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The black t-shirt all the waitresses at Charlie’s wear fits her like a glove, and between it and the skinny jeans, she looks…fit. Yeah, that’s a safe word. The long ponytail of chestnut hair adds to a youthful aura.
A sigh gathers in my airways. The sight of her after an exhausting stretch of days makes me wish I weren’t a grumpy guy who feels old before his time. On the other hand, she does have a seventeen-year-old son, so she can’t bethatmuch younger than me. Which blows me away. Before learning about Jacob, I wouldn’t have blinked if she’d told me she was twenty-five.
I wait until she’s close enough I don’t have to project my voice. “Long day?”
Her sneakered feet stumble. Her eyes find me and hold. I wait under her assessment, eager for her conclusion. At last, she sighs. “Long week.”
Since she doesn’t yell at me or run the opposite direction, I find a small smile. “Same.”
Hollie steps nearer, but as always, maintains more than the average ring of personal space. I can respect that. She’s the one waitress at Charlie’s that never winks or wiggles. Nosugarsorhonsorsweetheartshave ever passed her lips in the line of duty. Sorry to say, but her standoffishness probably hurts her bottom line. Guys like that sort of thing. Most guys, that is.
Honestly, now that I know her some, she doesn’t fit at Charlie’s. She’s different than I expected.
I tuck my hands in the pockets of my slacks, slacks that have taken a beating today. “Should I brace for impact?”
Her ponytail brushes her shoulder. “Excuse me?”
“Just wondering if you got anything to throw at me tonight?”
Hot pink suffuses her cheeks. “I’m sorry about that.”
Relief floods me. Truth is, Jacob’s predicament hasn’t left my mind for days. Even while I was hunched in the desert heat, cuffing a perp I chased down—a hands-on experience I haven’t had the pleasure of in some time—I was thinking about the kid. And, yep, a little about his mom, too.
Mostly I was thinking that I sure hoped Jacob’s life didn’t roll south like the loser I was hauling in. Sometimes, one little mistake in life is all it takes, and then everything else gets swept away in the downhill slide.
Hollie’s arms cross like a shield. “You haven’t been in in a while.”
“Didn’t know if it was safe.”
She glances toward the shaggy bush growing haphazardly along the sidewalk. “Don’t make me sound like a crazy person.”
The stoop of her shoulders that gives her the look of a wilted flower stops the flippant answer tipping my tongue. I think she was dead serious about the week being long. “Is Jacob alright?”
A limp shrug captures her slim shoulders. “How would I know.”
My breath catches. “Did something happen with his case?”
“No, it’s other stuff…” Ponytail swaying, she avoids eye contact.
“Like?”
Blinking, she delivers a weary smile. “I’m sorry. I’m just tired. Thinking about stuff a lot. It’s nothing. But I was hoping to see you.”
I exaggerate a sniff, pulling up straight and tweaking my shoulders. “I get that a lot.”
She coughs a laugh, and the sunrise of a genuine smile finds a crack, sliding in and warming a spot inside me that generally hovers below room temperature.
Oh, man. Who is this guy stepping up all of a sudden—and where does he get off? Special Agent John Chavez doesnotflirt like a high school kid.
Coughing into my fist, I use the moment to recenter. “So. Was there something in particular you wanted to discuss?”
The smile fades and her lower lip gets pulled in by her teeth.
And what a pretty lip it is…
“John?”
Ahem. “Sorry. Say that again? Long week here, too.”
