Earning Edie (Espinoza Boys #1) (14 page)

“The thing is, I don’t have a car with me today.” I glanced down at my phone. “I better call Lily or Nick and see if one of them can help me out.”

“I can do it,” Jaime blurted.

I glanced up to see him rubbing the back of his neck and looking bashful. It was a good look for him.

“I can give you a ride.”

“Oh, but Mason’s having fun.”

“Mason, wanna go for a ride with Edie?” Jaime called.

Mason slurped up his last bite of his ice cream. “Yeah!”

Jaime turned back to me with a smile. “See? No prob. You don’t want to keep your friend waiting, right?”

“Right,” I said, glancing uncertainly at Joy.

She waved a hand. “Go on Edie, I’ve got it.”

I nodded, more sure of myself, and grabbed my purse. “Okay. Thanks, Jaime. She’s by the pool.”

He grabbed some napkins and attempted to clean up Mason, then led the way out of the shop.

I felt a little uneasy accepting a favor from him. We’d been acting like friends for Mason’s benefit, but we were virtually strangers.

All I knew about Jaime Harris was he’d been good friends with the jock crowd, particularly Carlos. I’d pretty much assumed Carlos’ friends were all jerks, but I had to admit I’d never interacted with Jaime or heard anything bad about him.

Once we got outside, he unlocked a black Jeep Cherokee, and I climbed in the passenger seat. The Jeep was clean and still had that new car smell. It fit with Jaime, that aura of wealthy middle-class. He’d never have to worry about scraping up enough money to pay for college.

“So …” Jaime said, jarring me from my envy, as he backed out and headed across town. “That was an interesting ringtone.”

“Yeah, my roommate’s hilarious.”

“You’re out of the house already? You’re an overachiever. Most of us are waiting for college to start, or maybe not even then. I’m going to live with Mom and commute to the state college for at least freshman year.”

The state college was the next town over, and a lot of our classmates would probably be going there. I could only hope I’d be among them. With my small savings, it wasn’t looking good, but maybe I could get in a semester, then take one off to raise money, then do another.

I’d make something work. I had to, because the idea of giving up and waitressing for the rest of my life was enough to make me crazy.

“It wasn’t planned exactly,” I said. “Long story.”

Luckily, he didn’t push for details.

We rode in comfortable silence, intermittently broken up by Mason chattering from the backseat, telling me his favorite colors and TV shows, for the next 10 minutes.

“And here we are,” Jaime announced as we pulled up in front of the pool’s entrance.

I stepped out of the car, pulling out my phone to text Tequila. But there was no need. She came barreling around the corner, her cheeks still tear-streaked, and hugged me tight.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! My mom would have killed me!”

Tequila was wearing a big towel wrapped around a swimsuit, fairly modestly covered, but I knew she wasn’t shy by any means and I was afraid of how little she might have worn to the pool.

I lifted an eyebrow. “And why is that? Does she know you were here?”

“Oh, please don’t tell her, Edie. Please? I learned my lesson, I swear!”

I glanced over my shoulder, to where Jaime and Mason waited in the car. “Go around and get in the back seat. We’ll talk later.”

Once we were on the road again, Tequila chattered incessantly. Part of it was that she was 13; the other half was that she was a chatterbox most of the time, but especially when she was nervous.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt your date,” Tequila offered.

I felt myself blush. “I wasn’t on a date, T. I was at work, remember? I didn’t have a car, so Jaime offered to drive me.”

“I’m offended. How can you deny the truth of our ice cream date at the snack bar of Jumpin’ for Joy,” Jaime cried theatrically.

Tequila giggled, which seemed to be his goal. I smiled at him, trying to give him a silent thank-you.

“That wasn’t a date, that was a meeting of the minds,” I retorted.

“And the tongues!” Tequila chirped from her seat.

“Tequila!”

She giggled. “What? You lick ice cream. Get your mind out of the gutter!”

I looked at Jaime. “See what I have to put up with?”

