Page 75 of Sizzle

I clear my throat.

“Thank you, Mrs. Miller,” I say at last. “And thank you for the opportunity. It’s a great building. I’m sure you’ll have no shortage of possible tenants.”

She doesn’t keep me on the phone much longer, thank God. I’m just about tapped out. And there’s still the workday to get through.

And five more days beyond that. Five more days of Duckbill. I wish I’d told her we’d close today. It’s going to kill me, doing this for five more days, knowing the ship is going down.

But I’m the boss. It’s my job. And there are people counting on me. My anger over the gossip is gone. I don’t like it that they’re probably still talking about me and Joelle, but those people rely on me. They’ve been counting on me, some of them for years now, to make sure they’ve got a job and a paycheck.

In the next five days, I have to tell them it’s over. That I’ve failed.

The lunch rush is good, plenty of customers around to keep us busy. To a one, everybody praises Joelle’s menu. Looks like we were headed in the right direction.

Too little too late, though.

Joelle hasn’t looked at me once today. At one point, she actually dropped a box she was sifting through and left the storeroom to avoid being alone with me. I’m sick over it, sick of all of it. I want to throw her over my shoulder, haul her home, and demand she talk to me.

Connie catches me staring at Joelle—and it’s not the first time in the last ten minutes. She dusts off her hands and walks up to me.

“You need to go easy on her,” Connie says in a very low voice. There’s enough of a din back here that we’re not likely to be overheard, but I glance around the room just be sure.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about Joelle,” she says. “You need to back off. You’re making things worse for yourself, hulking around her like this.”

“What do you know about it?” I could win an Oscar with how convincing my moody teenager performance is right now. It’s all I can do not to kick at the floor.

“I know she slept at my place last night, not yours,” says Connie, raising one eyebrow.

That’s the first bit of good news I’ve had today, and Connie seems to know it. The relief is huge.

“You’re a good friend.” I meet her eyes. “Thank you for looking out for her.”

“I wouldn’t have to do it if you’d get your ass in gear, Elliot,” she says. “It’s obvious the girl is crazy about you.”

“She said that?”

“Not my business to be repeating what she might have said,” said Connie with a sniff. “But anybody can see it with their own eyes.” A few beats pass before I answer her.

“It’s complicated.”

For some reason, that sets her off. Connie is laughing so hard the rest of the staff stops talking to stare. Connie just claps me on the shoulder and shakes her head.

“I’ll bet,” she says, heading back to her station. “I’ll just bet it is.”

Shaking my head too, I head back to the office. The door doesn’t click closed behind me and I hear a soft knock.

“Can I speak to you for a minute?” says Joelle.

“You know you don’t have to ask.” I try to offer my chair, but she declines.

“This won’t take long,” she says, keeping her back to the door.

Standing as far away from me as humanly possible.

Something is very wrong.

“I just wanted to thank you for the opportunity to work here,” she says awkwardly. “It’s been… very instructive.”