four years ago.
Now her brown eyes had shadows under them, outlining an obvious exhaustion. She looked like she could gain another ten pounds and still be a little underweight.
And she was staring at him with something akin to terror in her eyes.
Cain hadn’t expected her to be happy to see him, but neither had he expected her to look like she was carrying the world’s weight on her shoulders. A sort of panic itched at his gut.
He took a step closer. She took a step back.
“Hayley, what the heck happened?” The manager rushed out from the back. “Get something to clean that up.”
The man turned and faced Cain. “We’re so sorry about this. I’ll get you another—Cain? Cain Bennett?”
Cain dragged his eyes away from Hayley to look at the man who knew his name. “Yes?”
“It’s Timothy Smittle. We went to high school together, remember, man?”
“I’ll go get a mop,” Hayley murmured before turning and almost running into the kitchen.
Timothy hooked a thumb toward Hayley’s retreating form. “And of course, you remember Hayley Green, right? You guys were all hot and heavy back in the day.”
“Of course.” Cain slowly sat back down in the booth, eyes fixed on the door Hayley had exited through.
Timothy slid into the booth across from Cain and lowered his voice even though there was no one else around. “And I guess you heard about the law trouble Hayley got into a few years back. That was after you had already left. She did some time at the Georgia Women’s Correctional.”
Cain just nodded.
“When she came back around here begging for her old job, I figured it was the least we could do. You know, since we all went to high school together.” Timothy sounded very pleased with himself. Like he was collecting bonus points or something.
Cain’s eyes left the door and moved to Timothy. “She helped you with your bookkeeping in high school, right? Is that what she’s doing now?”
Timothy smirked. “Are you kidding? We couldn’t let her near anything having to do with money.”
Cain’s lips pressed together although he knew he really couldn’t blame Timothy. “So she’s what, waiting tables?”
The thought of someone with Hayley’s intelligence and skills waiting tables was difficult for Cain to swallow, but he guessed he shouldn’t be surprised. Right now her job options were probably limited.
Timothy shifted a little uncomfortably in the booth across from Cain. “Um, well, that also involves money, so no. Mostly she’s, you know, helping out doing other things.”
Before Cain could press about exactly what those “other things” were, Hayley came back out with a broom and mop and began cleaning up the glass and water she’d spilled.
“I can help.” Cain slid to the edge of the booth ready to stand.
Timothy laughed out loud. “No, Cain. You sit down. It’s Hayley’s job.”
Hayley didn’t look up from what she was doing, but Cain could see the flush spread across her cheeks. She quickly swept up the glass and mopped up the water.
“So, how have you been, man?” Timothy asked, as if they’d been best buddies in high school. Cain barely recalled talking to the other guy at all. “You went on to play ball in college, right? After leading us to the state championships?”
“Yeah, for a couple of years. Then I blew out my knee. Nothing to stop normal life, but effectively ended my football career.”
Hayley had finished cleaning up and Cain could tell she was hesitating about whether to stay nearby or to leave. Timothy noticed it, too.
Timothy waved a dismissive hand in Hayley’s direction. “You can go do your work in the back. I’ll take Cain’s order and get him what he needs.”
Hayley still wasn’t looking at Cain, but he didn’t want her to leave. “Actually, I’m here to talk to Hayley.”
Timothy stiffened. “Oh. Actually, Hayley just took a break with Ariel and the kid, so she doesn’t have another break for a few hours.”
Cain looked around, noticing that Hayley became even more tense with Timothy’s words. It was three o’clock in the afternoon and the place was nearly empty.
“It doesn’t look like you really need her right at this second. I just need to borrow her for a few minutes.”
Timothy turned to glare at Hayley as if she had planned this. “Actually, during the downtime is when Hayley does most of the dishes and cleaning in the back. Then she helps out in front during the rushes.”
Hayley was the damned dishwasher?
“It’s fine, Timothy. I’m not going to take another break. I don’t have anything to say to Cain anyway.” She still wouldn’t look at him.
Cain had figured it would come down to this. Taking out his Omega Sector credentials, he turned back to Timothy. “This is law enforcement business. Hayley isn’t in any trouble and isn’t wanted by the law, but I need to talk to her about a few things. I’d appreciate it if we could have your cooperation.”
He saw Hayley stiffen further out of the corner of his eye.
Timothy stood. “Well, I don’t want to get in the way of the law, but really we don’t pay Hayley to sit around and talk to old boyfriends. I’ll go get you your water.”
Timothy left, shaking his head. Hayley finally looked at Cain. “Yeah, this isn’t a good time. I’m working.”
She seemed genuinely nervous about being here talking to him. Maybe she was afraid she was going to lose her job. Such as it was. “I can come to your house later if you want.” He had her address from her parole file.
“No,” she immediately said. “I don’t want you coming there.”
“Okay.” He held his hands out in a gesture of peace. “If you don’t want to talk here and you don’t want to talk at your home, maybe we can meet for dinner tonight?”
She shook her head again. “I can’t. I’m working here until seven thirty and then I have to go straight home.”
Cain refused to let himself get annoyed at her avoidance. “How about early tomorrow, then? What time does your shift start?”
“Seven a.m.” She shrugged.
He felt himself stiffen. “Did you begin working today at seven a.m. also?”
She shrugged. “I’m working a lot of hours this week.”
By the look of her exhausted face and the weight she’d lost, it had been more than just this week that she’d been working a lot of hours.
“What are you doing here, Hayley? Why are you working here?”
Her eyes narrowed at him. “Believe it or not, there’s not a lot of options out there for an ex-felon with no college degree. Especially since a condition of my parole is that I’m not allowed near a computer for more than two minutes at a time.”
She stuck out her ankle and pulled her khaki pants up just a little bit. Cain could see the electronic monitor strapped around her slim leg.
“It’s a prototype. Lets everybody know if I’m a naughty girl. So when Timothy was nice enough to give me a job—albeit, washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen—I took it.”
Even after she’d refused to see him while in prison, he’d tried to keep tabs on her from a distance. Life in a minimum security facility wasn’t terribly difficult, not like a medium or maximum security facility, but it still wasn’t freedom.
He