Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“Whatcha think, ma?” Ricky, my manager, a walking, talking HR nightmare, but in the sweetest way possible, asked as the bell announced my presence, making him look up from where he was stocking the sausages into the case.
“Wow,” I said, shaking my head. “New uniforms?” I asked, spotting his black t-shirt with the company logo on the front.
“Yep. Better than those white chef coat things we had to wear before. They’re in a box in the back. No one’s gonna be fighting over your baby sizes,” he said, shooting me a smirk.
Ricky had probably been a real ladies’ man in his day. But now, he was a married guy with four teenagers and a wife who was constantly on his ass about losing a few pounds because his blood pressure was out of control.
He called me every kind of pet name that would have him out on his ass in any other company and asked far too many personal questions of all his subordinates.
But we all adored him.
So did the customers.
“Is everything else still the same?” I asked, waving down at my black jeans and sneakers.
“Yeah. Wear what you got. They mostly just see us from the waist up anyway.”
I didn’t expect for the back to be very different.
But instead of walking straight into the butchering room with the drain in the floor, I was diverted to a small room running alongside it. You could still see in that room, thanks to the floor-to-ceiling acrylic walls it was now enclosed in, but this allowed for there to be a tiny little employee room.
The same tile wood floor and white tile walls followed me back there. Sitting on a stainless steel prep station was a box full of t-shirts. I found my size and snatched them all up since, Ricky was right, no one else would fit in them.
Turning, I saw that we all had gotten little lockers to store our stuff in.
“Nice,” I said, seeing my name on one of the labels.
“You approve?” a voice asked, making my spine do that shiver thing again.
Even as I heard him, I smelled that cigar and woodsmoke scent I associated with him.
Did I take a deep breath? Yes, yes, I did.
But then I turned, shooting him what I hoped was a friendly smile. “It’s amazing,” I told him, meaning it. “It’s going to be much easier to clean this way,” I added, shoving my purse and my extra tees into my little square locker.
Then I reached down to pull off my current shirt.
Did Rico’s eyes widen? Or was that just wishful thinking?
I wasn’t stripping in front of my boss. No matter how much I may have wanted to do just that. I had a tank top on under my shirt. But it did show off a satisfying amount of skin. And I got to watch Rico’s gaze slip there, see his eyes go heavy-lidded for a second before he caught himself and looked away.
“These are nice t-shirts too,” I said as I slipped it on, reaching down to shove the hem into the waistband of my pants.
“Figured it made more sense to spend on quality shit that will last than have to keep re-buying the cheap ones.”
“I stole all of them in my size,” I told him.
“Got ‘em all for you,” he said, shrugging it off.
He looked like he was about to say something when the door to my side opened, bringing in that blue-haired, dainty little woman I’d seen around more than a few times.
“We need to talk,” she told Rico, making him nod and move in her direction to the hall around the butchering room to, I figured, his office.
Jealousy, hot and intense, surged through my belly and up my chest before I even knew it existed as I imagined Rico with that woman. Saff, I think I heard someone call her once.
Was that his type?
I hated the way I immediately started comparing our faces, our bodies. Saff was short. I was not that short. She had thick thighs. Mine were, you know, average. She was kind of flatter on top. I’d always kind of taken some pride in my boobs. But we both had feminine faces and dyed hair. She…
“God, stop,” I grumbled at myself as I slammed my locker shut.
If that was who he liked, that was who he liked. There was no reason to compare two attractive women based on someone else’s preferences.
So I tried to think of anything else as I helped Ricky prep the shop for opening. Then, blessedly, it was a line out of the door for hours, making it impossible to think of anything but the work.
It was coming up on closing when things finally died down, giving me time to start really scrubbing down the place.
“I’m gonna take the garbage out to the trash,” Ricky, the only other employee left, told me as he lifted a black bag out of the trash next to the register.