Page 4 of Mac (Demented Souls #7)

E lyse sat in her small office and dropped her head into her hands.

Three people had called in sick today, now they didn't have enough staff to keep the store open.

She would have to work the shift, meaning a twelve-hour day, instead of eight.

On top of having already spent the morning covering for someone else.

Paperwork in here was piling up, but she didn't have much choice.

The counters had to be manned and customers dealt with or none of them would have jobs.

Shaking her head, she jotted a note to go through the applications people had filed lately and make a few calls.

They needed more people so she could get her job done, not everyone else's.

She took a deep breath and stood. Sitting here wishing things were different wouldn't change anything. She might as well get up and get busy. At least the rest of the day would pass faster that way.

S he couldn't help the relieved sigh that escaped as she all but collapsed into her recliner and put the feet up.

Eight hours on her feet was bad enough, but twelve?

She hated those days. But thankfully, they didn't come often.

She hadn't had time to go through applications.

By the time they'd locked the doors she'd barely had the energy to close out registers and deal with the cash.

Tomorrow would be a pain because of that.

Her stomach rumbled, reminding her between covering the two shifts, she hadn't had time to eat lunch.

She briefly considered cooking, but that would be standing to do it and that was so not going to happen.

Delivery it was. There were a few places that delivered here, but the only one that sounded good tonight was pizza.

A quick call to the number saved into her phone and she could lean back and wait.

She considered turning on the TV, but when she looked around, she realized she'd left the remote across the room and she just didn't have the energy to go get it right now. Maybe by the time the pizza arrived she'd have enough energy to get up and answer the door.

T he doorbell startled her awake, making her gasp. A glance at the window brought it all back. Her long day, her aching feet, the pizza.

"Coming" she called, as she flipped the footrest down and pushed herself to her feet.

"Sorry about that." Elyse opened the door and found the delivery driver there waiting.

She tipped him and took the pizza then watched him head back to his car before glancing around.

The street was quiet, which was part of why she'd bought here.

She loved the look of the ranch houses sprawled on the oversized lots, even if they were a little closer together than she would have liked.

And the yard had already had desert landscaping done, so she didn't have to do much to maintain it or invest in having it done.

A glance over at her neighbor’s yard made her wish for a moment she had grass, like his neatly mown yard.

Who would have imagined the rough biker would keep such a beautiful yard?

The pale light on in his front window, and the flickering of the TV told her he was likely home.

What would he say if she knocked on his door and invited her to join her?

Elyse shook her head and went back inside.

What interest would the hot biker with the sexy, mysterious accent have in a bookstore manager?

She lived the most boring life she knew.

Even her family thought her job was boring.

She took the pizza to the kitchen, put a couple slices on a plate and carried them back into the living room as she thought about her family and things they'd said about her job.

She did remember to grab the remote and turned on the TV in order to block out the voices in her head.

Who wanted to hear that she could do better, why was she stuck there and so much more?

Flipping through the channels she pushed the criticisms from her mind and wondered what Mac might be watching?

Probably something exciting, or fun, like a football game or some kind of race, she decided as she settled on a documentary about the Vietnam war and the aftereffects it had on the country.

It didn't take long for her to become absorbed and forget about the other things.

A hand smoothed down her cheek. A few words whispered into her ear told her the hand belonged to Mac, her sexy neighbor. She leaned into him and hoped he'd kiss her. He leaned close. Elyse waited, hoping it would happen soon. He hung in the air just above her for what seemed like an eternity.

The scream of her alarm pulled her back to reality.

Elyse slapped at the clock to make it shut up and wished she could lay back down and pull the dream back, but she knew from experience there was no getting it back.

With a sigh, she pushed herself out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

If she couldn't get the dream back, she might as well get up and get dressed.

She shuffled into the kitchen to start the coffee pot and found she'd forgotten to set it up the night before.

Frustrated with herself, she made coffee and waited for it to finish perking.

As she poured her first cup, the sound of a motorcycle accelerating up the street made her look up, then wonder where Mac was headed this early.

He normally didn't pull out for another hour, at least.

At last, the last of the coffee dripped into the pot and she could pour her first cup.

She sipped it still standing in the kitchen in front of the pot, then closed her eyes and sighed as she waited for the slight jolt of caffeine hitting her brain and getting the gears she imagined in there moving.

It wasn't how things worked, she knew that, but it was a nice visual.

As her brain started working, she took another sip then, carried her cup into the bedroom so she could get ready for another day's work.

She could only hope today was easier than yesterday.

That wouldn't take much. Yesterday had been one of the worst she'd had in years.

By the time she was ready for work, there was only a single cup left in the pot.

She filled her travel mug and carried it out to the car with her.

She was a few minutes early but who would care?

besides, maybe she'd get a chance to pull those applications before something else happened to pull her away from them.

As she backed out of her driveway, she saw the lights on at Mac's.

Maybe it hadn't been him who'd left earlier.

But who else would it be? Elyse shook her head and pushed him from her mind.

Now wasn't the time to be mooning over him, though her face heated as the memory of her dream flashed through her head.

No. She turned her thoughts to work again.

That's what needed her attention not random dreams of things she didn't have a hope at.