Page 3 of Semi Sweet
"You've got this," I assured. "This is the home store, so if they sent you here, they probably have good faith in you."
When Sean started to smile, it was difficult to not stare. His grin only accentuated his handsome eyes. I’d initially missed how captivatingly cute he was when I’d smashed into him. I also realized I hadn't had small talk like this with another employee in a long time. I was almost sad for it to end.
"Olivia!"
The voice made me jump out of my skin like I'd been caught doing something wrong. Everyone in the surrounding area of the store was suddenly very absorbed in their work. I looked up to see a young man in a gray tailored designer suit complete with a matching vest and a silky black tie walking purposefully towards me. His near black hair was styled with product and irritation was fixed on his face.
"What the hell are you doing over here?"
I felt like I was defending myself when I was just doing my job. "Russel asked me to train the new bakery manager. He just transferred from Aspen."
He gave Sean a long look before he turned his attention back to me. "I'll talk to Russel. He has plenty of other people to do his grunt work." He motioned for me to come out from behind the counter with his chin. I would have loved to tell the man that when he "helped" it usually made things worse for me, but it wasn't worth discussing.
I gave Sean and the others a weak wave before I headed back to the sales floor. The man was waiting for me, still looking annoyed to see me away from my post. "No class tonight?"
I shook my head. "Just homework."
He all but guided me back towards the front end and my courtesy desk. "Great, I'll see you at home. I'll talk to Russel. I'm going to go see Uncle Gio first." He leaned over and kissed my head, just in time for him to miss my coworker lean over the booth door and give me a dirty look.
Ah yes, he thought he was helping me by scolding my boss and using his so-called authority to get things done around the store. In reality, he was why everyone disliked me and acted like I had a highly infectious disease.
That was the perk of being engaged to Evan Quittero, the grandson of the founders and owners of Cash Value Market. Sometimes it was more like a curse.
Chapter Two: How Did We Get Here?
Somepeoplereadtoescape from reality. Since I was in the third grade, I made my own realities through writing. It was how I coped even now. When I got home from my shift, and my mind continued to replay how Evan behaved when I’d been in the bakery, I thought maybe it would help. I curled under a blanket on the couch and opened my laptop.
Olivia Hale’s life hadn’t always been like this. She hadn’t always been the Cash Value Market pariah. When Evan asked her out back when she was sixteen, people at the store were thrilled for her.
That was how I imagined the hook would be, if my life were Contemporary Fiction. I couldn’t call it a Rom-Com because lately there was more tragedy than humor.
How had we’d gotten here? Back when Evan had been a service clerk without real responsibilities, something about him had been so irresistible. Had I been blinded by someone giving me attention and by the time I’d realized who he really was, it was too late? The thought made my fingers fly over the keys as I tried to sort my thoughts into fiction.
Every time Olivia would clock into work and head to her register, her heart would flutter when she saw him bagging customers’ groceries. Conversation flowed easily between him and the customers. Whether they were a teenager or the grandmotherly type, all he had to do was turn on the flirty charm and he could make anyone feel special and important.
I’d clearly fallen under the spell. His midnight blue eyes had certainly helped draw me in, too. Eyes were the trait I noticed first when it came to any man and usually the first trait I wrote about in my stories. I bitterly wondered if my characters were smarter than I was as I kept typing.
Olivia was naive and had no experience. She’d never had a boyfriend before she met Evan. She didn’t know what else was out there. Sometimes she wondered if she should have taken her time or met other guys before she’d gone all in, but Evan had given her so much attention that it was hard to not get swept away.
It had been seven years and I still remembered vividly the day Evan asked me out, way back when he did cool things like longboarding around the city after work or going to the movies with friends. My eyes pricked with tears as I remembered the things we used to do, the nostalgia like a sickness. I clenched my jaw so that the tears wouldn’t actually fall.
“You’re pretty cool. I had no idea you liked science fiction movies,” Evan said as we stood at the time clock.
“What can I say, I have eclectic taste,” Olivia replied with a smirk.
“Next time you do something neat, I want to be your date.”
“Date?”
“I mean, if you’re into it.”
Everyone, whether they were customer or employee at Cash Value Market, wanted Evan. Not even throwing his family’s business into conversation, he was just that charming and sociable. So I said yes without a second thought. I didn’t want to give him the opportunity to move on to someone else. If I had known what my life would become, I would have gladly passed. Hindsight is everything. My jaw tensed so hard that it started to ache, but I refused to give into the emotions.
Geraldo and Benedetta Quittero were born in Italy. In the early sixties, the newlyweds emigrated from outside Rome to downtown Denver. Why Denver instead of the East coast? The Apennine Mountains had been the backdrop to Evan’s grandmother’s life and she wanted to live somewhere that reminded her of home. They had a tiny market that grew and grew until they had the means to open more store fronts. The Quitteros were a true rags to riches story—an example of the American Dream.
Almost sixty years later they had twenty supermarkets and one chalet store. The entire family had a role in the company. Even Evan’s mother Jennifer, who married into the family, was the chief finance officer. Back when I was a teen and Evan was a low level service clerk, I never thought that might be my future. I stopped to shake my head at my naivety.
Olivia was sucked in by the lifestyle the Quitteros lived. Not that her family was poor, but they lived a much more modest life. Evan’s family lived in the rich section of the city in a townhouse with a private rooftop patio. They had a family driver to bring them work and other functions and summer homes in Aruba and Italy. Evan’s grandparents had even more wealth. Olivia attended weekly dinners at a lavish estate in the Denver suburbs.