“Well, if that wasn’t a date, maybe we could have a real ice cream date, same time and place next week?” he asked. “Mason was telling me how much he wants to see you again next Saturday. Right, Mase?”

Mason didn’t answer, busy watching the scenery through the window. Whenever we passed a truck, he shouted it out. At present, he wore a frown, the scene outside showing only cars and vans.

“Mason?” Jaime prompted. “Did you hear me? Do you wanna see Edie—”

“Yeah!” Mason shouted, making me jump. “Please, Edie! Uncle Jaime likes you!”

“Subtle, he’s not,” Jaime muttered to the steering wheel.

I felt something lurch in my chest, and saw Tequila’s eyes go wide in the rearview mirror.

“Oh, um, I don’t think I’m actually working then.”

Jaime looked more disappointed than Mason, who’d resumed his truck monitoring.

“Too bad,” he said quietly, then shifted his gaze to the rearview mirror to see Tequila. “I need some directions.”

“Oh, sorry!”

Tequila proceeded to give him turn-by-turn directions to her house, and we rode the rest of the way in silence, except for when Mason yelled out, “Pickup Truck! White” and “Pickup Truck! Red.”

I should be taking notes or something. Truck roll call.

Jaime pulled up in Tequila’s driveway, and she grabbed her door handle. “Thanks for the ride, Jaime.”

“Call me later, T!”

“Yes, Mother!” She stuck out her tongue before dashing up to her porch.

Jaime reversed out of the driveway and headed back down the street. When he reached a stop sign, I turned to him.

“So—”

Just as he turned to me. “So—”

We both laughed, and I waved a hand. “You go.”

“Okay,” he said. “I know you said you don’t work next Saturday. So, maybe … we could go on a real date? You know, without the ice cream and the screaming and, um, without Mason?”

I stared at him, dumbfounded. Despite his flirting earlier, I didn’t think Jaime seriously liked me. I figured he was one of those guys who charmed everyone.

When it became obvious I didn’t have an answer, he turned back to the road, avoiding my eyes.

“Or not,” he said. “It’s okay. I just thought we had fun today.”

“We did! I’m sorry. You took me by surprise. You really want to go out?”

He laughed nervously. “Well, yeah. I had to coach Mason to ask you to hang out with us next week, which totally didn’t work and was probably pretty obvious anyway.”

I stared at him with wide eyes. “You tried to use your 4-year-old nephew to get a date with me?”

“Pretty pathetic, huh?”

He winced as I stared at him, still a little in shock this cute, charming guy wanted to go on a date with me.

“Nevermind. Don’t answer that,” he said.

“We don’t exactly move in the same circles,” I pointed out. “Oh, and you can just drop me at 12th Street, if that’s okay.”

“I’m gonna drop Mason first. We’re close to his house,” he said. Then added: “So what if we don’t move in the same circles? We’re not in high school anymore.”

“So if we were, you’d never ask me out. Is that it?”

His hands tightened on the wheel.

“No, that’s not it. We never met. I can guarantee that if today happened a few weeks ago, when we were still in school, I still would have begged my nephew to help me get a date with you. That was a stupid idea. I just … like you. I thought we clicked.”

He pulled up to the curb. “Okay, Mason, go inside. Tell your mom I had an errand to run.”

“K. Bye!”

Mason managed to unbuckle his booster seat and climb out of the car on his own. He slammed the door, making Jaime cringe, and ran up to the porch.

Jaime waited until he was inside, and then pulled out his phone and sent a text message. After his phone chimed in reply, he tucked it back into his pocket.

“He’s safe and sound,” Jaime said.

“Sorry I’m cutting into your family time.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re saving me from getting lectured for letting him have too much sugar.”

I winced. “Also my fault.”

Jaime grinned. “Nah, I always do. You saved me today. Man, between having to admit I get too motion sick to jump on bouncy houses for little kids and admitting I used my nephew to try to get a date, I am like 0 for 2 today.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“No?”

