Fighter
Angel
the kitchen, Hannah is trying to keep up with the midday rush, so I don’t want to bother her with my petty lunchtime drama. I mean, now I’m unemployed, so that’s an issue, but still, the whole situation is stupid. That greasy creep thinking he can lay a hand on me and I won’t say anything? Get real. I don’t regret my reaction. It was only a matter of time before Harrington fired me for something. He was waiting for his opportunity.
I decide to shout at Hannah in passing as I head to the locker room. “Bye, Hannah. Call me sometime so we can get the pups together.”
She’s flipping a steak on the grill and turns my way with her eyebrows pulled together. “Why are you leaving in the middle of the lunch rush? What do you mean ‘call me sometime’?”
“Harrington canned me. Apparently, I’m a racist for not letting a guy grab my butt.”
Hannah sets down her tools and says something I can’t make out to the cook next to her. Once she approaches me, she asks, “What happened out there?”
I give her the abbreviated version and her outrage is twenty times that of mine. She’s not as good at bottling it up. Before I can wrap my head around what’s happening, she unties her apron.
“What are you doing?”
“If you think for one second I’m going to work somewhere management thinks this is okay, you don’t know me very well. We’ve already put up with enough, and this is the final straw.” She throws the apron down on the ground and shouts, “I quit!” She turns back to me, not wasting time on anyone else’s reaction, grabs my hand and walks toward the dining room. “Come on. We’re going to get Vida too.”
I try to dig in my feet, refusing to go back out there. I don’t want to be met with pitying stares—especially not from Damian. “Hannah, no. You can’t quit because of me. What are you going to do?”
“Don’t worry. I’ve been putting out feelers at other restaurants. I’m so over this place.”
Her words ease my worry. Even so, the thought of her being unemployed on my account bothers me.
She marches through the dining room with determination, and when Vida’s head of distinguishable black coily hair comes into view, Hannah shouts, “Hey, Vida. Do you want to work for a place that fires their staff for telling customers to keep their hands to themselves?” Hannah shows no hesitation or doubt in my retelling of events—a perk of building a reputation for honesty, I guess.
If there were any patrons in the dining room who weren’t privy to the drama of ten minutes ago, they are now. I see people around dropping their forks, glancing at each other with questioning looks and eyeing Hannah and me.
“Because Harrington thought Angel deserved to be fired for not offering her ass on a platter.”
I can’t help but giggle at Hannah’s outrage. Note to self: don’t get on Hannah Parker’s bad side. I don’t, however, want Vida to feel obligated to leave too because I know she needs this job.
Before I can say as much, she replies, “No, I don’t. Give me five minutes to cash out and I’ll meet you outside.”
Mr. Harrington charges into Vida’s section, stammering to the remaining diners. “Please, enjoy your meal, folks. This will all be handled momentarily.” He glares at me, making it clear he blames me for the situation.
I had no intention of leaving in a blaze of glory and taking his two best staff with me, but I’m not upset about it. Even though Alex isn’t my biggest fan, I almost feel bad leaving her here to fend for herself. The rest of the female staff are in their late forties, at least, so they don’t abide by our unspoken rule.
“Miss Ryan, you can’t leave in the middle of your shift. You have customers depending on you.”
“Mr. Harrington, Angel has been nothing but a hard worker her entire time here. If you were concerned about your clientele, you would have thought twice before firing her.” Vida walks toward Hannah and me, embracing me in a tight hug, and whispers in my ear, “Wait for me outside. I’ll be right there.”
Before now, Vida has always been the type to keep her head down and get the job done. She’s never been a victim, nor a participant in petty restaurant drama. I’ve respected her for that and appreciated her as a co-worker. But hearing the ferocity with which she spoke now, I’m honoured to call her a friend.
Mr. Harrington glares at me, so I shrug and reply, “Better put in a call for some chimpanzees.”
Hannah leads me by the hand to the locker room, where we collect our belongings, then out of the side exit to wait for Vida. As promised, she walks out moments later, and squeals as she jumps toward us. I’ve never seen her so happy, and it’s such an unusual scenario.
“He. Is. Furious! Ha! That’ll teach him.”
These girls; I don’t even know where to start.
“You two are crazy, you know that? You didn’t have to quit because of me.”
Vida takes hold of my right hand, drawing my attention to her. “First and foremost, I quit because what just happened in there was wrong. If it had happened to Hannah or even Alex, I would have reacted the same way. Two, you didn’t deserve that, and if it takes us dishing out a hard lesson for Harrington to figure it out, then so be it. Third, we’ve got the rest of the day free, and your girl here needs a drink.”
I chuckle, but I feel the same way. If the roles were reversed, I would have proverbially set the place on fire as I walked out, too. “Come. We’ll go to my place and get dressed up, then we’ll get some drinks. I think we’ve earned a night on the town.”
When we enter my condo, Genie seems startled to see me. Even she wasn’t expecting me home so soon. She greets Vida and Hannah, who are both dog lovers, so she laps up the attention as they baby talk with her.
The four of us, Genie included, lounge around for a while, trying to come down from the events of today. We talk about everything from our dogs to our future career ambitions. We’re all college or university graduates who got sucked into the life of a short commute and easy tips, but none of us ever intended to give Harvest as much of our lives as we did.
Maybe what happened today will be a fresh start for all of us, even if the situation is far from ideal.
Tonight, though? Tonight we let loose.