“Alright. I’ll have the fries with that. Thank you, sugar.”
I already jotted down fries as his side, so I take his menu and slip into the kitchen, digging my phone out of my pocket. With my shoulder keeping the phone taut to my ear, I clip the order to the counter near the cooks.
“What’s up, buddy?” I ask Tanner, knowing it’s him full well because the other two boys are in school. “You remember to take your Tylenol at 11?” I ask, recalling the times I wrote down in the kitchen on the back of an electric company bill. I told him at what time he needs to take Tylenol and at what time he’s allowed to take a muscle relaxer. I even put the pills out. Along with drinks, and snacks, all right next to him on the couch. He really shouldn’t need anything.
“Clara June, it’s Chrissy.”
Chrissy is another waitress here. And she only calls when she needs something. I glance at my watch again. Three more hours and I’m off, and I can go home, check on Tanner, make food for the boys, and enjoy areallyhot shower.
“Hi Chrissy,” I reply, hesitantly. She didn’t call Goode’s directly, so she isn’t sick. She called me, which means one thing and one thing only.
“Do you think you could cover my afternoon shift? Maverick Jr. is sick, and my mom can’t watch him, you know, ‘cause of her immune disorder.” She smacks her gum as shewaits for me to reply, and in the background I hear her son, coughing and crying. She isn’t lying, but still, I have the strongest inclination to be annoyed.
I don’t want to stay here another moment longer than I need to.
I just brought Tanner home yesterday.
I pinch the bridge of my nose and stare out the back window to the employee parking lot tucked near the alley. I spot my very old sedan, fresh from the shop with a new timing belt, brake pads, steering fluid, and the expensive list goes on. Paired with Tanner’s hospital bills, I’m about to be in a financial crater once the next round of monthly bills comes.
“Sure,” I tell her, because while I’d rather get a gynecological exam in front of the entire town than work one more minute today, we need the money. Evening shifts yield the most tips, too. “I’ll let Donna know.”
I deliver the plate of eggs, take two more orders, and sneak into the cooler for a moment to call Rawley. He’s on his lunch break, so I know he’ll answer.
“What’s up?” he picks up on the first ring, whooping and laughter filling in the line around him.
“Hey, I have to pick up an extra shift tonight. Do you think you can grab Archie from the after school program?”
He sighs as if I’ve asked him to give a kidney to a stranger. Or worse. Like I asked him to give me his laptop and Playstation. “I was going to go to Jo Jo’s after school, mom.”
“Hiya, Clara June,” one of the line cooks greets as he pushes past me to collect a box of shredded cheese from the shelf.
I smile and nod, but focus on Rawley. “Can you bring her back to our house? That way you can keep an eye on Archie and Tanner until I get back.”
His sigh could move a forest of trees, I swear. “I guess.”
“Keep your bedroom door open and don’t let Archie outside. There's lasagna in the freezer. Cooking instructions are written on the foil.”
Another painful harrumph. “Am I at least getting paid to babysit?”
“Should I deduct it from what I paid on the wasted SAT tutor?”
The line is quiet. Then a final sigh before, “Fine, I’ll do it.”
“Thank you, son. I appreciate it. You’re really helping me out.”
“Bye.”
I step out of the cooler and back into the busy restaurant. Small towns are good for so many things, but diverse restaurants and eating opportunities? Not so much. When Bluebell wants to eat out, half of them come here.
Tips are good, but my feet are sore and my heart and head are just… not here today. I steal a sip of my Diet Coke from beneath the hostess station, redo my ponytail into something slightly less flyaway riddled, and get through the next six and half hours the way I always do, tired and stressed with a smile on my face.
After locking my car doors, I grab my coat and purse and trudge along the side yard until I reach the back of the house. With my keys in the lock, I twist and push the door open,eager as ever to be home. When Tanner was hurt, I had a vision of bringing him home from the hospital and sitting by his side for the first few days, just to make sure everything was okay, and that he didn’t need me.
Life had other plans, because life also comes with a lot of bills.
It’s ten after ten, and while the two older boys are usually still up at this hour, the house is completely dark, and I wonder for a moment if I’m in the wrong house.
But after kicking off my sneakers, I step on a peach pit, and then trip over Archie’s cowboy boots that were left in the center of the kitchen floor and yep. I’m in the right place.