“Well, by admitting your motion sickness, you got to spend more time with me and avoided puking all over the bouncy house. Which I appreciate, because I would’ve had to clean it up. And as much as I like you, Jaime, I’m not ready for puke-level intimacy.”

He cracked up, but I could tell from his expression that he was really pleased by my words.

“Plus,” I said, “I haven’t said no to a date.”

“You haven’t?”

“No, I’ve just delayed answering because I was surprised you’d be interested. But I like you too, and I also felt like we clicked. So, yeah. We can go out. That’d be great.”

“Yes!” He pumped a fist into the air playfully, narrowly missing slamming it into the roof. “Operation 4-year-old is a success.”

“Don’t do that again. Seriously,” I deadpanned, and then pointed to the apartment parking lot. “Pull in there. You can just drop me off.”

“Nah, I’ll walk you up. I’m a gentleman,” he said with a wink.

Oh boy. I was in over my head.

CHAPTER 10

NICK

I was getting used to coming home to one of Edie’s “projects.”

One day, it’d be printouts of unusual scholarships across the country. Another day it’d be research on the ins and outs of the federal student loan programs. I’d even stumbled across an article bookmarked on my desktop computer titled “Careers that don’t require a college education.” That one made me a little sad, but Edie brushed me off when I tried to casually mention it.

Today was no different. I walked into an empty room, my customary greeting — “Honey, I’m home!” — dying on my lips when I saw the vacant sofa and heard the shower running. The couch cushions were covered in a spread of newspaper.

My mood brightened. Perhaps Edie had forgiven me for my column if she’d started reading the newspaper again.

I sat down on the couch and picked up a few pages for a closer look. She wasn’t reading anything by me. It was the help wanted ads. Which fit perfectly into the theme of Edie’s panic about how she would pay her tuition.

A few items were circled in red marker.

Groomer for the local pet store. I laughed out loud as I pictured Edie panicking while a shaggy mutt shook water and soap bubbles all over her. Somehow, I didn’t think it was the right fit.

Receptionist for a local real estate firm. She was certainly smart enough, but she didn’t wear nearly enough makeup — or smiles — to look the part of a receptionist in my mind. Not that she couldn’t overcome that.

Waitress, she could do, but why would she want to? And wait a minute … it was a job at Wilde’s?

Immediately, I flashed back to the last time I’d been there.

The waitress had been blonde and busty. Her T-shirt stretched tight and rode up past her waistline for a peek of navel, and her shorts were mega short. I tried to picture Edie in that getup, and not even in my wildest fantasies could I picture it. Edie was more of the hot librarian type. Now there was a fantasy I could get into …

“Hey.”

I was buried so deep in thoughts of Edie undressing between stacks of books that I jumped and dropped the classifieds like they were the pages of a Playboy.

She laughed. “You okay?”

I placed a hand over my heart. “You scared the crap out of me.”

She grinned. Not a flirtatious smile like the Wilde’s waitress had shared, but a goofy smile that made her look really happy. Happy looked good on her.

“I can see that. Why do you look so guilty?”

I ignored the question and tapped one of the ads. “Looking for a job? Did Joy fire you?”

“No, I just need to make more money.”

“So, you’re quitting for a better paying job? Because pet groomer or waitress—”

“Or receptionist,” she interjected.

“Right, well, those don’t really pay that much more, do they? They’re all sort of entry-level positions.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m a high school graduate. I’m the definition of entry-level employee. I’m not quitting Joy’s. I’m just adding a second job.”

“Oh. …”

I glanced down at the ads, and racked my brain for any other job opportunities. The newspaper wasn’t hiring and already had its summer intern, so I couldn’t even help there. I could ask around to some of my regular sources, but the economy was kind of crap right now.

If only, there were a scholarship. I’d been meaning to call some local businesses to see if any of them gave anything out. Individually they’d be small, but if you pooled them all together, you could get a decent amount for someone.

I realized Edie was waiting for an answer.

“What?”

