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After talking for an hour straight, she finally takes a deep breath in and out She must be the type to ramble when she’s uncomfortable The more I think about this situation, the less I feel like this is a good idea There are plenty of other options for me out there, so there’s no need for me to torture myself here I wanted to be around happy, and I can tell that would be the last word used to describe how she feels working withme all of this, Emerson…"

"Call me Em"

"Em, I appreciate it, I really do But I just don’t think this ork out"

"Why not?" she asks, and I have to stopat the asinine question

"Frankly, there’s just no reason for me to work somewhere every day where I know I’ll be despised I’ve had enough of that in the past to last a lifetime" Thankfully, we don’t have any customers yet, because this conversation is not work-appropriate

"Audrey, I don’t hate you I don’t even know you," she says in a softer voice I raise an eyebrow at her, silently telling her to be honest with herself and est fan, but I don’t hate you"

Feeling like I need to busy es I don’t knohat kind of crowd this place draws, but liin talking to her again

"Okay, so you don’t hate me But you have to admit you wouldn’t choose to ith someone who holds distorted notions about you," Ito look down at the knife and fruit inbehind me and then see her e from my spot I’ve never enjoyed confrontation, and I’ a scene A full five ain

"When you say distorted… are you iainst the counter next tobecause I don’t knohat he’s said exactly, but I do think he’s an asole that couldn’t even give round out between clenched teeth I take a deep breath and let it out long and slow like Lane taught me to do when I work myself up I finally turn to face her "I’irlfriend Soet carried away and say exactly what’s on my mind without a filter"

"Do you still love him?" she asks candidly

"Jaxon?"

Her eyebrows scrunch in confusion when she says, "Yes, of course"

"I’ve never loved him" I turn and walk to the opposite bar top, but she follows right behind " I’hty in the tone of her voice It doesn’t sound de for the latest juicy gossip I turn to look at her expression and see that she has a tiny se of her lips

It takes me a moment to respond and in the meantime, I stand there and observe her We couldn’t be more opposite, she and I I’m a brunette and she’s blonde I consider myself tall and lanky, whereas Eht places Lucky bitch In this moment, I wonder if Jace has ever been attracted to her and then I try to recant that thought Looking at her, it’s hard to i alike" The words spill out of my mouth involuntarily

She smiles and says, "Yeah, I don’t think he has a certain type"

"Who, Jaxon?" I really need to snap out of it, because while she must think I have Jaxon on the brain, it’s actually Jace that hauntsabout him" I should leave it at that

She eyes me and says, "I don’t knohat it is, but I think I like you Even though I feel like I shouldn’t It alsoyou aren’t in love with my boyfriend"

"Us her shoulders unapologetically and I decide to give her a little bit "Iirlfriend?

"Having sex," she suggests, nodding her head "Go on…" She laughs as if it’s no big deal to talk about her boyfriend’s past sex life Em is easy to talk to and I don’t want to like her, but I do Kennedy is the only female friend I’ve ever had, but she lives all the way on the East Coast

"Yeah, that Soon after, Jax asked me to date hiuess he was going through a rebellious stage and they were always on his case When he first asked, I said no But after realizing I never had a chance with the guy I actually wanted, I latched onto him as an escape from my…um, less than ideal home life"

Before Emerson can ask any in to pack the bar and pool tables We work smoothly around each other She cashes out the pool tables and I fill drinks She doesn’t have to give me much direction because I already knoay around a bar Occasionally, we get slammed and work as a team Rum and Coke? She pours the rum and I dispense the Coke Seven and Seven? She pours the whiskey and I top it off with 7-up When a table of eight orders a round of beer, I grab the bottles out of the fridge and line them up E the e beca

At one point, things cool down for a moment and a cute, little old man perches up on a barstool "Hey Eot back here?" he asks

"Hi Joe," she slasses from the dishwasher "This is Audrey, she works here now" I can feel her eyes onif I’ll refute her statement "Make sure you tell your wild crew over there to be nice to her" When she shakes her finger back and forth at hile

Em hands him a Sprite and he winks at me on his way back to his table "Nice to meet you, Miss Audrey"

"Joe’s here all the tireat If you have faht, no bullshitting around I’ve gone to hiht actually take advantage of that…" I say as I stare after the kind, old er, I use to daydream up these wonderful, make-believe fa hugs froet dressed for school dances and one day, randpa ould let me sit in his lap while we drank sweet tea on the porch I even had a grandma who pinched my cheeks and made the best peach cobbler I’ve had these fantasies for so ins to wind down and our bouncer, Mark, begins to escort out the stragglers as the bar closes Elasses weour earlier cleanup

"Can I ask about your holasses

"Are you asking for yourself, or do you plan on sharing this with a certain boyfriend?"

"He doesn’t know?" she asks, sounding shocked