Page 17 of Hutch (Minnesota Raptors #2)

Daisy

Yawning, I wash my hands for the millionth time since I clocked on a few hours ago.

I’d forgotten how hard this job is on a person’s skin.

I am going to have to go buy some of the Gold Bond’s diabetic lotion.

That stuff makes your skin feel as soft as a baby’s.

My best friend in high school was diabetic and she introduced me to the joy of that particular brand of lotion.

Might not smell all sweet, but it works miracles.

Today is my first training shift. The job is fairly straight forward and simple, though.

I take orders, bring orders out, clean in between and whatever else the manager asks of us.

There’s an entire closing chore sheet at the end of the night that’s three pages long, but I don’t mind it.

Hard work is what I grew up on. If it wasn’t working to earn money, it was helping Nana in her garden.

She had someone come and plow her fields and we planted a garden that gave us a huge yield and got us through a lot of winters. I miss gardening.

Maybe one day I can buy my own land and have a small garden again. I do enjoy planting flowers, but vegetables are what I know best.

“How you doing?” Krista asks as she comes over and sits down beside me where I’m refilling salt and pepper shakers.

“Nice to sit down for a minute.”

She laughs. “Girl we all groaned when you were given that job. I guess Debbie doesn’t want to run you off the first day on the job.”

“My feet are killing me even with my New Balances . It’s been a while since I’ve been on my feet this long.”

“You’ll get used to it in a few days.”

“I know. I’ve waited tables before.”

“You’re really good at it. Picked everything up faster than most of the other girls. At least I don’t have to worry about telling you to do something and come back an hour later to find it’s not been done.”

“Keeping busy helps to pass the time.”

“You’re off the weekend, so you won’t even be here to see the worst of it.”

I’m working Monday through Friday this week for training and I won’t be back on until Wednesday for my first official weekend rotation. The manager rotates everyone one weekend on and one off so as not to burn people out. I appreciate that.

Honestly, I’d rather have worked this weekend, but Krista is training me and it’s her weekend off, so I’m sort of stuck in my training schedule.

Maybe someone will call in and they might call me.

I already told Debbie, the manager, I have no issues coming in to cover shifts as long as it doesn’t impact my school schedule.

I do have late labs on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Like Christa, I gave them my class schedule so there’s no what if’s.

“I might come in and grab a bite to eat so I can see the worst of it.”

She laughs. “Not a bad idea. We have home games for football and hockey this weekend so we’ll get a few more customers than usual. Not a lot of the sports guys come in, but we get a few.”

“I remember you telling me that. They all head out to the other side of town don’t they?”

“Yeah. We tend to get the quieter scene.”

The little bell over the door jingles letting us know we have customers.

Christa groans and waves me down when I go to get up.

“You finish that. I’ll handle the new guys if they sit in your section.

It’s almost quitting time anyway. You might as well get started on the closing list when you’re done. ”

She can have them. I might not be sneezing and snotting all over the place, but I’m tired.

Whatever gunk I had wiped me out. I can’t wait for it to completely work its way out of my system.

Because Gran was so sick, I constantly made sure I wore a mask when I went out so I wouldn’t bring any kind of sickness back to her.

I stopped doing that after she died. I guess my immune system wasn’t up to snuff and when I got sick, I really got sick.

“Hey.”

Of course it’s him. Why am I not surprised? He showed up this morning at class with coffee and a smile. He’s hard to ignore simply because he won’t let me ignore him.

“This isn’t a place to sit down.”

He sits down across from me anyway.

“Me and some of the guys came to get some food, but Krista said you were busy. I just wanted to come check on you.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re cranky.”

“That too.”

“I’d offer to get you more coffee, but if you’re like me, you won’t get to sleep no matter how tired you might be if you’re hopped up on caffeine.”

“I drink a can of cherry Dr. Pepper before bed every single night.” I glance up to see him looking at me like I’ve grown horns. “What?”

He shakes his head. “I will make sure to keep a case of that crap at the house. Just in case you ever come over to hang out.”

Not gonna happen.

“You put your order in with Christa?”

“Yeah. Not a lot I can eat here, though.”

“Is that why you guys don’t hang out here even though it’s closer?”

He nods. “This is more of a bar with greasy foods as opposed to a place that caters to the athletes.”

“You ever talked to the manager about it?”

“No.”

“Then maybe ask her about it if you don’t want to go so far off campus.”

“I’ll do that.”

Why the hell did I tell him to do that? It’s better for him to be on the other side of town. I won’t have to deal with him then.

“What did you order?”

“Wings and fries.”

I grimace. He doesn’t need that.

“That’s the face I made when I put the order in.”

Considering how many athletes are on campus, I’m shocked this place doesn’t have healthier options on their menus, bar food or not. It wouldn’t be hard to offer a few items that cater just to them.

“Most of the team doesn’t really care too much, but those of us trying to make the NHL, well, we have to eat better than they do. I got that drilled into my head by one of the Raptor players who chewed me out over eating a burger, fries, and a milkshake.”

“Yeah, you can’t eat that crap. Joseph…” I cut myself off when I start to talk about my ex’s diet and how hardcore he went on it.

“Who’s Joseph?”

“My ex.” I load up the last salt shaker and stand, picking up the tray. “I have to get back to this. You should go hang out with your friends and maybe don’t eat too many wings. Grab something at home.”

He smiles. “Don’t want to talk about him?”

“Not in this century.”

“Cool. We don’t have to talk about him. When do you get off shift?”

“An hour after we close. Then I’m getting a shower and going to bed.”

“So no late night chats, huh?”

“Nope.”

“Fine. You have classes early tomorrow?”

“No. I don’t have class until one. It’s my lab day.”

“How about I take you to breakfast then? My treat.”

“I’m sleeping in tomorrow.”

“I have practice in the morning and a lab tomorrow later in the day. I was thinking we could go get breakfast at around ten or eleven. You get to sleep in and I get breakfast before class.”

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to be your friend?”

My eyes narrow. “That’s all?”

“That’s all.”

“Fine, but I don’t want you to pay for my food.”

“Fine, but I will pick you up.”

“Fine.”

He gives me a cheeky grin and waltzes away toward the large group of guys who are probably all hockey players.

They laugh when he sits down and he just shakes his head.

Several girls approach the table and try to get his attention.

He looks up, smiles, and then goes back to talking to his friends.

Undeterred, one of them tries to sit in his lap.

He stops talking, says something, and then ignores her.

Two of the other guys offer them seats and they slide over to them, taking laps and the other available space in the booth.

Joseph would have offered his own lap. I found out about that after we broke up, but when we were dating and I was working, he was always free with his attention. That hurt a lot when I found out.

Shaking my head, I turn back to the chore of placing the full shakers back out onto the tables.

Hutch is different than the guys I’m used to.

Granted, the guys I knew were asshole jocks who thought they were God’s gift.

I grew up with that and didn’t realize how fucked it was until I got fucked over by someone who professed their love for me then cheated repeatedly.

The cheating I didn’t know about until after, but it made me look at the people I grew up with in a whole new light.

Not only that, but the culture itself. Its why I’m determined not to fall back into that trap again.

Even if the guy doesn’t seem anything like the boys I grew up with.

I can hear Nana telling me not to judge everyone by one bad apple. I’m just not ready to hear it yet.

Glancing back toward Hutch’s table, I shake my head again. I’m too tired to deal with these kinds of thoughts. Best to get this list started so we won’t have to be here long after close.

Ignoring him for the minute, I set about the list of closing chores. I can deal with him tomorrow.