“You said oh, like it was a bad thing. I just need to save a little money, and it’s not like I have a life anyway.”

I made a mock hurt face. “Our dinner dates aren’t a life? I’m offended.”

She laughed. “So sorry.”

“I just don’t see you in any of these jobs, especially Wilde’s.”

She plopped down beside me on the sofa, folding one leg beneath her. Her hair, still damp from her shower, curled in around her face.

“Why is that?” she asked, eyes narrowed.

I rubbed a finger over the Wilde’s ad. “It’s not the sort of place …” I started, then stopped to rephrase. “Let’s just say that customers go for the view more than the food. I can’t see you somewhere like that.”

Her lips pressed together in a tight line. “And by the view, you mean the waitresses and not the decor, I assume?”

“Right.”

She looked down, pulling nervously at a loose thread in the hem of her shorts. This drew my eyes to her inner thigh, and damned if I could pull myself free of that alluring sight.

“So, that’s your issue, Nick?” She said it harshly enough I snapped my gaze up to meet hers. “You think I don’t make a good enough view?”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“So how did you mean it then?”

“Come on, Edie. There’s a certain … type of girl that works in places like Wilde’s. You’re not … you don’t—”

I could tell by her face I was digging a deeper hole. I gave up and slumped back into the couch, frustrated.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way.”

She stood up and grabbed the news page off the table.

“Right. Because telling a girl she isn’t pretty enough to be a waitress in a sleazy restaurant is a compliment,” she said in a scathing tone. “Well, let me tell you something, Nick Espinoza. I may not be the most beautiful girl, or the sexiest, or … whatever! But I’m going to apply for that waitressing job, and when they hire me, you are going to admit you are wrong for once in your life!”

She whirled and stomped off to her room.

I stared after her, stunned. She’d taken what I’d said all wrong. I hadn’t meant she wasn’t pretty. She was way more appealing than the last waitress I’d seen there, who came off as fake and sort of used up.

Edie was too classy for a place like Wilde’s — not to mention naive, though she probably wouldn’t appreciate that sentiment, either.

I wanted to call her back and explain, but I didn’t see how I could do that without revealing how attracted I was to her.

Edie wouldn’t just accept my words, she’d want explanation after explanation, and even then she wouldn’t believe me. I’d be moved to convince her with my lips, and that was a road better left untraveled, even if the sights would be amazing. Our one spontaneous kiss had messed with my head enough without a repeat performance.

The door slammed as my mind threatened to pull me into a whole new Edie fantasy. This was getting out of control.

“What are you doing?” I called. The walls were thin enough she should hear me.

“Calling Wilde’s about a job!” she shouted back.

Great
. If I’d kept my big mouth shut, she might have never gotten around to applying, or she would have taken one look at those uniforms and run for the hills. Now, she’d take it as some sort of challenge.

If I knew Edie Mason at all, and I was beginning to, she would be a waitress at Wilde’s by the end of the week.

I sighed, and picked up a take-out menu. Might as well order some wings. I sure as hell couldn’t go to Wilde’s after she worked there.

If she was driving me to distraction in shorts and T-shirts, I would probably combust at the sight of her in that get-up.

EDIE

I was running a comb through my hair one last time before heading out to my job interview at Wilde’s when I heard a knock at the door.

I hoped Elana wasn’t back for an encore of her first performance.

After opening the front door warily, I smacked a palm to my forehead.

“Tequila!” I exclaimed. “You’re here to go walking.”

Tequila beamed at me. “Yep! I am ready to lose weight and look good doing it!”

Her smile faded as she took in my skirt and tights. When she saw my heels, she frowned. “That is definitely not exercise gear.”

“Come on in,” I said, while my mind scrambled for a solution.

I didn’t want to disappoint Tequila. This was our first walk, and if she was discouraged, she’d be less likely to continue. But I also really needed to get a job to supplement my savings for college. If I didn’t start accumulating more money now, I’d never have enough to cover a semester of classes and room and board.

I chewed on my lip thoughtfully.

