I could tell she was nervous, her hands fidgeting with her dress as she tried to look confident. Without trying to sound condescending, it was actually adorable. She seemed so incredibly nice, Mack deserving someone decent after the nightmare that was his ex-wife. Maybe Jared and I weren’t the only ones destined for a happily ever after.
“Oh no, it’s not too much. And his eyes are going to launch out of his head, trust me.” I laughed, trying to reassure her. “If I didn’t have to go to work, I’d stick around just to see it.”
“You need to go?” she asked, looking a little nervous.
“Yeah, I like to be at the club early. Meet with my front of house and security before it gets busy. Once the doors open, I like to be on the floor.” I checked the time on my phone again. Shit. It was already well after six. “And I’d have already been there if my pain-in-the-ass brother hadn’t texted me to meet him here. Not sure why he couldn’t just have left me a message. Weekends are insane for me.”
“Is it as exciting as it sounds? Running a nightclub.” Her eyes warmed with kindness, but nervously flicked around the stationhouse like she wasn’t looking forward to being left alone. And to be honest, I hadn’t really found out anything interesting, so I wasn’t ready for the conversation to end either.
I laughed, already deciding to invite her to come with me. “It has its moments. You want to come hangout with me until they get back? It’s not far, and at least there I can buy you a drink.”
She couldn’t agree fast enough, the, “Yes, I’d love that,” flying out of her mouth the minute I’d asked.
“Then let’s get out of here. I’ll text Tibbs and let him know you’re with me. Mack can call you when he gets back.” I tossed the phone back into my handbag, motioning to the door as I smiled. “I should probably let you know I have ulterior motives. Chief hasn’t dated anyone seriously since he split up with his wife. Well, not anyone we’ve seen. And considering the amount of time he spends with my brother—who no shit couldn’t keep a secret if his life depended on it—we would’ve totally known if he had. There’s been no one. Well, not until you. So, naturally I want to know everything.”
She smiled too, a breath of relief escaping her lips as she nodded her head. “Hey, if you’re buying me drinks, I’ll tell you anything you want to know. I’m pretty much a lightweight these days.”
“Oh, we’re gonna have some fun tonight.” I pulled open the door and led us back out to the street.
It wasn’t far, Diablo only two blocks from the stationhouse which made it a really quick walk. Hayden still seemed a little tense, her gray eyes widening as we walked inside the club.
“The owner is an investor from Hong Kong. As long as I keep up profits, he doesn’t care what I do with it. It’s a rare thing, usually they want to interfere or assume I need my hand held because I’m a woman. Doesn’t matter I have a business degree and worked in clubs all through college. In this world, unless you have a penis, they want you either serving their drinks or dancing on a pole, and they can kiss my ass if I’m doing either of those things.”
I hoped by sharing a little information it would help her relax. Last thing I wanted to do was make her feel uncomfortable, and judging by her body language she was way out of her comfort zone.
“So what about you? What do you do?” I asked as we settled at the bar.
Staff had started to come in but were largely ignoring us. It wasn’t uncommon for me to take meetings just before opening, and they knew enough not to bother me unless it was urgent when I had company. Bennett looked over nodding his head in greeting, while I grabbed some bottles from behind me and waited for Hayden’s answer.
“I’m a sales associate at Target. And do some medical transcription at home. It pays the bills.” I could hear in her tone how much she hated her job, almost as if she was ashamed of it. I hated that for her.
“Well, I sure as hell wouldn’t turn down that discount.” I shrugged, lowering two glasses on the bar. “I can’t go into the place without spending like a hundred bucks. Last week I went in for a throw rug and ended up with a cart full of stuff I didn’t need. Oh, and I totally forgot the throw rug so had to go back.”
Hank asked if I wanted him to take over, but I assured him we were fine, Hayden and I laughing about how much money we unnecessarily spent in Target while he continued to set up the bar.
“They have a lot of respect for you. Lots of bosses would have sat down, asked for drinks, not caring about what they had to get done.” She nodded to Hank. “I bet they love working here.”
I looked over at my bar manager, smiling because he was ignoring us. “It’s not hard to treat people with respect. And just because I have a degree doesn’t make me any more important than any of them. You can replace a club manager fairly easily, but good staff are hard to find. The place would fall in a heap. And I’m not above making my own drinks. I said I wouldn’t make them for misogynistic assholes, but for us is a different story.” I grinned, pouring the vodka, topping up with soda then dropping in some of the freshly cut lime. “So tell me, Hayden. You like working at Target? And I say that with no judgment. But I did warn you I was going to pry, and I get the feeling it wasn’t the dream job you had in mind.”
She sighed as I handed her a vodka and soda, telling me she’d dropped out of college her second year and her life got stuck in a rut. She’d done odd jobs here and there where she could, landing in retail because it was reliable.
“Wow, this is really good.” She nodded to the drink.
“Thanks, but it’s hard to mess up a lime, vodka and soda. I leave all the fancy stuff to the professionals. And you still haven’t answered my question. All you did was justify why you’re there.”
I wasn’t trying to put her on the spot or make her feel unwelcome. But as someone who was finally about to realize her dream, I wished that for other women too. So many times we were asked to settle. To wait our turn, to be happy with the scrapes we were given. And that wasn’t close enough to what we deserved. I could already tell Hayden deserved more too.
“It’s okay. Am I happy? No, not really, but I’d be less happy if I was unemployed and living on the streets.” Surprisingly she didn’t stop there, giving me a detailed explanation of the type of work she’d do if given a chance. She was incredibly analytical, very clear in the operational requirements of businesses, and what was involved in risk assessment and compliance. It was so refreshing, lacking the starchy, boring language that came from someone usually in the field.
She was clearly smart, her current retail role not even close to reaching her potential. And just like David had taken a risk on me, I’d easily hire someone who didn’t necessarily have the “right” qualifications if they had the right attitude and could think on their feet.
“It’s not too late.” I took a sip from my glass, enjoying the tartness of the lime. “You could take night classes. Online college.”
She laughed, probably assuming I was joking. “Or I could stay at Target and keep my amazing discount.”
There was something about her that was different, and I was pretty good at reading people. She was more than what she was showing on the outside, bottled-up potential that reminded me a lot of . . . well, me. Not sure why I even felt so strongly about it, I mean, we’d just met. And other than knowing Mack was crazy in love with her, I didn’t know a whole lot else. But I wanted to. I wanted to help her in some way, and had a hunch she’d be an amazing part of my team.