Page 85 of Hot Summer Nights

“I’m Flynn James and this is Roman Stone.” Blondie says as he points to himself and then his friend.

“Great. Well, have a good one.” I try again to dismiss them.

“Do you work here every morning?” Blondie-er,Flynn, asks.

“Yup.” I say, popping the P. “Now if you don’t mind, I should get back to work.”

“Why don’t you meet us tonight? Working all day must be stressful and I’m sure we could help you relax.”

“We?” I ask. Shouldn’t just one of them be hitting on me? Although I’m not sure which one I would prefer at this point.I don’t want to choose between them. I want them both.

Almost like he can hear my thoughts, Flynn says, “Yeah. We. We like to share.”

My cheeks heat as I think about being sandwiched between the two of them, their hands trailing up and down my body.

“No.” I say.

“Cage Nightclub. 9 PM. Ask for us and they’ll show you to our table.” Flynn says as he picks up his coffee and the paper bag of pastries.

“See you tonight.” He says as they turn and leave.

Bianca chooses that moment to come back and I help her with the line as I think about their offer. I’ll never be able to take them up on it. Not that I want to, of course. Once the line is down, I take my apron off and tell Bianca I’m taking my break. I head out the back door and lean against the side of the building as I try to figure out what it was about those two guys that drew me to them.

Normally, I’m able to tune out most people. I don’t care what people think about me and I’m too busy to even think about dating or anything. I’ve even been hit on at work before and I was able to put it out of my mind almost immediately but for some reason, those two are stuck in my head. I spend the remainder of my break trying to think about anything else but their faces keep popping up in my head. Maybe I could call in sick to the cleaning company and go to that club tonight. Finally, have some fun and act my age.

My phone dings and I glance down at it to see a message from Adeline. I open it and see that Bella had her puppies and the first picture is of them curled up with their mom. The second is of Adeline cradling one in her arms with the biggest smile on her face.

Addy:8 healthy pups!

Aspen: AWWW. How cute!

Addy: I know!! We should adopt them all ??

Aspen: And keep them where?

Addy: We’d find the space

I smiledown at my phone and know she’s right. If Adeline brought home 20 dogs, we would find the room. I would do anything for that girl and I smile as I tuck my phone into my back pocket and head back inside.

Thinking about Adeline finally pushed Flynn and Roman from my thoughts and I shake my head as I think about how selfish it was to consider going to that nightclub. We need the money to pay for Adeline’s medicine. I put my apron back on as I turn back to the counter and get back to work.

TWO

Flynn

Romanand I walk out of the coffee shop, looking back at the pretty barista one last time before we slip into the backseat of our town car.

“To the office, Jack.” I say to the driver over the seat as I hand him one of the danishes.

“Thanks, sir.” He says as he turns on his blinker and merges with traffic.

I hand one of the coffee cakes to Roman as we ride in silence to work, both of us lost in our thoughts. Neither of us speaks until we pull through the shipyard gates and the car pulls into our spot by the front door to our offices.

“She’s not going to show, you know.” Roman mumbles as he opens his door and steps out.

“Oh, c’mon Rome! Don’t be so pessimistic. She was interested. You saw how she was looking at us.”

“Nope. She’s not going to be there tonight.” He says as we head up the stairs to our offices.

---