Page 68 of One Last Time

I shook my head. “It’s okay, I’ve got this.”

Marching over to the table, a fresh jug of water clutched in my hands, I plastered on a smile. “Hi. My name’s Elle and I’ll be your server this afternoon. Can I start you guys off with some water?”

They barely paid me any attention, too wrapped up in a heated debate about who’d had the best day out on the waves. One guy grunted and waved absently at me, not even looking over. “Sure, sweetheart.”

Wow, what a charmer.

I poured their water and cleared my throat. “So, the soup of the day is leek and potato. Our specials are lobster rolls with avocado, which I’d highly recommend, and a chickpea-and-halloumi burger with—”

“How about dessert?” one of the guys asked, turning to me with a cocky grin.

“Uh…sure. The dessert special today is a hot fudge sundae with cherries or banana sorbet.”

“What about you?” the first guy asked. “Are you on the menu, sweetheart?”

I gave him a flat smile. “Sadly, we’re all out of single waitresses, and it looks like you’re all out of pickup lines.”

A couple of the guys laughed at their buddy, but he was persistent. “Aw, come on. How about you give me your number, baby?”

“How about I get my manager to throw you guys out?” I offered, batting my eyelashes.

“Quit it, dude,” the guy in the corner muttered, shoving his friend’s arm. “I’m starving.”

“I’ll give you a minute to check out the menus and then be back to take your order.”

“I know what I’m checking out,” one of them said as I turned around, and a hand pinched my butt.

I whirled around, upending the water pitcher.

“Ohh, I’m so sorry,sweetheart,” I told him in a sickly sweet voice. Grabby guy was drenched, and his friends were trying and failing to stifle their laughter as he gasped, sputtering and wiping his face.

“Bitch,” he snapped at me.

“Guilty as charged!” I told him in a gleeful tone. “Now please leave, before I ask our chef to come out here and make you leave. He’s a real pro with a meat tenderizer.”

Grumbling, the group clambered out of the booth. The guy who’d asked if I was on the menu mumbled an unenthusiastic sorry at me, and another one shoved the grabby guy, telling him, “You’re such an asshole. That lobster roll sounded so good.”

I gave them a bright smile, following them to the door and waving. “Don’t come back soon!”

Turning around, I spotted May gathering up an order from the kitchen. She arched a penciled eyebrow at me and I winced.

“Sorry. I’ll clean it up now.”

“You handled those douche-bros like a pro,” she told me instead. “And go on, get out of here. Haven’t you got a little brother to pick up? Melvin—paper towels in section five, please!”

I ducked into the back to grab my backpack. I didn’t bother to change out of my uniform, deciding I could do that once I was back at home. And it was just as well May let me clock out a couple of minutes early and I didn’t waste time changing my clothes, since I drove straight into traffic. The freeway was down to one lane and I crawled along, grumbling under my breath, watching the time slip past on the clock on the dash.

By the time I got to the field where Brad’s baseball camp was taking place, there were only a few stragglers hanging around. The parking lot was mostly empty. Two moms were standing outside their cars smoking while their kids played catch. I jumped out of the car, searching through the kids still hanging around, but saw no sign of Brad.

Fear curling like a fist around my heart, I ran to the squat brick building off the field. There was a mess hall being cleaned up, where a couple of the coaches sat talking over some papers without even sparing me a glance, but no Brad.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

Okay, Elle. No need to panic. This is fine.

My legs shook as I returned to my car, fumbling with my cell phone to dial Dad. It rang twice before I was sent to voice mail and I hung up.

A text buzzed through only seconds later.