“Hey, it’s Kenzie. You didn’t happen to give Jonas my location, did you? I’m pretty sure he is at Desert Pointe looking for me right now. I mean, I think it was him. I...”
I paused midsentence. What if it wasn’t him after all? There was more than one man on this planet with red hair. It could’ve been anyone. Even if Reece did blabber to him, he would have no reason to look for me. I’d shown him how crazy I was once again, and that would scare even the horniest of guys away. It didn’t take long for me to convince myself of that, and I just hung up without actually sending my voicemail.
I placed my phone onto my desk. After regulating my breathing, I stood up and grabbed my clipboard. The restaurant would be closing soon, and I would hopefully have most of the inventory done. In the morning, I had to place my order, so I would just forget this potential sense of déjà vu, and continue on like business as usual.
I glanced at my reflection in the mirror on the other side of my door. I looked a bit pale, and my hair was somewhat tousled, but otherwise, there was no outer sign of my distress. I ran my hands down my stomach as flattened my shirt. It’d gotten bunched up somehow. I took another deep breath as I looked over my shoulder at the wall clock. Desert Pointe would be closing in fifteen minutes and if all went well with inventory, I would be done with it all in an hour and on my way home.
I left my office, leaving my phone and keys. I’d be back and no one would bother them while they were there. All I needed was this clipboard and my pen, and a little bit of time. I ran into Julia halfway to the storage room.
“Did that guest leave?”
“Uhh... yes, he did. I told him what you told me to, and after his coffee, he left.”
I knew I was still being irrational, but I had to know. “Did he leave a name or pay with a credit card?”
She shook her head. “He paid with a hundred, then left. It was my best tip of the night.”
It could’ve been him, but the fact that he didn’t try to come onto her had me thinking I was just imagining things. While I liked to blame Jonas for everything bad in my life, the truth was that I had fallen prey to my own self destruction more than once.
“Was there anything else?” she asked me.
“No, Julia. Thank you.” As she went to walk away, I remembered something. “On a second thought, I am doing inventory tonight so after cleaning up your last tables, you all can go ahead and leave.”
I didn’t want to be bothered having to keep going out front to check the stations and sections for each member of the waitstaff. I wanted to get this done, then I could return to my sister’s place and have the drink I so desperately needed. Once Julia acknowledged my request, she went back out front, and I headed to the storage room. There were so many shelves, and before I got started, I placed a heavy box in front of the door to hold it open before I began counting cases, cans, and bottles on the first of seven racks.
This was going to be a long and tedious task. I worked my way from the top to the bottom, and swore I needed to either organize the shelves more efficiently, or else change the location of the items on the spreadsheets. I finished the first rack, then moved on to the second. About a half hour later, I was on the third one. I began at the bottom this time and when I rose fully and stretched, I heard the sound of a door click. I nearly jumped out of my skin, and when I spun around, the room began to spin around me.
“Jonas?”