Closing Time

40.

"I'm at the entrance."

I'd been staring at these four words on my phone for the solid thirty seconds they'd been here.

My request to meet the Hunter's head was one I'd been going back and forth on quite a bit for the last two days. Even now, a part of me wanted to tell him to leave. Turn around and exit my life. I didn't want to ever find out that my ex was a hunter. I'd rather have found out it was Lou in disguise. It would have been surprising, but then again, it wouldn't have been as surprising to know it was Lou after I'd caught him rifling through my apartment.

I sighed, looking away from the small bubble on top of the screen. Those green eyes still haunted me. I didn't want to miss the person I'd once known. I wish I'd never met him.

I called him up as I pushed off the couch. Regret crossing my body the instant I heard his voice.

"Hey, Ryleigh."

Dammit. Fucking dammit. His voice was Trace. In this moment, with just his voice, he was Trace. I would have to forget that. I would have to start rejecting my memories of him. This is no way to live. "Yeah." I greeted vaguely. "I'm not at home."

There was a short pause. "Okay. Where are you?"

I looked around the cafe, meeting Antonio's eyes. He winked at me, I held up a thumb. "The cafe where we had our first date."

The man with the familiar voice on the other end sighed. "Stay there. I'll come pick you up."

"Okay." I hung up, placing my phone face down on the table as i let my head fall back. My eyes fell shut as I felt a lump form in my throat. I wasn't ready to see him again.

It was rather early. I'd met up with Antonio for an early workout as usual and then we'd headed back to his cafe to relax. Relax for me, anyway. Tuesday's were one of their busy days so I was helping out a bit wherever the old man let me.

"You done with that menu?"

I took a moment to reply, straightening my head to look forward again. "Yeah. I'm done."

"So..." Antonio walked up to me, white beard shifting up at the side as he smiled excitedly. "What do you think? Is it better?"

"I like it." I replied truthfully. "The new menu looks cleaner than the old one as well. It's a lot more classy. Removing some of the salad options was a good idea."

His smile fell a bit. "It was my niece's idea."

"Sorry." I shrugged with one shoulder. He didn't like taking a lot of input from others on how to run his place. "The old menu's good too if you want to keep it. Just... replace some of the lamination."

"Yes." He took the new menu card out of my hand. "I was planning to have them replaced next week, but figured I could try out printing new menus as well. If I'm spending that much on reprinting..." He trailed off, mumbling about the costs to himself as he turned away before pausing. "By the way, can you clean those tables in the corner? The new hire is late."

"Sure." Cleaning up on my day offs too. Great. Ln

"Sorry to make you do this on your day off."

"It's okay. I have nothing else going on today anyway."

I headed behind the counter, picking up a wet rag and moving towards the tables he'd indicated. The wood and metal chairs were heavy. They would've been hard to lift for the Ryleigh a few months ago. The somewhat-muscles I'd started building helped in lifting them. They certain didn't help when the metal footrests slammed against my ankles.