Chapter Two
1680 Words
Chapter Two
Jessa
“No, really, I’ll give you your money back. This isn’t okay. I’m not sure how this happened, but I can promise you that I’ll get to the bottom of it.” My cheeks were hot with embarrassment as I took the roach-filled burger, dumping it into the trash. I went to the register and pulled out a twenty, then went back to the man who was gazing at me with glassy eyes.
He’d been drinking; that was more than obvious. And I was sure he needed something in his stomach. Not that he would want anything we had to give him.
A roach in his burger? Really people?
Were it not for Hamburger Hut’s tuition reimbursement perk, I wouldn’t have stepped foot inside the door of this establishment. But I needed what they had to give, so I’d taken the job as night manager and had worked there for the last couple of years.
I’d brought a sandwich from home that night, so I went to the office and pulled it out of the mini fridge. I also had a bag of potato chips in the desk drawer, so I got that too before going back out to find the man who was still all smiles as he looked at me with what I could only describe as adoring eyes.
The man was something. Tall, muscular, with chiseled features, and the deepest, darkest blue eyes I’d ever seen. His thick dark lashes made those blue eyes pop even more. Not that I cared about how hot he was. I was too busy for that sort of thing anyway. “Here you go. I’m giving you my lunch. I brought it from home.”
“No, you don’t have to do that.” He waved his hand as if shooing me away. But then he reached out, taking my wrist. “Do you think the milk is safe to drink?”
“I do think so, sir.” I placed the food in front of him. “I noticed that you ordered your burger all the way.” I unwrapped the sandwich. “You need to eat something. I made this myself, so I know there’s no bugs in it. Just fresh turkey, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayo inside. I think you’ll like it.”
He huffed as he looked at the food in front of him. “You think I’m drunk, don’t you?”
“I’m not thinking that at all.” I was totally thinking that, but the poor guy had already been served a roach burger, so I wasn’t going to add anything else to that horrible experience by calling him drunk. “I just think that you came in here to eat, so I’m giving you something to eat. That’s all.”
“You’re not wrong.” He picked up one half of the sandwich. “I am drunk. I turned twenty-seven today. Well, yesterday, since it’s now past midnight. And I was out at the club, partying with my best buds, when it hit me that I wasn’t having fun. Not really. And then I went and sat at the bar, and that’s when I got drunk.” He gestured to the chair across the table. “Sit. Have a tiny carton of milk.” He pushed one toward me.
I wasn’t about to say no, since there was still a chance that he might sue the restaurant chain for the roach incident. “Thank you, sir. I’d love to join you.” I took the milk, opened it then grabbed a straw off the nearby condiment shelf. “I haven’t had one of these little things since grade school. These are really for the kid’s meals.” I took a sip and didn’t care for it at all. “I prefer chocolate milk, though.”
“Too much sugar in that kind.” He took a bite of the sandwich. “This is good.”
“Thanks.” It was the first decent food I’d had in my fridge in a long time. “I splurged and spent some money on healthy-ish foods this last week. One of the doctors at the hospital I intern at gave me a lottery ticket scratcher, and I won five hundred bucks. So, I bought a hundred bucks worth of groceries, filled my car up with gas, and got an oil change. The poor thing hadn’t had one in over a year. I’ve just been topping off the oil when it started running low.”
Even when he looked confused, he was still as cute as could be. “You intern at a hospital? And you work here too?”
“I do.”
He eyed me as he finished off the first half of the sandwich, and then picked up the other. “I’m Stone Nash.” He c****d one dark brow. “And you are?”
“Jessa.” I smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Stone. That’s a very... Well, um, that’s a very strong name you have there.”
“Yeah, my mom liked ostentatious names. I’ve got four older brothers too. Baldwyn. Patton. Warner. Cohen. See, ostentatious.” He took another bite. “Is Jessa short for something?”
“My mother was partial to ostentatious names as well.” I found that an interesting coincidence about us. “My full name is Carolina Jessamine Moxon.”
“Wow.” He chuckled then he went on, “That’s a mouthful, isn’t it? My middle name is average — Michael.”
“Stone Michael Nash.” I thought it sounded anything but average. “Sounds like the name of a movie star to me.”
“Carolina Jessamine Moxon sounds like the name of a rich girl to me.”
Wow, he’s good.
Not that I was about to talk about where I came from — or from what I came from. “One day, I do hope to make something out of myself. I’m in my third year at Dell Medical School. The rest of this year, and one more, then I’ll become what I’ve dreamed of since I was just a little kid — a doctor.”
“You got any brothers or sisters, Carolina Jessamine?”
“I’ve got one older sister. Her name is Carolina Lily.”
“Both of you are named Carolina?” He shook his head. “That must have been confusing.”
“Not really. She was called Lily, and I was called Jessa.” Looking at my watch, I realized that time had rushed by as we’d sat there talking. “Let me call you a ride before I get back to work, Stone.”
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket, unlocked it then slid it towards me. “The app has my home address in it already. I’d do it myself, but my vision is still a little blurry — too many Texas Teas. The sandwich is helping, though. And your conversation is too. You and I should go out sometime. Like tomorrow night?”
“That’s more than nice of you, but I don’t have time to date, Stone. I’m flattered, really. But I can’t go anywhere but to work and school.” I ordered a car to pick him up, then slid his phone back to him. “Thanks for asking, though.”
“No.” He shook his head as he opened the bag of chips. “There is no way you can just not have time for a date. That’s inhumane. There has to be a few hours in your week where you just sit there by yourself, not doing anything at all. We can go out during that time. Night or day — I don’t care which or what time. I just want to take you out somewhere and spend some time with you. I like you. I like how nice you are. And you’re really, really pretty too, even with that boring tan uniform that doesn’t fit anyone well. I mean, look at that girl up there at the counter. She’s as shapeless as a sack of potatoes.”
Tammy held up her middle finger. I put my face in my hands, thoroughly embarrassed at the lack of control I had over my employees. “Sorry about her.”
“No offense,” he slurred as he called out to her. “Everyone looks like a sack of potatoes in those things.” Then he looked back at me. “Well, except you. Somehow, you’re managing to pull it off.”
“Management can order their uniforms to fit them. I guess they want us to stand out a bit from the employees who work under us.”
“Clever.” He sat back, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “Come on, Jessa. One date. If you hate it, then I’ll never bother you again.”
I was sure that I’d love going out with a man like Stone Michael Nash. But I hadn’t been lying — I really didn’t have any time for such a thing. “Stone, it’s not that I want to tell you no. It’s not that I want to turn you down. But I’ve got a full plate. I’m really sorry — I truly am. Even if we went out on one date and we really hit it off, then what?”
“I don’t know.” He smiled, making my heart melt.
“What if we hit it off, and then you end up hating me because I don’t have enough time for you?”
“What if we’re really lucky and hit it off, end up getting married, have kids, and even get a dog? Just say yes, Jessa. Don’t make me come back here every night until you finally say yes.”
No matter how tempting it sounded to be able to look at this cutie every night, I couldn’t let him derail my plans. No matter how hot he was.
- Writer
