Page 39 of Secret Baby for Mr. Grump

I couldn’t ask him.

A girl had her pride.

But my pride brought me back to square one.

Okay, first things first.I had to find a job that either paid weekly or where I could collect a check at the end of the day. Preferably a job with unlimited hours so I could work more. I’d work all of them if need be. Anything to help my little boy.

Fortunately, the pay was hiked up everywhere during the holiday season.

But unfortunately, we were nearly in December, and it was late in the season to start looking for jobs. It seemed every business and store had already stocked up on extra workers in anticipation of the Christmas rush. Without the resort being in working order, there weren’t many tourists passing through anymore, but still. The stores all had their greeters, Santa had his helpers, and there were no openings for me.

I had to practically beg one of my mother’s old friends to give me a job bagging groceries at the grocery store. I also had to get her to swear not to tell any of my family members because I knew they would disapprove and promptly try to give me the money I needed. But I couldn’t allow that. I wasn’t a mooch, and Caleb was my responsibility.

The only downside to the job at the grocery store was that I would have to do a lot of nights, which wasn’t ideal. Because it meant I would have to leave Caleb behind until late at night.

On my first shift, I tried to explain to him that I would be out a little later than normal, right as I dropped him off at Athena’s.

I knew he understood because his face shifted into a pout that showed the child he really was inside. I made him promise not to freak out and gave him a large hug, my heart heavy when I left. For a second, I regretted divorcing Ken. As selfish as it was, things were much easier when he was around since there were two incomes to support Caleb with. But after we divorced, I didn’t have the heart to continue to take child support from Ken, especially since Caleb wasn’t his biological son. He’d helped me enough already.

But sometimes, I wondered. If he were here, I would not have to worry about it because I would have extra help for my son.

I tried not to let the thought keep me down, but it was hard.

Still, I fought to maintain a friendly demeanor at work, smiling and making conversation with every customer that passed my line. It helped boost my mood to see them smile in turn, although it wasn’t all of them. In fact, given the late hour, most of the customers weren’t in the mood, and for every sweet old lady who wanted to chat, telling me what a great job I was doing, there were ten more who tossed their wares at me and silently ignored my greetings.

And then, close to the middle of my shift, I met a customer from hell.

He tossed his bag of Doritos at me before beginning to unload some more groceries from his cart.

“How are you doing today?” I greeted, and he smirked at me.

“Didn’t know they started hiring babes to work here,” he said. “Did I accidentally take a turn and end up on the wrong strip?”

My cheeks burned at how loud he’d said it, but I said nothing, focusing on bagging his groceries as carefully and quickly as possible.

“Hurry it up, sweet cheeks,” he grouched.

Even though the term stung, I gave him an apologetic smile anyway. “Sorry. It’s my first day, so I’m still getting the hang of this whole bagging business.”

If I thought that was enough to soften his mood, I was wrong.

The man gave me a mean look. “Well, that’s what happens when they give bimbos a job, isn’t it? But y’all always want to do everything the men can do, right? Y’all don’t know your place.”

That one was a pointed insult, and the smile instantly slipped off my face, anger sparking right into my chest.Okay, asshole.

I bit back my temper and focused on bagging his stuff even faster.

But the man wasn’t satisfied with that.

“What’s the matter, sweet cheeks?” he drawled. “Cat got your tongue?”

I ignored him once again, praying there wouldn’t be a scene on my first day.

But the last straw came when he leaned in closer to whisper, “You know you don’t have to do this. I just bet girls like you can make a killing on the street corner. Isn’t that right?” He turned behind him to laugh with his companion, who was the second guy in line. I felt tears sting my eyelids, not so much from sadness but from anger.

Why the fuck was he such an asshole?

“Listen, sir…” I backed up from him and pushed my hands in his chest, about to tell him off, but a low animalistic-sounding growl had me and everyone else in line jerking where they stood.

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