to tie on a tiny blue waist apron with a The Squeeze logo splashed across one of the pockets, she followed him toward the front of the juice bar…where she was going to be trained by Logan Xander.
It didn’t seem real, but it was most definitely happening.
“You lied to me,” she hissed into his ear after hurrying up a step. “You said we would never cross paths again. And look. Every time I turn around, there you are!”
“I’ve worked here for almost two years,” he growled back under his breath. “How was I supposed to know you’d apply today?”
She snorted. “So, what? Just because you were here first, I should automatically back out, then?”
“I didn’t say that.” He glanced back at her with an incredulous expression, which she knew she deserved. She knew she was being totally unreasonable, glaring at him for already working where she wanted to work. But she could blame the inability to control her emotions on him. He tended to bring out the unreasonable in her.
Grr. She should’ve done a little reconnaissance and discovered the fact that he already worked here before applying, though honestly, she never would’ve thought a high-and-mighty lawyer’s son would need to lower himself to being a beverage server.
The whole situation had her utterly unbalanced. But on the plus side, it totally negated her new job nerves. She was too busy glaring at the back of his head to worry about messing up her first night.
When they entered the front, stepping directly into chaos behind the counter where one tall, lanky college student manned the counter, she pulled to an abrupt halt and found herself actually starting her job.
“This is Ricky,” Logan said, brushing past her to restock the supplies in his arms in their various locations.
Ricky—with a huge, black button-looking things for earrings, a chain hanging from his skinny jeans, and a blond Mohawk—barely looked her way as he rushed from one of the many beverage machines with two cups overflowing and whipped cream on top to the counter.
“About time you came back,” he muttered to Logan.
Logan had all the supplies in order before she could properly orient herself, digesting the scene in the tight, cramped space behind the counter.
“This way,” he said as he swept by.
She scowled after him for his brusque command. But since he was apparently her trainer for the next few hours, she reluctantly followed.
When he approached the line of impatiently waiting customers, she gulped, her new-job jitters roaring to life.
As the two girls and one guy at the front of the line gave their order, Logan nodded without writing a single thing down, his attention on finding something under the counter. Spotting a laminated sheet of paper, he handed it to Paige.
“Cheat sheet.” Then he repeated verbatim the order back to the customers.
He brought her around to face the back wall full of foreign machines. Leading her to one, he explained in hyper speed how to make each drink, barely pausing his demonstration to point out the recipes for them on her cheat sheet before completing the order.
“Don’t worry,” he added as if reading her mind. “When things slow down, we can go through them again, one step at a time.”
As he picked up two of the three drinks he’d fixed, Paige snagged the third. He looked momentarily startled by her helpfulness but didn’t say anything.
