“How sweet,” Aunt Tillie cooed. “I’m sure you’ll be less lonely here with your familiar here.”
“Yep,” I said, replied, though I knew that was untrue. My foolish heart was aching, missing the friends I’d made there, and my asshole ex as my heart still had not completely gotten the memo that he was poison. He was the one who’d betrayed us, causing all this hurt, possibly with help from the other two members of the Royal Trio. I needed a distraction, and a job would help with that, as well as help pay bills.
Uncle Joe pulled into the drive of a small house. He hadn’t been kidding when he said the diner wasn’t far away. “Beach is a couple of blocks that way,” he said, getting out and pointing.
“What’s the date?” I asked suddenly. It had been fall already in the realm. I knew time flowed differently but was unsure just how much. It was hot, but I’d also never been this far south, so for all I knew, this was typical weather for the last quarter of the year.
“It’s July twenty-seventh,” Aunt Tillie replied.
Still summer! My breath caught. I’d always dreamed of going to the beach and learning to bodyboard, or maybe even surf. If I got a job, I could pay for lessons. Surely there were lessons available as it had to be the height of tourist season. My mind was made up. Tomorrow, I’d go back to the diner and see if they were hiring. If not, surely somewhere around here was.
And once I had that job, I could scope out the possibility of taking some lessons down at the beach. It’d be like a working vacation. The break would do me good. No magick, no boyfriend and his buddies to confuse me, no hidden agendas to muddy the waters. Just a girl and her cat enjoying their summer vacation. Yeah, that sounded good. Carrying George, I followed my aunt and uncle inside.
Chapter 26
They took my application, but the manager kindly told me it might be awhile before I got a call, if they had an opening. The Hilton Head Diner was popular both with customers and staff, so they were a popular place to work with a low attrition rate for their team. The waitress who served us the day before brought me a complimentary coffee to go before I left, though, and gave me a good lead on a new job opening at one of the beachside cafes. Her sister worked there, and the day before had fired someone for stealing tips. I thanked her profusely for both the coffee and the information.
I wanted to check the beach out anyway, so I decided to go ahead and walk there. It was the lunch rush when I arrived, so I sat down at a table to eat while I waited for things to calm down enough for me to make my inquiry. Uncle Joe had slipped me ten bucks when he dropped me off at the diner on his way to work. Since I hadn’t spent any thanks to the free coffee, I treated myself to popcorn shrimp and fries.
I ate slowly, taking my time to get a good feel of the place, but not so slow that I took up a much-needed table. About half of the customers wanted takeaway, walking down towards the beach as they walked. Several more were there asking for ice cream, scooped from the small ice cream freezer at the counter, which held eight different flavors. The rest were like me, folks enjoying an inexpensive meal by the seaside.
Once the rush petered out, I made short work of the rest of my meal and went up to the counter to pay.
“Sharlene from over at the Hilton Head Diner said ya’ll might have an opening for a waitress,” I said.
“You got any experience?” the woman asked.
I shook my head no. “But I’m a fast learner and could really use a job. We just moved here, and now that I’ve graduated, I don’t want to leech off my aunt and uncle.” I licked my lips nervously, worried that my lack of experience was going to get me turned away. “They’ve been good to me, raising me since I was little, and I’d like to pay my way and help them out.”
“Alright. I’m the owner, Sally. You be here at nine-thirty sharp tomorrow morning. We open at ten. Wear sensible, closed-toe shoes. The only uniform is the t-shirt, you wait here a sec, and I’ll get you an application and a shirt. Fill it all in and give it to me in the morning. You can set up the tables and chairs outside, bus tables, and serve ice cream at first. We pay ten an hour plus tips, which are split amongst everyone working on shift. That work for you?”
“Yes, thank you!” Ten an hour was fine by me, especially as I could see that the cafe was cash only, and the tip jar by the register was filled with bills as well as plenty of quarters mixed in with dimes and nickels and the odd penny here and there. No doubt change left after paying a bill, I decided.
Sally motioned for the girl bussing the tables to come to mind the counter, then walked into the back. She returned moments later with the promised application and t-shirt. She gave them to me, but not before asking for my address and telephone number. I had those, thanks to being prepared for filling in job applications on site.
