~ Paige ~
“You’re gonna work yourself sick.” Bob bestows his trademark glower from ten feet away. “You mark my words, girlie.”
Since Cara is busy taking out the trash, I scoop the dirty dishes into the bin myself with Bob grilling me– extra crispy- not from his beloved kitchen, but from behind the counter. “I’m fine.”
“Why ya working all those extra shifts anyway? I thought your friend paid ya good.”
“I like to work,” is my glum reply, and head to the kitchen to dump the soiled contents into the sink. Gus is nowhere in sight. Probably out back having a smoke.
To be accurate, I like getting paid. I need to make next month’s rent, for which I don’t even have a quarter of as of two days ago, and it’s due next week. Whatever nest egg I painstakingly managed to put together in the last few years, I blew through in merely two months. Thinking of the bag full of Colin’s money, I dipped into the meager savings to pay for Rome’s classes and the regular expenses.
Bob harrumphs. “Sit down, girlie. There’re no customers, and ya look like ya ready to fall over.”
Exhaustion is starting to claim me, but I fear if I take a break, I won’t be able to get back up.
What if when I stop, my body never finds its last strength?
I’m not ready to go. Between what’s going on with Colin and the extra shifts, I haven’t had time to think about it lately, refused to give it mind space, but it’s always lurking, an ominous shadow over my light.
Rome is graduating. He’ll be eighteen next month. Thank God, I pray. Thank God.
We made it this far.
Setting the bin under the counter under Bob’s disapproving eyes, I take the opportunity to help myself to coffee, hoping it would shoot some energy into my depleting bloodstream.
“I have to take off for a few hours tomorrow for Rome’s graduation, remember?” I say in between sips. “I’m just making up for that right now.”
“What about the extra hours yesterday?” he argues. “And the day before that? And the one before that?” He watches me finish off the cup. “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the hard work, but I see whats-a doing to ya. You gotta to be as pale as a ghost. I won’t have ya scaring the customers when it’s not Halloween.”
“Come on. You need the help. I need the work. What’s the big deal?”
“I don’t need ya dying on me, Paige.”
My stomach sinks at that casual reprimand, but I don’t show it. “Everyone dies, Bob.” At that, I push back into the kitchen with my empty cup.
I’m just adding it to the pile in the sink when Cara gushes back in through the rear door that faces the alley, excitement oozing off of her.
“Paige,” she starts the second she spots me. “I think your boyfriend is here. I saw him getting out of that black car.”
Not this again. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Colin,” she all but screeches, clutching her fingers against her chest, her eyes sparkling with her secret romantic heart. “He’s surprising you with a visit.” She sighs wistfully.
I haven’t told her about the fight. Haven’t shared with her I haven’t seen him for nearly a week. He’s called, but I ignored it. I wasn’t interested in listening to whatever stupid-ass arrangements he concocted again. I gave him all his money back, down to the penny. There was nothing further to discuss.
That must have finally occurred to him. After a couple of days, even the calls stopped.
I fold my arms on my chest. “Well, I’m not going to serve him.”
Cara’s happy grin drops. “Why not?”
“Because he’s a liar and a cheat.”
It takes her a second. Stunned, her fingers fly to her mouth. “Is there another woman?”
“Caught the asshole red-handed, having dinner with her after he broke his date with me.” It still hurts, but I refuse to let it rule my emotions. “At the same restaurant he was supposed to take me.”
The outraged gasp can halt traffic. “Oh no, he didn’t!”
“Oh yes, he did.”
Cara narrows her eyes. “You know what?” she asks, surprising me with how much menace she generates so suddenly. “I’ll take care of him.”
I purse my lips in thought, wondering what she meant by that, but Cara is already out of the kitchen.
Sweet, reserved little Cara wouldn’t do anything crazy.
Would she?
Tiptoeing, I silently peek through a thin gap in the kitchen door. Being just after two, the lunch rush is over. The diner is still empty except for one man at a booth. I can’t see him very well, not with eager Bob hovering at the table and blocking my view, but then petite Cara appears in my slim field of vision.
