Not for me anyhow.
Chapter 11
The thunderous pounding on my door jerked me awake. I blinked a few times in confusion, and then it came again.
Bam, bam, bam, bam
Bruno lifted his head off the bed next to me and barked. Jumping up, his tail wagging in the air, he raced over to the door and barked excitedly.
I rubbed at my bleary eyes and blinked at the display on my alarm clock. Six thirty-six in the morning. What the hell?
Bam, bam, bam, bam
“I know you’re in there, Emma!” Lydia shouted. “I can hear Bruno barking, and I know for a fact you’d never leave that monster behind.”
“Oh god.” I covered my face with my hands. It was too early for Lydia’s bullshit. I hadn’t gotten back home until almost 2AM because of the traffic, and then I’d had to sort out Lucy and Bruno and overthink every decision I’d made yesterday—and my life, basically. It had been exhausting, so I’d only had maybe two hours of sleep under my belt.
Definitely not enough for Lydia and whatever bullshit she’d dreamt up today.
“Emma! Don’t make me use my key.”
Rolling my eyes at her dramatic plea—I doubted she even knew where to find a key to my place—I stumbled out of bed and made my way to the door. I struggled with the locks for a second. And then I’d only gotten it open a crack when Lydia pushed her way inside.
“Finally!” She huffed, sweeping her sunglasses off her face to scowl at me. “What is wrong with you? You should’ve been at the diner half an hour ago. I sent you a text.”
I blinked a few times. That…wasn’t what I’d expected her to say. Finally, I shook my head. “We’re closed today. Gwen is sick.”
“Gwen is fired is what she is. Don’t think I don’t know about the stunt she’d pulled yesterday with her sudden “illness” and talking the other cook into closing the diner for the day. They’re both fired.”
“But…you can’t. Gwen’s been working at Dad’s Place for forever. She’s the magic that keeps people coming in. And you can’t fire someone for being sick. It’s illegal.”
“She’s not sick. She conspired with you so you could go to that stupid summer festival. Don’t think I don’t know about that either. Videos of your little stunt are everywhere.”
I flinched. The last thing I wanted to talk about was yesterday.
“So now you’re fired, too. You pulled a no-call no-show yesterdayandtoday. You also committed fraud. No one called me, the owner, for permission to close yesterday or today. That’s unacceptable. And while we’re at it, consider this your thirty-day notice too.”
“You’re evicting me?”
“It’s not technically an eviction. I’m changing the function of this garage unit, so it’s no longer available for rent. You have thirty days to vacate. My lawyer will draw up the notice tomorrow.”
“Fuck.You.” The words exploded out of my mouth, and I’d be damned if I was going to take them back.
Lydia reared back like I’d slapped her. “Excuse me?”
“No.” I huffed an incredulous laugh. “You’re not excused. You’ve been a bitch to me since day one. You made no secret of the fact that you couldn’t stand me. I don’t know why Dad put up with your shit, but I’m over it, and I’m over you. So you can take your shitty job and shove it. I’ll be reporting you to the labor board. And I’m going to talk to everyone else at the diner and get them to file complaints too. Good luck staying open after that.”
“You wouldn’t.” Lydia raised her eyebrows with a smirk, like she had me trapped. “You wouldn’t do that to your father’s diner.”
“You’re right. I wouldn’t do that to my father’s diner. You did that. You cut our pay after he got sick. You skimmed our tips after he died. You pissed all over his legacy, and I hope the state takes it away from you because you don’t deserve any of it.”
Lydia flinched for a second like I’d physically hit her before she steeled her expression and crossed her arms over her chest. She looked every inch of the high society widow role she’d been playing this past year. “Well, the joke’s on you because I got this shitty home and his business and his goddamn dog when he died. It’s all mine, little girl, because he loved me more than he loved you.”
I shook my head and my angry tears flung from my face. “If you can think that, then you didn’t know him at all.”
Lydia stared back at me, and her hand flexed like she was thinking about slapping me.
I’d love to see her try.
