Life and Love Go On

Chapter 2

     It's dark already when I pull up in front of my new shop, there is a sign saying 'Coming Soon Toy Shop plus a little Coffee. January 15th'. The shop is in a section of the mall. I already thoroughly searched the areas, and the nearest toy shop was at least twenty minutes away. So I hope I'll succeed.

     Since it's only seven, I decide to go have a look around the mall and see what stays open late. Turns out everyone closes down at six, except for the largest clothing stores. Boring, I don't need to go there at the moment. Go back out to my car and look around at the nearby restaurants. There's a bar nearby, so I decide to go check it out.

     Joes Bar and Grill, I find an empty seat at the bar. A bar tender slides in front of me, "Hey what can I get for you?"

     "A menu, and a jack and coke please." I bat my lashes at him. He smirks, handing me a menu and makes my drink. I try not to sneak peeks at him while he helps other customers. But holy moly, he's handsome. Brunette hair flopping into his green eyes, and pretty built too.

     "I'll take a pub burger with a side of onion rings."

     He nods and spins off to tell the cook, he brings me another jack and coke as well. It had been years since I drank more than just a glass of wine. I was glad when the food came, I needed to eat a bit. I glanced around the bar as I did, some of the tables had a few customers, but the bar was mostly empty. I guess it is a holiday today.

     "What brings you to our little establishment?" The bar tender asks when I realize I'm the only customer up there.

     I can't help my blush, "Well I just moved to town and don't have any groceries."

     He chuckles, "I'm just happy we're your first choice."

     I quirk a brow, "Is anything else open?"

     He grins, "Not much. So what made you decide to move here? Boyfriend?" He looks so sure of that answer.

     "No," I snip, I push my empty glass to him for him to fill again. When he returns it I tell him the whole story of how I ended up here.

     "Wow, he left you just before Christmas?"

     "Yeah, I returned his presents." I giggle, "Um can I switch to coffee?"

     "Of course," he takes away my empty glass and hands me a mug, "Anything in it?"

     "Just black. So how do you like your job?"

     He smirks, "I actually like it pretty well, especially when I get to meet pretty women."

     I roll my eyes, "Charmer. No really, I mean you're like twenty, what do you want to do with your life?"

     He smirks, "I'm twenty-two, I'd love to own a bar like this. You meet so many people this way, make connections, and make people happy feeding them."

     I grin, "That's why I'm combining coffee and toys, and family place."

     He nods, "I like that idea too."

     I sip my coffee, "So what do you do for fun around here?"

     "My friend works at a ranch, we ride do motocross there, eh, there's clubs and such too."

     I nod, "Sounds interesting. Well I should settle my tab and head home."

     "It was nice to meet you...?"

     "Layla."

     I pay and head back across the parking lot to my car. There's a group of teenagers nearby, smoking and probably drinking. Lovely, I just hope they don't like vandalizing stuff.

     Before I know it I'm home, at my house! I still can't believe I own a house! I feed Atlas and collapse into a pile of blankets.

     I wake up to Atlas purring loudly on my face, I quickly push him off. I start a pot of coffee first then take a shower, big day of shopping ahead. Yay, not, I hate shopping.

     I put on a pair of jean shorts and a flowy blue shirt, just simple but weather appropriate. I sip my coffee and turn on my laptop, I pick out a bed frame, mattress, dining table with chairs, and a couch. I pretty sure I can find a t.v. stand and end tables at goodwill. Walmart should have everything else I need.

     I feed Atlas before I leave again, I stop at Mcdonald's for a mcgriddle before going to goodwill. It's pretty quite this morning, it's already ten a.m. so it's not too early. I find matching tables with a colored pattern on their sides, their funky I like them.

     I see a little girl of about four dragging her dad to look at children's books. I grin, and I can't help myself, I go to the book section as well. I find one right away that I want, and listen to the daughter tell her dad about the princess series she wants.

     I reach over finding one quickly and handing it to the dad, he's stunning, blonde, blue gray eyes and his daughter has the same looks.

     "Thanks." He tells me gratefully.

     "Your welcome. Have a nice day." I wave to the little girl as I leave with the tags of the tables and the book.

     The cashier tells me to pull around and they'll help me load the tables, I thank her gratefully. It takes a bit of coordination but I manage to fit three tables into my car. I head home to unload them first. It's annoying to unwedge the tables but soon they are arranged in the living room. I scratch Atlas then head out again. My walmart trip takes far too long but I'm confident I'm going home with everything I need.

     The last place I want to go is Kohls by the mall. It's now two p.m, I eat a greek yogurt for a snack then head to the next store. I pick up a few pairs of nice pants and lots of ruffled collared, and cute blouses, since that's what I'll mostly be wearing at the store.

     I look over to Joe's Bar and Grille, it's pretty full, but I decide to go there for lunch anyway, maybe the hot bartender will be there again.

     I'm seated at the bar again, the booths are all full. It's unfortunately a woman at the bar and I'm disappointed, not that I wanted a relationship or anything, but a friendly face would be nice. She's pretty busy and it takes her quite a while to even notice me. A tap on my shoulder has me spinning around.

     The guy from last night! I'm grinning before I even realize it.

     "Hey!" I say.

     "Hi, want to join me and my friend's for lunch?"

     "I don't want to be a bother."

     He grabs my hand tugging me towards a full booth. In the booth are two other guys, one dark skinned hair a little longer than...the ex. And that's where the similarities stop, his eyes are almost black and he's sooo nicely built, I may have drooled.

     "Howdy ma'am, I'm Jessie," He tells me.

     The next guy has midnight hair and brown eyes, his hair is styled in the normal fashion, with shaved sides and long on top, "I'm Ellroy."

     "Guys this is Layla, the enchanting woman I was telling you about from last night."

     And I blush again, sliding into the empty seat, "You never told me your name."

     He looks a little shocked, "I'm Jackson." He slides in next to me. "This is almost all the gang, Harold is the only one missing."

     "Nice to meet you." I say to them all.