Being Jolene Read Online Free Page B

Jolene either.” Paul laughed at his own stupid ass joke.
    “Fuck you, Paul.”
    He just continued to laugh at me as he got in the truck and got to work. That left me standing there nowhere closer to knowing what to do about Jolene. Fuck.

CHAPTER THREE
    Jolene
    “I was walking out to the spring to get water, when a black bear peaked around the trees. A majestic sight, one I never saw in the city. The woods held hidden treasures at every turn.”–From the diary of Maggie Brown, June 1891
    That was strange. That was beyond strange. Did the guy I sleep with really bust through the woods, all hot and sweaty and then apologize for sleeping me with last night?
    The fuck did I get myself into. Was this how things were done out here in the woods? I took myself into the small cabin and poured the last of my tea down the sink, washing out the cup and still trying to make sense of what went down.
    It wasn’t the first time I had bad sex and I enjoyed hanging out with Ty at the bar. Really, it wasn’t the worst sex. It was only a drunken hookup—I had many before. Maybe I had been too cruel in calling out the bad sex. I had a few drinks, but I was still mostly sober by the time we were . . . done, I guess. Last night came back to me, as I remembered how he held me by the waist, a strong hold and then gave me a surprisingly sweet kiss before I walked away. As I sat in my car, I watched him slightly stumble to his truck, worried he would drive home in his state. When I sat there for a few minutes and his truck didn’t move I got out of my car to check on him, only to find him asleep on the bench seat of his truck. That was probably the safest place for him. I then drove home and more or less, wrote off the night. The concept of a one-night stand wasn’t new to me. Wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last.
    However, I was not familiar with apologies from them. I took a deep breath, trying to shake off the incident. I put the whole situation in the back of my mind as I got ready for my first day of work.
    When I got to the lodge, I had in front of me the small staff of servers. June had given me the low down on a few of them who came back each season but a few were new as well. I had six servers this summer, including myself when needed.
    After a brief team meeting where I went over basic expectations for the summer, the servers started work on getting the dinning room ready while I worked on the schedule. It was Thursday and we opened for dinner service the next day. I made the final touches to the schedule when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to find one of the girls, Elizabeth I think her name was, staring at me with her perky blonde hair in a high ponytail. I wanted the girls to put their hair up, but damn she looked like would fit right in on her old high school cheerleading team.
    “Yes?” I asked her.
    She smiled. A fake smile you could see miles away. “Wanted to make sure you were settling in. The cabin you’re staying in can get pretty creepy out there by itself. I heard there is this huge bear that likes to sniff around there so be on the lookout.”
    Ummm . . . okay. Was this chick serious? Was she trying to scare me? With bears? Huh.
    “I’m fine. Thanks.” This was a chick you didn’t want to talk to more than necessary because anything you gave her she would use against you. Nope, wasn’t falling for that shit.
    “Have you met anyone yet?” She tried to pry from me.
    My mind immediately went to Ty, specifically the image of us against the side of the bar.
    “Nope.” Single word answers where best in this situation.
    “Oh. Well, make sure to meet the locals. The boys at the ranger station are dreamy. I’ve already made my claim for the season but you never know . . .”
    Okay. I didn’t say anything and tried to ignore her. She could keep her “claim.” I didn’t give two shits who she was sleeping with, she just didn’t need to include me in whatever she was trying to