Boss Daddy: A Secret Baby Romance by Black, L. (good books for high schoolers .TXT) 📕

read it as I headed toward my car. Predictably, it was from Ethan. I could almost hear the slurring in the words as I read them. But it wasn’t the same whininess. He was getting angry. The message told me he just wanted to talk, and I needed to stop behaving like a child.

That was far from the first time I’d heard him say that to me. Accusing me of acting like a child and telling me I needed to grow up was a favorite go-to of his. Anytime I didn’t go along with what he wanted or tried to demand he show me more respect, he told me I was acting like a child and needed to grow up. As if there was a level of maturity I needed to reach when I would come to the conclusion that being mistreated was acceptable, and that there was no such thing as an actual happy relationship.

I didn’t bother to respond. There was nothing for me to say to him, and I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of any more of my attention. Sitting in my car, I blocked his email address, then tossed my phone onto the passenger seat and drove to work. On the way, I wondered if I should change my phone number and email address again.

Going through all that was so much of a hassle, and it made me angry and feel even more out of sorts to think about having to do it all again because of Ethan. I was still fuming when I got to The Hollow and stomped up to the bar. Ava was standing behind it, and she stopped what she was doing to look at me.

“You okay?” she asked.

“It’s just one of those days,” I told her.

“Don’t I know it.” She shook her head as she went back to cleaning the glasses. “Our little one is sick, so Mason is home taking care of him. This place was a mess when I got here, and there were all kinds of things wrong, and I had to fire the guy who had been coming in to help behind the bar.”

“Let’s just blow it all off and run for the border,” I suggested.

Ava laughed. “Sounds like a plan. Canada it is.” That brought a little bit of a laugh, and she smiled at me. “So, what’s going on with you? Did something happen?”

“My ex called me,” I said. “I haven’t talked to him since I left and moved here. He was drunk and obnoxious, which is kind of him most of the time, but it really got to me. Now I have to change my phone number and email address again. Which seriously pisses me off. I know that sounds ridiculous. But I don’t even know how he got them, and I had to go through all that when I moved here.

“It’s not even the phone number that bothers me that much. It’s not like I hand that out to a lot of people anyway. It’s the email address. I’m going to have to go to everything and change it. My bills. My landlord. My bank.” I looked at Ava and saw her staring at me, one eyebrow cocked up. I let out a sigh. “I sound like a crazy person right now, don’t I?”

“I mean… a little. But I get it. It’s justifiable crazy. It’s not so much about the email address. It’s about him coming back into your life and causing disruption.”

I nodded, but before I could say anything else, the office door opened, and Matt came out. He was shaking his head.

“None of them are available,” he said. “I called everybody.”

“Damn it,” Ava said, shaking her head. “Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“We’re short two bartenders tonight, and it’s going to be a busy night. We were trying to find one of the people who sometimes comes in to fill in, but there isn’t anybody. Mason is home to take care of Robert, and Mom is sick too, so he can’t come in. It’s just a mess,” Ava said.

“What’s going on?” Jordan asked, coming through the door, and looking at us with a questioning expression.

Ava explained the situation, and Jordan pointed at me. “What about Hannah? I’ve been helping her behind the bar. Tonight would be a great chance for her to try everything out.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “It’s not like you’ve taught me everything, and I’ve definitely never done anything on a night that’s going to be busy like tonight. I don’t want to mess anything up.”

“You can do it,” Jordan said. “You’ve been doing great.”

“Please help us out,” Ava said. “It will be a disaster here if we are short two bartenders all night. I’ll be right here with you, and Jordan is working behind the bar tonight, too.”

They were all looking at me hopefully, and I finally relented. “Alright. I’ll try. But I can’t promise anything. Honestly, it might be a disaster anyway.”

Ava laughed. “It’s going to be fine. I know it.”

It wasn’t fine. At least, it didn’t start that way. I was frazzled, distracted, and nervous, and the first several attempts at making drinks were complete failures. But finally, Jordan stepped in and reminded me of everything he’d already taught me. I relaxed and settled into the rhythm of the night, deciding to just let myself enjoy it rather than worrying so much about it.

It turned out to be a really fun shift that let me push Ethan out of my head and get my thoughts back to this life rather than the one I’d left behind. By the end of the night, I had a pocket stuffed with tips that far outweighed even my serving tips, and Ava was already asking me to be backup for the bar more often. I left smiling and felt much better heading back home than I had on the way to work.

11 Jordan

Tom was in town again, so that meant dinner at Mom’s. I