From Ashes

He glanced over his shoulder with that crooked smile that was really too adorable for his own good. “That obvious, huh?”

I shrugged. “Maybe I’m just observant.”

“Maybe . . . or maybe you’re just checking me out.”

My eyes widened and my stupid cheeks instantly filled with heat. “Uh, no. Definitely not.”

“Not like I haven’t been doing the same to you.”

“Jesse . . .” I began to tell him about Gage but his grin and laughing eyes fell as his hand went back to his leg. “You know I don’t mind if you check your phone as long as it doesn’t interfere with taking or filling orders. If you want to run to the back and take a ten-minute break, I’ll cover.”

He glanced down to his thick-banded watch. “Cassi, you were supposed to be off five minutes ago.”

“Well, whoever it is obviously needs to talk to you if they’ve called you four times in a row. I’m fine, go take a break.”

Jesse shook his head and tried to force a smile but didn’t succeed. “I’m sorry, but I know who it is and it’s most likely an emergency. I won’t take my full break, I’ll be right back, I swear.”

I finished stocking the bar, checked the whipped creams and syrups to make sure they weren’t going to be running out any time soon, and stocked the cups just as Jenn came back in.

“So sorry! There was a line at the bank that took forever. I’m here now, go home. And Lori told me about your lunch, Cassi.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “You should actually be taking your lunch, not just saying you are.”

“They were slammed all morning, it wouldn’t have been right to leave.” I punched in my numbers to clock out and leaned over to her. “Hey, I sent Jesse on a ten; his phone kept going off in his pocket and he looked nervous about it. I mean, it was on vibrate and all, but every time it went off, his face just dropped and got really pale. Whoever it was called four times in a row that I noticed. They could have been calling for longer. He said he knew who was calling and it was probably an emergency. He’s in the back right now and I’ll see if he’s good before I head out, but I just wanted to warn you. I don’t know what the emergency is or if it’s something that’ll make him have to leave; in case it is I didn’t want you to be blindsided.”

“Oh, that sucks.” She chewed on her bottom lip as she looked over the schedule to see who was coming in next. “Hmm, well if he has to, at least we have two more people coming in within the hour.” Jenn looked quickly to the door that led to the back, then leaned closer. “He’s seriously hot though, right?”

I untied my apron and moved it over my head. “Jesse? Yeah, I guess.” No I guess about that guy; he was some serious eye candy. But when compared to Gage? There really was no competition. Jesse was probably a little shorter than Ty and had naturally olive-tan skin with eyes so dark they were almost black, matching his short hair. Like Ty, though, he looked like he’d spent a lot of time at the gym. And while it looked good on him, especially in the white button-down shirt he was wearing with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, I preferred Gage’s longer muscles from working on the ranch all his life rather than the compacted ones the guys got from bulking up in a gym.

“You guess? Oh, Cassi, I know you’re taken, but, girl, I know you’re not blind. Now go see if he’s coming back, then get your ass home.”

“Yeah, yeah . . . I’m leaving.” I walked to the back and tried not to make it obvious I was walking silently so I could hear Jesse’s conversation.

“Do you need me to come home? . . . You sure? . . . Yeah, okay . . . Don’t worry about it, I’ll get another job . . . No, I don’t want you to worry, I’m serious, I’m gonna take care of you, all right? . . . All right, love you too, see you when I get home.” As I silently rounded the corner, Jesse dropped to the chair at the desk and let his head fall into his hands. “Son of a bitch.”

I cleared my throat and felt guilty for eavesdropping when he spun around quickly. “Everything okay, or do you need to leave?”

He stood and shook his head. “Nah, I’m good. Thanks for giving me that break.”

“Of course . . . Uh, Jesse? Are we going to have to look for someone else to work mornings?” When his expression turned to complete confusion, I continued. “I heard you say you were going to get another job?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that. I just need to get an additional job for a while.” His face was so tortured I had the oddest urge to hug him.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No—” His phone started vibrating again and he dragged his hand roughly over his head before answering it. “Yeah, Ma? . . . No, that’s fine, I’ll pick some up on my way home . . . do you need anything else? . . . Okay, if you do just call and leave a message, I’m about to go back to work . . . Love you too.” Jesse sighed deeply and glanced up at me from under thick lashes as he tapped his phone in his hand a few times. “My mom is dying. She’s got cancer and now it’s just spreading real fast. Dad was always a douche, but as soon as she found out she had cancer over a year ago, he bailed and took all the money. She hadn’t worked a day since they married and couldn’t really start back up then. I’d been in the air force for almost four years when we found out. I kept sending her all my money, but she can’t even take care of herself anymore. So when it came time to reenlist just a month and a half later, I decided not to and moved back. I’ve been going to the police academy at night and have been working a few odds-and-ends jobs, but with her bills my money ran out kinda quick.” He looked around, embarrassed, and took another deep breath in. “So here I am. Really I would have taken any job that paid somewhat decent and had benefits, but it’s not cutting it.” He lifted up the phone as if to say that’s what the call had been about. “I’m about to graduate from the academy, but then I still have to apply to departments and who knows how long it’ll take to get hired on somewhere. So, as you now know, I gotta find something to go with Starbucks for now.”