AN: I know it's been forever since I've last updated this and I'm truly sorry but in all honesty life got in the way along with me losing my muse. Luckily my inspiration to continue my stories has returned. I just want to thank everyone for the reviews and interest in this story. The support really means a lot. For those of you who voted by reviewing in regards to my previous question, I thank you and I hope if it's not too much of a hassle but can you guys go onto my profile and recast your votes on the poll there? That goes to the new readers as well, if you guys could cast your vote there, that would be great. It just makes it easier to keep track of the votes. Now without further ado. This chapter has been a long time coming. I hope you guys enjoy it.
Chapter Seven
"I talked to Gemma about giving you a job at TM," Tig informed watching her move around the kitchen. "Said she'd find something. Could use the help if you're up for it."
He watched as she briefly paused before getting back to the task at hand. She didn't say anything but she didn't have to, he could read it in her posture that she was unsure.
"You don't have to accept it if you don't want to," he explained seeing the tension in her shoulders slowly disappear. "Just thought I would help in talking to Gemma."
"It's not that I don't appreciate the gesture," Lennox finally said, sighing and turning around to face him. "It's just I want to find a job on my own. I don't want to have to depend on you for everything because you're already letting us stay here for free. I just want to do this on my own."
"I get that and if you can't find anything just know you have something at TM."
She had been sure finding a job would have been easy but in a town like Charming, where the businesses were family owned, it was proving to be difficult.
No one seemed to be hiring or at least not hiring someone like her. Not that there was anything wrong with her. She seemed to fulfill the requirements but she didn't seem to make it past the interview. Most businesses had a full staff while others didn't seem so interested in hiring a complete stranger.
She tried to convince herself it was because of the fact that they thought she was passing through. Apparently no one moved to Charming, people tended to move out of it instead. At least that's what she had been told when looking for a job at the local market. Instead of the fact that people didn't seem so trusting when they found out who her father was. Or more so, when they found out about his workplace.
Making George's words run through her head, 'The club's past was pretty dark, that's not who we are anymore, the past is just hard to shake sometimes'.
Just how dark was the club's past?, she questioned herself as she looked up, checking for traffic, before looking back the way she came, she realized she was standing on a literal cross road.
Behind her were the small and quaint shops, that had already denied her of employment, while the road ahead of her lead to a more modern and picturesque town square. Shops lined both sides of the street and this part of town seemed to have more potential at finding a job.
Looking around, debating on where to head to first, her gaze fell on the floral shop located on the street corner in front of her.
Quickly glancing around for oncoming traffic, before crossing the street, she sent a quick prayer for luck and entered the shop.
The bell rang signaling her entrance, her eyes scanning the inside of the shop, before hearing a faint, "be right there," coming from the back.
Lennox made her way further into the shop, while waiting for someone to come out, looking at the different flowers and plants the store had to offer. All the while trying to steady her racing heart and smoothing down the skirt of the floral dress, the only properly fitting clothing item she had in her collection, before smoothing down her hair making sure she looked presentable.
The sound of footsteps had her running her sweaty palms down the skirt of her dress once more. Fidgeting one last time with her hair, hoping it wasn't an unruly mess, before dropping her hands as who she assumed was the owner stepped out of the back room.
"Sorry about the wait," the dark haired woman said, wiping her hands on her apron, before coming to a stop behind the counter. "What can I help you with?"
Lennox swallowed the knot, that had suddenly formed in her throat, before nervously stepping forward while trying or hoping to appear confident in what she came to do. "I was hoping you were looking to hire."
"Haven't seen you around town before."
"Just moved here with my boys not that long ago," Lennox informed, nervously moving a strand of hair behind her ear. "Couple of days ago to be exact."
"Where'd you move from?"
"Lodi," she answered, clearing her throat.
"You have any experience..." the woman in front of her trailed off, making her realize that she hadn't introduced herself.
"Lennox,"sticking her hand out in front of her. "Lennox Trager."
"Nice to meet you Lennox, I'm Rita," she introduced herself, giving her a firm handshake before letting go. "Rita Roosevelt, now tell me about your work experience while I dig out an application."
"Who was that?"
Rita looked up, from the application, at her husband. "Someone looking for a job."
