“Yes, it does,” she said, and he could hear the restrained excitement in her voice.
It’d been a while since he’d hung out with Gwyneth, and he’d never done so other than for cramming purposes. It was actually a surprise that she’d called him for this reason. Even more of a surprise was her suggestion that they go back to his place afterward but a pleasantly convenient surprise nonetheless. Still, he had every intention of telling her about his girl and making it clear that this was business—not a date.
“We won’t make the beginning of the game,” he warned as he walked through the back hallway of the restaurant between the office and the kitchen. “But I can pick you up tomorrow, eight-ish. Sound good, smexy?”
“Sounds great,” she said immediately.
“Was that Valerie?” Angel asked just as he stepped out from the office.
“No,” Alex said, hanging up, and regretted it a second later.
Sarah appeared from behind Angel. He hadn’t even thought to lower his voice. He held out hope Sarah hadn’t heard what he called Gwyneth. But their eyes met for just a fleeting moment before she glanced away without so much as a hello.
“Ah,” Angel said, making a face as Sarah rushed out to pick up an order of food. “Shit!” Angel whispered, still looking in Sarah’s direction, but Sarah didn’t look back at them as she walked out from behind the counter with a tray and into the dining room. “Oh well,” Angel said, as usual not getting into Alex’s business about his and Valerie relationship. “She called the restaurant earlier, looking for you. I thought maybe it was important since she never calls you here.”
Instantly, Alex was concerned. Angel wandered off into the dining room also as Alex checked his texts. He scrolled down to hers and read it.
You must be really busy this week . . .
I miss you.
He frowned, looking up at the corner of his screen, wondering if he could get a call in real quick. He only had a half hour to do what he’d come here to do. It was already Wednesday. The schedules for the following week usually went up Thursday the week before, and he hadn’t even started them. He started to text her back when Sofie called out.
“Alex, you here?”
“Yeah,” he said, starting out one of his usual I’m-real-busy texts to Valerie.
“Good. Don’t kill me, but I think I messed something up with the payroll.”
That got his attention. He knew from experience the payroll could easily get royally screwed up. Shoving his phone in his pocket before he could respond to Valerie, he rushed into the office.
Sofie was chewing her lower lip, wincing when she saw him. “I’m not sure what I did, but it changed a bunch of stuff.”
“What?” His stomach nearly bottomed out.
If she did what he’d done one time a while back, the whole thing was screwed. She’d moved out of the way so he could see what she’d done when Angel popped his head in the door. “Twenty minutes, man, then we gotta get to practice.”
Alex nodded without looking back. Sofie hadn’t screwed things up as badly as he thought, but he wasn’t going to have time for the schedules now. He’d have to come back after practice. Any hope of getting in a little time with Valerie tonight just went out the door. Damn it!
Only good thing was it sounded as if his parents would be home sooner than later now. Once they were back, he wouldn’t have to spend so much time at the restaurant. He’d make it up to Valerie. He had to because he already knew what she must be thinking, and if Sarah had anything to do with it, he’d be doing some major ass kissing real soon.
~~~
Valerie had been working in a real estate office for months now, shadowing other real estate agents. Alex already knew she’d been scheduled to take her state license exam soon. He just found out yesterday from Angel that she had and had told Sarah she felt real good about it. She’d already mentioned to Alex that, as soon as she was licensed for the required minimum two years, she’d be taking the broker’s test. The girl was a force to be reckoned with. He was as proud of her perseverance as he was turned on by it. She had her shit together, and when she set her mind to something, she accomplished it. She’d even gotten her AA early, and when she’d moved out of her dorm and into her own place, she’d done it all on her own. As far as Alex knew, she had no help from her daddy. He remembered her saying she’d surprised him by taking him to her apartment and saying “Ta-da!” It was just one more thing he loved about her.
No way was he telling her about his struggle to keep his grades up. It’d be f**king humiliating. But he would be honest about something else—at least as much as he could be. It’s what he expected from her when it came to this kind of stuff.
“It was just a baseball game, Val. I didn’t even stay for the whole thing. We got there late and left early.”
He left the rest out. She didn’t need to know about them going back to his place afterward.
“You made time for a baseball game during a week you didn’t have time to so much as text me? Gee, I wonder why that is,” she said, and Alex knew he was seconds away from getting hung up on. “Oh, wait, I remember now. Because she’s smexy, right, Alex?”
“That was just a—” He stopped suddenly as he heard the unmistakable click on the other end.
With a long flustered deep breath, he continued to drive. This wasn’t the first time she’d hung up on him, of course, but this worried him more than the all the other times. Alex knew she’d always been hurt in the past when she’d suspected him spending time with other girls. But she’d never asked him outright about them.