With a giant slice of today’s special pie.
“Whatcha doin’?” Gus asks from behind me.
“Shh!” I shush him from over my shoulder.
“Lemme see.” The nosy ass is trying to peer through the crack from above me.
I return my attention to the dining room. Cara is saying something, but I can’t quite make it out. Bob has stepped back a little, enough for me to see Colin’s solemn profile.
My heart, the treacherous, gullible thing, skips rapidly at the sight of him. He looks gorgeous in a navy suit, the lying jerk.
His gaze is on Bob, who’s gesturing as if he’s talking.
Without warning, Cara upends the dessert plate on the top of Colin’s neatly styled head. Colin flinches as smashed crust and bright, juicy cherries skitter down his head.
Oh. My. God.
“Oh, shit!” comes the shocked male voice above me.
My galloping heart falls dead on the spot. Aghast, ashamed, I clutch at the spot where it’s supposed to be beating. How can a hollowed muscle hurt?
I shouldn’t have said anything to Cara.
“Cara!”
That was distinctly Bob, who’s ogling the ridiculous mess in a stupefied daze.
Cara nods, one hundred percent self-righteous and satisfied.
There’s no way for me to make out Colin’s reaction, but I’m willing to bet he’s fuming.
I fall back, deathly afraid to see the rest of it.
“She’s lost her fucking mind.” Gus is staring at me, all wide eyes and mouth. “Bob is gonna shit fire… after he sends her packing.”
No, he’s not. He can’t. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have said anything.
Cara can’t lose her job at Love’s. She’ll be homeless.
Gus knows. It’s whispered among the staff, the worst kept secret at Love’s. Cara is just a kid with nowhere to go, unfortunate circumstances forcing her to grow up before her time.
Dimly, I realize Gus is frantically sprinting about in the kitchen, rummaging through shelves. Then a whole bunch of rags are shoved into my hands. “You gotta go out there.”
Cold, so cold. It’s like I’m locked in the freezer with no way out, yet I’m sweating. Not enough air. I can’t breathe.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Your job, sweetheart. Someone needs to save her skinny ass.”
Then he’s gripping me by the shoulders and spinning me around, thrusting me out of the kitchen without ceremony.
“Don’t just stand there.” Bob’s entire saggy face is explosive red. “You clean this shit up, ya hear me?” He wheezes in an audible breath. “Move!”
I’ve never seen him this mad.
Dragging, my body is numb, tingling, but my hands aren’t too steady. There’s a pulverizing pressure in my chest, stifling me.
“I’ve got it,” I hear myself say. It sounded weird, like I was underwater, and the garbled words were projected to me.
Cara is trembling too. Being yelled at by Bob, she must realize the gravity of her impulsive conduct.
A staggering mess of flaky crust and juicy, ruby red cherries trail down Colin’s head. He half turns at my approach, his striking face smeared with the stuff as though he attempted to wipe it with a napkin. When I’m close enough to see, I find he doesn’t appear angry.
He seems exasperated. Resigned.
I touch Cara’s arm as I pass, butterfly light. “Get some more rags, would you?”
My ears are dull, like my muscles. A buzzing. Lightheaded. An odd sensation. I must’ve said it correctly because Cara shifts away, presumably to the kitchen for backup.
“I’m sorry, Colin.” Bob shakes his head. “I don’t know what’s gotten into her.”
“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
The bafflement doesn’t go well with Bob’s pulsating, flaming face. “Said what?”
“Anything.” I look at Colin, who’s been silent this whole time. “She’s just a kid,” I tell him. I don’t know why. Maybe I think he can talk Bob into not firing her. Colin can be persuasive. “Just a kid.”
He’s still seated in the booth, frowning up at me with a cherry on top. I watch my hand lift, swiping it off with the towel.
“Paige.”
My name. I love my name on Colin’s lips. I never told him that.
His face becomes distorted.
Dark eyes.
Gorgeous eyes.
“Paige!”
Urgent yelling. Male hands grabbing at me.