Eli looked at his wife, raising his eyebrow at her vague answer. "Does this someone have a name?"
"Lennox Trager," Rita sighed, knowing her husband was fishing for information and would most likely be running a background check once he arrived at the station. "Moved here from Lodi, a couple of days ago, with her boys."
Rita knew her husband was waiting for her to say more. Instead of giving him what he wanted, she busied herself reading over the application in front of her.
Ignoring his stare, she set the application aside before looking at the orders pending. Waiting for her husband to ask more questions or leave the shop to get the answers on his own.
"You told her no right?"
She looked up at her husband, standing in front of her, with his hands on his hips in true cop stance. "Why would I do that? I actually need some help around here, especially with business starting to pick up."
"You don't know anything about her," Eli argued. "What if she turns out to be a criminal."
"We'll find out when you run that background check," Rita pointed out, raising her eyebrow. "I know you well enough to know that if I tell you to drop it, you're still going to go behind my back and do it."
"Where's Lennox?"
"Job hunting," Tig answered, looking over to the play area they had set up to check on the boys.
Gemma raised an eyebrow at the answer. "Job at TM wasn't good enough?"
"It's not that Gem," Tig sighed, knowing she was going to take it the wrong way. "It's just that she's not the type to have things handed to her. I don't know a lot about her but I do know that."
"You'll get to her know eventually Tig," Gemma answered, leaning on the doorway leading into the garage. "All that matters is that you show her you care and be there for her. Be her father not her parole officer. Give her some freedom to make and learn from her mistakes. She's tougher than you think."
Tig let Gemma's advice sink in but seeing his daughter walk onto the TM lot cut off any response. Seeing her stop to greet Rat, had him going into protective mode. He got that she was a grown woman with her own kids but he wasn't ready to have her jump into a relationship. He wanted to get to know his daughter and enjoy the time he had with her. Before he had to deal with any guy who looked her way.
"You sure letting Tig watch your kids was the best move," George teased, shoving his hands in his pocket. "How'd the job hunt go."
"Oh stop it," Lennox answered, playfully swatting him on the chest, before looking over at her kids. "If anything I should feel bad for him at having to look after them. They're well behaved kids most of the time but they can turn into little monsters."
Looking back at him, she took in his profile, noticing that he may not have been the most handsome guy out there but he was still cute in a way. She just didn't know if they could ever be more than friends.
"So the job hunt, how'd that go?" George questioned, breaking her out of her musings.
Lennox sighed. "Horrible. The first places I hit up weren't hiring or if they were I was turned down as soon as they found out my dad worked here," she answered, shifting her weight from one foot onto the other, crossing her arms in front of her. "But I kept asking around until I hit the floral shop. That's when my luck turned around."
"You're working at Charming Blooms?" George questioned with furrowed eyebrows.
Seeing his reaction had her excitement, at finding a job, vanishing. "It's only a part time job. I'll be working there two, maybe three days, out of the week. Maybe even transitioning into full time depending on how business goes," Lennox cautiously explained. "Why? Is something wrong?"
"No," he quickly answered before sighing. "Just be careful, the owner of the shop is the police Lieutenant's wife. He kind of had it out for us back then, but I've heard his wife is nice."
"Thanks for the insight George," Lennox softly stated before looking over her shoulder, locking eyes with her father. Knowing she was going to have to have a serious discussion with him in order to figure out exactly what had happened in the past.
Some people thought it was better to bury the past but she was going to have to dig it up in order to fully understand the man her father truly was. Otherwise she wouldn't be able to fully get to know him. That included having to dig up her own past so he could know who she truly was.
Hey guys thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the next installment of Rags to Leather. Remember to take the poll on my profile. So the poll for those of you who don't know is to determine three things.
The first being who you want Lennox to end up with Jax or Opie.
The second is whether you want to see Tig/Venus or Tig/OC in the story.
The third is whether you want me to publish these stories on Wattpad as well. (Although I may have already published one on there. So go ahead and show it some love.)
So go and cast your vote and while you're at it, for those of you who already have a Wattpad account, go ahead and show some love to my Watpad account CeCeNegrete. For those of you who don't, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and make one, you wont regret it.