AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah.” Gripping my knees, I explained, “See, Chloe can’t fall asleep until after I get off work and make it to her place, which, as you know, is always after two in the morning, but closer to three, and that’s going to be hell on her when she returns toherjob and has to get up early again. I don’t want to drag her down like that. She needs a full night’s rest.”
Chloe’s dad blinked, then said, “But she doesn’t have to return to work for another month.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“So… You think this sleeping arrangement between you two will continue that long?”
He didn’t sound judgmental or concerned, simply curious.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. But I’m jerking her out of her regular sleep pattern with the way things are goingnow, and I don’t want to mess that up. Besides, you mentioned something about maybe teaching me how to do inventory and work out schedules, and—I don’t know—more managerial shit, so I figured this could be as good a time as any for all that.”
Pick lifted his brows. “But basically, you want to rearrange your schedule to accommodate my baby girl?”
“Uh…yeah.” I nodded, wondering why he had to repeat it as if he hadn’t heard me right the first time. “Yes, I do.”
“Done,” he answered immediately. “You can come in from noon to eight. For the first half of the day, you can be my administrative assistant. The second half, you can help open the bar until the late shift comes in.”
“Really?” Relief flooded my chest. “Great. Thanks, man. So I can start that way tomorrow, then?”
“Sounds fine by me,” he murmured, bringing his clasped hands up to just below his chin and eyeing me carefully. “I’ll get the schedule rearranged this afternoon.”
“Thank you. I, uh, I guess, I’ll see you tomorrow, then, bright and…noonish.” I pushed up from the chair and started toward the door. “Thanks again for—”
“Luke, have another seat.”
Fuck. He was going to raise concerns about how much I was staying over at Chloe’s, wasn’t he? Son of a bitch. This wasn’t going to end well. Because nothing was going to stop me from going over there every night if she let me. He could take my damn job if he had to. This was one thing I couldnotgive up.
“Yeah?” I said cautiously, remaining on my feet as I turned back to face him.
He arched a single, stern eyebrow. “Sit.”
With a defeated huff, I returned to the chair and moodily slumped down, landing on the cushion and letting my spine fall against the rest.
“So you’re still going over every night?” he asked.
I glanced around, confused, because we’d literally just covered that topic. “Yeah.” I nodded once, hoping I looked resolute and unbending about it.
But all he did was nod and murmur a vague, distracted, “Good. Good…”
Good?
I frowned, not following. “It is?”
“Hmm?” He glanced up as if surprised I was still there. “Oh! Yeah. I wanted to thank you for that, actually.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “You’re…welcome?”
He nodded some more. And just kept watching me.
I furrowed my brows deeper in question. “Was there something else?”
“Yes…” With a wince, he shifted in his seat and then asked, “So… You two… You and Chloe… You’re…okay? With each other?”
I had no idea what the fuck that question meant. But my boss was being incredibly weird right now. He never stuttered around like a flustered teen boy in front of the girl he liked. So this was kind of freaking me out.
“Yeah,” I said slowly and glanced around the room, searching for a clue as to what was happening right now. “We’re good.”
“And your relationship together is…?”
