Free Bunches by Jill Valley

He’s not just perceptive,
though, he’s gentle and forbearing.
    Warmly, he places his hand over
mine. He waits until I meet his eyes to speak. Looking into their depth I see
nothing but kindness. “It’s hard to talk to strangers, but pretty soon I won’t
be. Whatever you need and whenever you’re ready to tell me.” He pats my hand
comfortingly, then lets go.
     

Chapter Ten - JJ
     
    The last thing I expect is to see
her this morning. I’m so surprised at the heat coursing through me that I do .
. . nothing. Smooth, JJ. You run a bar and are more than capable of talking to
women, but then when you see her you become a silent idiot. First, I’m tired
and I have a long day ahead of me, and to make it worse I haven’t gotten enough
sleep. Second, I had no idea she lived near me. That should be interesting.
    I feel better once I leave the
coffee shop.
    I’m now more sure than ever that
she’s the same girl.
    She clearly has no idea who I am,
and neither does her friend. I’m a couple of years older than they are, and I
moved back here at the end of high school, so it’s not that surprising. I was
here a lot with my grandfather in the old days, helping out at the bar in any
way an underage kid could.
    My phones buzzes. It’s a text
from Ben, my bouncer. He and Sylvan are getting breakfast and they want me to
join them. I decide I probably have time before I meet Jessie for a run.
Anything to get my mind off Nora.
    I head for our favorite breakfast
dive. I like days with the guys. Jessie usually lets me have them after I’ve
worked late. It’s her way of showing she understands the demands of my job.
    I enter the small diner. There
are red linoleum chairs and big windows and it smells like bacon. Sylvan and
Ben are sitting in their usual spots and I slide in next to them.
    “Morning,” says Sylvan, taking a
big swig of coffee.
    “Morning,” I greet them.
    “How was last night?” Ben asks.
He had the night off.
    “Good,” I say. “Lots of people.
Busy. No major issues.”
    “Jessie stopped in,” says Sylvan,
his eyes gleaming. I glare at him. It’s the guy’s version of tattling.
    “No,” Ben groans. “She should
know better by now. It’s ridiculous that she checks up on you like that, man. I
know she’s a nice girl, but you own a bar, and two years in she still hasn’t
gotten over it. If Katie freaked out every time I went to work there’s no way
we’d still be together.”
    “She’s going to care until they
break up,” says Sylvan, putting so much sugar in his coffee I’m surprised
there’s any left for the table.
    “She doesn’t freak out and let’s
talk about anything else,” I mutter.
    Once I order, bacon, eggs, whole
wheat toast, and home fries, we shift topics. The guys can see I don’t want to
talk about Jessie. She’s my girlfriend and I care about her. I love Jessie as
much as I can love anyone, and I’m relieved to have found her.
    We talk about sports and about
crazy nights at the bar. We talk about what Ben’s going to do once the summer
finishes and there isn’t as much work for him at the bar. We talk about
Sylvan’s older brother, who was in a car accident a couple of years ago and
never fully recovered, then we return to talking about sports. We’ve been here
for almost two hours when I get a text. I glance down and see that it’s from
Jessie. She’s bailing on our run because she has work to do, and she wants to
know if she should stop in at the bar later on.
    “See?” says Ben, shaking his
head. “She doesn’t get that you can’t have your girl coming around all the
time.”
    “I’ll just tell her I think it’ll
be a busy night,” I say. A quick flash of wonder shoots through me and I pause.
I wonder whether I’m telling her that because I don’t want her at the bar, or
because a small part of me hopes that Nora will come in tonight and I don’t
want to kiss Jessie in front of her. That’s crazy, isn’t it? I shake my head
and type out the