“So where’s the boy toy?” Tequila asked with a gleam in her eye.

She looked around the apartment hopefully, and sat down on the empty sleeper sofa that was still pulled out and unmade.

“In the shower? Gone to the gym to work out that awesome bod?” she guessed.

I laughed, and slapped her arm. “He’s grabbing some coffee, actually.”

Tequila’s interest had given me an idea, though. I whipped out my phone and texted Nick.

I need a favor. 911.

A return text pinged almost immediately.
Sure. In elevator now.

I looked up. Tequila watched me curiously.

“Wait here, OK? I’ll be right back.”

I dashed out into the hall to intercept Nick before he entered the apartment. I did not want Tequila to hear me plead with him.

We met halfway down the hall, between the elevator and the door. He handed me a chai latte.

“Couldn’t bear the caffeine cravings any longer?” he joked.

I smiled as I grabbed the cup. I loved the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he grinned.

“Actually, I need your help.”

“Right, the favor,” he said, recalling the text. “What can I do for you?”

I noticed his eyes skim over my outfit. That was as good an opening as any.

“Well, as you can see, I have a job interview,” I said, indicating with the sweep of my hand the skirt and tights. “The thing is, I promised Tequila I’d go walking with her for exercise, and I totally forgot and double-booked myself.”

“Uh-huh. And?”

“And … I was wondering if you could go with her?”

He raised the cup to take a sip, his blue eyes on mine as he considered.

“Won’t that be weird for her?” he asked. “She doesn’t know me at all. I’m just some strange guy.”

“Well, we won’t tell her how strange you are,” I joked, and nudged him in the ribs. “Please? Tequila knows all about you.”

Nick stepped around me and started toward the apartment. I fell into step beside him.

“She does, huh?” he mused.

I didn’t want him to dwell on that fact too long. The fact that I’d obviously told Tequila all about him was … awkward.

“This exercise thing is important. She doesn’t have the best self-image right now,” I said. “Some girls have been pretty mean. This was the only way I could cheer her up. I don’t want to disappoint her.”

I was speaking really fast at this point, trying to get out my full pitch before Nick opened the door.

He paused in front of the door and turned to face me.

Our eyes met, and standing in front of the door with him, I had the strangest sensation of reaching the end of a date. I dismissed the fantasy immediately. Nick might pretend to date a girl like me. But that was a long way from real interest.

“Okay,” he said, with a half smile. “You’ve convinced me. You can breathe now.”

I laughed. “Thank you!”

Stepping forward, I gave him a half hug, avoiding his coffee cup.

“One more thing,” I said right before he opened the door. “Make it seem like it was your idea.”

His mouth dropped open in surprise, and I stepped in before he could argue.

NICK

No one tripped me up like Edie Mason.

The girl was persuasive enough she ought to be a lawyer, I thought. I pictured her in a tight bun and conservative skirt and blouse, briefcase in hand. Oh yeah. It was a good look for her. But then, what wasn’t?

I tried to gather my wits after stepping inside and turned to look at Tequila. She was on the heavy side, but for 13, the girl had a dangerous amount of curve. She had a beautiful face and a huge smile that seemed to light up the room.

“Hi,” I said. “Tequila, right?”

“Unless you prefer whiskey,” she teased.

I raised a brow and looked toward Edie for help. She shot a reprimanding look at Tequila.

“Nick, don’t mind my friend. She’s a hopeless flirt.”

Great
. Not only did I have to go walking with a 13-year-old, but a 13-year-old flirt. People would no doubt get the wrong idea if they saw us together.

“Tequila, I am so sorry, but I have a job interview today. This was the only slot they had, and the timing of our walk slipped my mind.”

Tequila’s smile melted away, and I could see she was disappointed.

“Oh,” she said. “Okay. We can just do it at a different time.”

“I’m so sorry—”

“Hey, how about if I go this time?” I asked. “If you don’t mind walking with some old guy,”  I added for Tequila’s benefit.