Page 10 of Trapped
I didn’t know how long I’d stood there, clinging to the whitewashed brick wall like a drowning kid to a life preserver.
Too long. Taking another deep breath, I stood straight and flexed my stiff hands.
Fuck. That hadn’t gone well.
How could it have? The last person I’d expected to see when I left the office was Ashley. The shock robbed me of all the speeches I’d prepared over the last year, just in case.
Why the hell is she here?
She’d said she lived in Dallas, but Weatherford was a small town ninety minutes west.
What were the chances we’d moved to the same town?
No, that’s not it. Ashley couldn’t be new in town if she was friends with my boss’s wife.
Fuck.
Ashley had every right to be mad. From her perspective, I’d stood her up, ghosted her.
I opened the door, still practicing my combat breathing: in four, hold four, out four, hold four. Repeat as needed, which I suspected I’d need a lot.
“Sorry about that,” I said, as I approached the counter under the watchful eyes of three curious women. “We had a bit of a misunderstanding.”
Emily glared at me, giving me every reason to believe she knew what happened in Vegas. Mary looked sympathetic. The third woman, who looked familiar but I couldn’t place, looked confused.
“It’s none of our business,” Mary said, before introducing her manager, Beth. Ah, that’s why I recognized her—Beth was Doug’s fiancée.
Guys in my unit had talked about small-town life, but this was ridiculous. The people here didn’t just know each other; they were friends and family.
I’d been at my new job three days and everything was already turning to shit.
Just fucking great.
“Thank you.” I didn’t need to look at Emily to know she was glaring at me. Not wanting to stay any longer than I needed to, I said, “I need—”
“It’s ready to go. Meg messaged me with the order.”
Thank God for small favors.
When I tried to pay, Mary said Meg took care of it with the coffee fund, so I put a fifty in the tip jar. I thanked Mary and apologized again for causing a scene.
Driving back to the office, I braced myself for what was coming. There was no way John, Jamie, and Doug wouldn’t know what had happened by the time I got back.
Who was I kidding? Everyone would know.
That’s what I get for moving to a small town and working for a family business.
As soon as I set the cardboard box of coffee cups and the bag of pastries on Meg’s desk, she told me John wanted to see me in his office.
“Jack and Jamie are there, too.” She warned me with a sympathetic smile.
“Thanks.” I grabbed their coffees, squared my shoulders, and reminded myself that the only easy day was yesterday.
I handed out their coffees as I greeted them. “You wanted to see me, sir.” I looked around the room. “Sirs.”
“Thanks.” John took his coffee. “Mary said you left a rather generous tip.” He nodded his approval.
“It didn’t feel right letting SSI pay, sir.”
