10. Holding Back

10

HOLDING BACK

“ S loane had a date on Wednesday. Did you guys all know that?”

Sloane was surprised no one said anything to her yesterday, but since no one ordered takeout it made sense.

But on Fridays she had a full house of employees. All her massage therapists were here, along with her three nail technicians and her two estheticians.

There hadn’t been much time to talk since the doors opened at nine, but a bunch of the girls ordered lunch like they normally did.

She’d heard where they would be ordering from and expected this to happen when the food arrived.

Thankfully it was only her, Becca, another massage therapist who had an hour break, Elle, a nail technician between clients who also ran to get the food, and Vanessa from the front desk who came back to get her lunch too.

Elle and Nicole were friends and she was positive that was who told her employee when the announcement was made .

“No,” Tessa said, walking into the room where she must have overheard the conversation. “What are you holding back? When did this start and who is it?”

She let out a sigh. “I don’t want to get into a long and drawn-out conversation. We all have work to do.”

“I’ve got time,” Becca said. “And so do you. You don’t have another client for forty-five minutes.”

Sloane wished she hadn’t said that when she ran into Becca in the hall after the two of them were changing over their rooms.

“Tell us,” Tessa said. “We need to know these things.”

“You don’t need to know them,” she said, grinning, and looked at the food being spread out on the table. Most would come in within the next thirty minutes to get theirs or they’d stick it in the fridge if it was still on the table by the time she was done eating.

She’d had plans of eating her lunch in her office and getting work done.

That wouldn’t happen.

Well, it could. She could walk away and leave them wondering and most would let it go.

She wouldn’t do that because for once she actually was excited about having another date with a man.

One who knew about her past going in.

Who understood that she spent a lot of time working.

That would understand the constraints it might have on a relationship too.

For the moment it was just two dates. No reason to get ahead of herself.

Though at nine on Wednesday night, she’d texted Dane her number and address.

She lived five minutes from her business. It was convenient on more than one level. She hadn’t even planned on buying a house, but two years ago when she’d heard a client talking about one for sale not far away, she looked and decided it couldn’t be more perfect.

It meant she didn’t have to stay here nonstop. She could go home for breaks. She could come in to close or open if she wanted too.

She trusted a few of her staff to do that. Heather was older and had been her first employee when she expanded. There was no need to have a manager here, but Heather had a set of keys along with Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn had been employed three years and they were nice reliable employees.

She didn’t have too many worries if they were opening and closing if she wanted to take a day off or go on a vacation.

Which rarely happened, but she did have to give herself a break now and again too.

She sat down with her sandwich and the rest of the staff who had time followed.

It’d be fun to play with them some. “Please?” Elle asked. “I’ll give you a pedicure the next time we’ve got breaks together.”

She grinned. She let the staff do that if they had free time. Why not? They’d just be sitting around anyway since they didn’t get a lot of walk-ins.

“Deal,” she said. It just meant she didn’t have to give herself one.

“So,” Becca said. “Who is it?”

She looked at Vanessa who was standing by the door. She’d got to the backroom first but was watching to see if anyone came out to be cashed out.

“He’s a client.”

“Oh, this is getting juicy,” Elle said, giggling. “So you’ve had your hands on his naked body. ”

“I have,” she said. “Though he keeps his underwear on. I think he’s shy.”

She winked and they laughed some more.

“Who asked who out?” Becca asked.

“He asked me after his massage on Wednesday night.”

“I wish I was working that day,” Vanessa said. “Though I can go look it up now.”

“No need to,” she said. “You were working the first time he was here using his gift card.”

Vanessa’s jaw dropped. “The doctor?”

“Ohhhhhh,” Tessa and Elle said at once. It was almost hilarious. These girls did this all the time, but she was more an observer and not a participant in the playful conversations.

It actually felt kind of good to be part of it.

“Yes,” she said. “He’s a pediatrician. His kids gave him a gift card here for his birthday. He was set up with me. I did such a wonderful job on him he booked another appointment.”

“I told you he was sexy,” Vanessa said. “I remember him now. I thought it was sweet his kids did that. So he’s not married, I’m assuming.”

“Divorced,” she said. “And I’m not saying much more about his personal life.”

“Do you have another date scheduled?” Elle asked.

“I do. On Monday night. He’s not picking me up here either.”

“Boooo,” Becca said. “You did that on purpose. I’m working until close too.”

“I did do it that way,” she said, grinning. “It’s only a second date, so there is no reason to get your hopes up.”

“Yes, there is,” Vanessa said. “You never tell us when you’re going on a date and yet told us you have another one coming up. And you went to eat at a place you knew would get back to us. I think that is saying something.”

“Maybe it is,” she said, standing up with the rest of her lunch. “But I’m not sure exactly what it is. And you’ve got all you’re getting out of me.”

“It’s more than we’ve gotten before,” Tessa said. “We are happy for you though.”

She left the women to talk amongst themselves. She was positive they’d be spreading the news before close tonight.

She hadn’t talked to Dane yesterday. She didn’t expect to do it all the time either.

He picked his kids up after work just like he’d do today too.

But hours later she was home for the night. She’d had some crackers for a snack and was flipping through the channels when her phone went off.

She picked it up to see a text from Dane and was shocked.

She hoped he wasn’t canceling on her now that she told her employees. That would be a bummer.

But she read the message that both kids were in bed and he was finally sitting down to relax. He didn’t even have to meditate in the closet but did it at his desk.

She debated for a few seconds and decided to call. It was better than texting.

“Hello,” he said. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“No,” she said. “Just looking for something to watch on TV before I call it a night.”

“The same,” he said. “Or I will be soon.”

“How is the meditation coming?” she asked.

“Great,” he said. “All I focus on is my massage and breathing in and out.”

She laughed. “I might have been doing the same. I think I’ll focus on the light kiss I gave you Wednesday night. I did that last night and it relaxed me.”

“Bummer,” he said.

“Why is that?”

“Kisses aren’t supposed to relax you.”

“Oh, it didn’t and it did,” she said. Might as well just leave it at that. No reason to say that she was worked up enough that she pulled her little toy out of the drawer and took care of another need.

She didn’t do it often and maybe that was why she was as worked up as she was.

“Are you working all weekend? I mean I know you are, but are you actually seeing clients all weekend?”

“Not the entire time,” she said. “I have several tomorrow, but Sunday is my paperwork day. I end up in my office or working the desk if I need to. What do you have planned with the kids? Anything?”

“We are going to some hot air balloon show tomorrow. Sunday we’ll relax.”

“That sounds like fun,” she said.

“Ever been to one before?” he asked.

“Nope. There are a lot of things I haven’t done,” she said.

“Maybe we can talk about them on Monday. Though with our schedules it might be hard to do some things.”

“We can make it work enough,” she said. “But don’t feel as if I’m one of these women that needs to be entertained or is high maintenance. I’m not really.”

She’d never be that person. Sabrina tended to be when she was younger and that was why her mother and sister fought as much as they had.

She hoped her sister was happy in her life and got what she wanted out of it. And if she wasn’t, then she prayed Sabrina found it .

Just like she’d hoped she found it too.

Maybe she could with Dane, but she wouldn’t put all her eggs in one basket.

If she learned one thing about life, it was that you can only depend on yourself.

Letting someone else in could cause you to lose control of your voice or actions. She’d never let herself get in that position.