The Goodbye

“Someone’s face is bright red. What did I miss?” Hillary asked as she stepped up beside me.

“Oh, just boss man up there, checking Rose out,” Kyle supplied.

“How do you know he’s not checking me out?” Hillary asked in a haughty tone.

“Because you just got here, and he’s been zeroed in on that one since she walked into the room,” Natalie replied, clearly enjoying herself. There was friction between them that I hadn’t noticed before.

“Well, short stuff needs to get in line. He’s mine next. Elle is moving to the new guy, it seems, and I want some of that badass up there. He’ll look elsewhere once I get him alone for five minutes,” Hillary said, then brushed past us with a sway in her hips, straight for Captain.

“She’s a bitch,” Natalie said in a disgusted tone.

“Most women are,” Kyle said, then winked our way. “Present company excluded.”

I wanted to continue to look at the floor or out the window. Anywhere but where my gaze was determined to go. I had to watch. I wasn’t sure why. So what if she flirted with him and he liked it? He was my daughter’s father. He was my past. I had no claim on him. But when she leaned in to whisper in his ear and his attention shifted from me to her, my heart cracked just a little. I couldn’t help it. Old habits die hard.

“God, I hope he’s smarter than that,” Natalie muttered.

“Oh, he’ll fuck her. His kind always takes the hot, easy fucks. They just don’t commit. That’s part of the sexy bad-boy thing that makes us all crazy,” Kyle said.

“That’s a shame,” Natalie whispered, sounding as let down as I felt.

Captain lowered his head and responded to Hillary, while she kept a flirty, pleased smile on her face. What were they doing? Making plans for later? My gut twisted, and I hated it. I hated it so bad.

“You’re dating Brad, aren’t you?” Daniel asked. I looked at him and hoped the inner turmoil I was experiencing wasn’t showing on my face.

“No, not really. We’re friends is all,” I corrected him. Brad flirted, but he didn’t do more than that. He didn’t call me or text me. We only talked at work, and he was a great guy, but I didn’t want more from him. I liked the easy friendship we had fallen into.

“Ah, he just looks at you a lot, so I figured there was something more there,” Daniel explained.

I didn’t say anything to that. I was unaware that Brad looked at me a lot. I rarely looked in his direction unless we were talking.

Captain cleared his throat to get the room’s attention. “OK, everyone. We’re all here, so it’s time to introduce you to your soon-to-be manager. Jamieson Tynes has been sent by Arthur Stout to take over in the next few weeks. While he’s here, you’re to make yourselves available for any questions. I’ll start taking off a few nights a week and letting Jamieson take over, so the decisions and orders will be coming from him. Jamieson, I’m going to let you take it from here. This is your serving staff. Get to know them.”

I looked at Jamieson, wondering if this bunch would eat him alive. He looked really young and naive.

“Oh, shit, here he comes,” Kyle whispered. I looked up and saw the group of servers part like the Red Sea.

Captain.

“He’s so determined. Sexy.” Kyle made a strange pleased sound under his breath.

I couldn’t look away this time. I watched wide-eyed as Captain came for me. There was a gleam in his eyes that excited me, but I wasn’t sure what it meant.

“Rose, come with me,” he said, loudly enough for the others to hear, although it was a soft demand.

I just nodded and followed him to his office. I was afraid to look at anyone else, but I could feel their eyes glued on us. Waiting to see what was going on.

I followed him obediently, because honestly, I wasn’t sure anyone had ever told that man no. When had he learned to pack so much power into just one intent gaze and a few words?

When his office door opened, I went in right behind him, wondering if it was a mistake. He was in a strange mood, and I didn’t know how I was connected to it. When I stepped inside, he closed the door, and I jumped a little at the loud click.

“You wouldn’t look at me,” he said in a tight, thick voice.

I had looked at him. Did he miss that? We were looking right at each other before Hillary came into the room. “I don’t know what you mean,” I said, slightly breathless from the intense atmosphere in the room.

“No, you were looking at me, and then you stopped and wouldn’t look at me again.”

How was he making the oxygen in the room so thin? I tried to take a deep breath. “I looked away when you did,” I said in a whisper.

Captain took a step toward me, and the rest of the oxygen in the room evaporated. I needed to hold on to something. This wasn’t a mood I’d seen him in before. I had no idea how to deal with it. “I don’t want her. She offered. I sent her away. But you wouldn’t look at me,” he said, his voice so deep and raspy that I couldn’t keep my chest from rising and falling with each short intake of air.

“Oh,” I choked out, watching the storm in his eyes. The green had darkened to hazel, and the hard line of his mouth eased into something more . . . seductive. My legs felt weak.

“Yeah. Oh,” he repeated. “Why didn’t you look at me?”

Because I didn’t like it. I had no reason not to like it, but I didn’t. “I don’t know,” I lied.

The sharp upturn of the corners of his mouth told me he didn’t believe me. But the fullness of those lips was fascinating. I could watch them up close like this all day and never get bored. Had they been that full all those years ago? Or had I been too young to appreciate the beauty of his mouth?