Just One Touch: A Black Alcove Novel (The Black Alcove Series Book 3) by Jami Wagner Page B

by the noise the front door makes
when it opens.
    Skylar. I haven’t
seen her since our afternoon hike when I dropped her back off here.
She must really like the gym.
    “Hey Alex,” she
greets me and her hands immediately go to her hair to smooth is over.
When she’s closer, I see a smudge of dirt on her face and what I
assume is grass in her hair.
    “Sleep in the grass
lately?” I ask, smiling at my own joke.
    She pauses, “Yoga in
the park.” She shoots me a wink before she scans her card and
continues past me.
    “Can I help you?”
an annoyed voice asks behind me.
    I turn, finding the
same girl who waited on us at the bar, but who I also didn’t
officially meet. Abby, I think, is her name. A quick glance at her
nametag, which is set in the perfect place to draw attention to her
chest, confirms my memory is still all set.
    “You’re that one
girl, aren’t you?” Abby continues to glare at me, clearly
sounding annoyed with my lack of response.
    “If you mean Alex,
then yes. I’m that one girl.”
    Her eyes narrow as her
chin rises so she can look me over.
    “Sassy one, huh? We
might just get along after all.”
    She taps my shoulder
and points behind me.
    “First things first,
Alex. Greet everyone who walks through the door. Whether it’s a
smile, a nod, or a simple hello, make sure you acknowledge everyone.”
She waves to a gray-haired man with a slight limp who has just
arrived. “People come here to relax, cool down. Working out is a
de-stressor, and people who work out are normally happier too. Don’t
ruin their workout before it’s even begun by pretending you didn’t
see them.”
    She’s giving me the
stink eye again, like I’ve already done something to not impress
her.
    “Got it.”
    “Second, everyone
needs to swipe their card. It will beep if their membership is good,
and it makes this god-awful buzzing noise if their account is bad.”
    “Bad?”
    “Yeah, like they owe
us money because they haven’t paid for the month or something.”
    “And what happens
when it buzzes?”
    “You tell them they
need to pay or leave. It’s simple, just don’t be a dick about
it.”
    “Okay.”
    In other words, don’t
use the tone she has with me right now—check. I don’t really have
a response to anything she’s said so far, but I have to wonder what
has happened to give her this attitude with me. Is there some reason
she has already decided she doesn’t like me? After a moment passes,
Abby rolls her eyes before brushing past me toward the other end of
the counter.
    “We have snacks over
here, and this is the list of smoothies and protein shakes we make.
I’ll teach you those as people order them.”
    I follow Abby around
for a while, nodding my head as she instructs me. She shows me how to
make two different smoothies, one from a yogurt machine and one that
uses a yogurt powder. Any shake that includes peanut butter is my
least favorite and, sadly, they are the most popular. Once I think
I’ve mastered the kitchen part of the job, Abby tells me there is
more. Apparently we wash the towels, and, holy crap, this place goes
through a lot of them. And in the last hour, one person has come in
to sign up. New memberships at this point are not my thing either.
Too many numbers to remember.
    “Okay, so then we
pull all the towels into these giant gray bins and we fold them,”
Abby says, bringing my attention back to the dang towels.
    “All of them?” I
ask.
    “Yep, and you need to
keep up with them throughout your shift, or you will be here after
closing, catching up. You don’t want to leave work for the person
who opens.”
    “Alrighty.”
    She tilts her head in
annoyance, because, well, I can 90 percent confirm she doesn’t like
me, at the same time a bald guy in gray shorts and a blue cut-off
shirt joins us. He looks young but definitely older than me. The
balding is definitely a choice.
    “Sorry I’m late.
Mrs. Mulligan got to talking about her grandkids again.”
    Baldy sets his