“Just in case you’re a no-show, because we’ll want the shirt back then. They cost me money, and I don’t want them to become souvenirs if you haven’t worked here. Once you’ve worked here, the shirt’s yours.” She smiled. “And now that I know how you write your name, I can have a name tag waiting for you. You never know, unique spellings are all the rage, and for all I knew, you could have spelled your name with a z in the middle and an i at the end.”
“I’ll be here,” I promised, laughing. “And no, it’s just like the day of the week.”
“See you then,” she said. “And did you know, a famous actress in the fifties had the same first name? Tuesday Weld. She was a blonde bombshell, just like you, too.”
She thought I was pretty? I blushed. Except for Marla and her mom, my aunts and uncle, and the guys, no one had ever told me to my face that I was pretty. Weird, yes. Pretty, never. “I’ll have to check her out,” I said, turning to go. I gave a little wave through the glass window as I went past. I wanted to skip, I was so happy. I had a job!
I wandered down the street, taking in the sights. Spying a place that advertised board rentals and lessons in bodyboarding, surfing, windsurfing, and offered snorkeling tours, I went in. It wouldn’t hurt to find out how much any of those things cost. I left with a brochure with their prices and website listed, then headed down to the beach proper. Life was good. Take that, Laurent! I can do just fine without you. Gone was Tuesday, inexperienced witch and locii in training. I was Tuesday, the bombshell blonde beach bunny waitress and I liked it.
Taking my shoes off, I carried them in my hand as I strolled through the edges of the surf, letting it wash over my toes. I walked until I was afraid I’d gone too far and might end up lost if I kept going. Then, I turned around and walked back the other way. As I reached the street I’d come down, I became excited all over again. I couldn’t wait to get back home and share my good news with Aunt Tillie and, later, with Uncle Joe.
Chapter 27
Uncle Joe placed a key ring that held three keys on it next to my bowl of cereal. “Front door, shed, and for your new bike lock.”
“Bike lock?”
“Yes, we bought a bike lock last night so you can ride your bike to work and back,” he said. “Figured it would be faster than walking. The bike’s in the shed, lock for it is in the basket.”
“There’s a helmet hanging off the handlebars, too.” Aunt Tillie beamed at me. “Your other helmet was a few years old, so we replaced it.”
I placed my spoon inside of my now empty cereal bowl and stood up. “Thank you!” I said, throwing my arms around first Uncle Joe, then Aunt Tillie.
Uncle Joe looked embarrassed. “Yes, well, see that you use them. Keep your noggin safe and deter thieves.” He kissed Aunt Tille on the cheek. “See you at dinner,” he told her. “Love you.”
“I love you, too, now get going before you’re late!” He left, and she turned her attention to me. “And you, too. You best go get changed.”
“Oh, this is what I’m wearing,” I said. I was wearing my school uniform skirt, thigh high socks with pink bows behind the knee, my fave wedge heeled sneakers, and the bright pink work t-shirt Sally had given me. “See,” I pointed at the logo on the
tee, “Sally’s Seafood Cafe. I do gotta go brush my teeth, though.”
“Pull your hair back,” Aunt Tillie advised. “Working around food, after all.”
I couldn’t argue with that, so after brushing my teeth, I did two quick braided pigtails, one on each side of my head. Those didn’t take much time as my hair wasn’t all that long. Finding that Aunt Tille had some hairspray in the bathroom, I gave myself a quick spritz and then dashed out to grab my bike. They were right about it being faster, though since the distance wasn’t all that far, sometimes I might go ahead and walk.
As I rode to work, I felt happy. This bike and I were old friends, having had adventures together since I was thirteen. Marla had ridden along with hers for most of them, but not all. I missed Marla deeply, but the ache eased from my chest as I fell into the swing of feeling this new adventure.
Traffic wasn’t that bad, but the tourists going to the beach were impatient. Not only were they not looking out for bicycles, but one driver with Maine plates had a near-miss with a motorcyclist and pedestrians crossing the road were playing a game of chicken to reach the other side. I decided then and there to buy one of those dayglo orange safety vests to try to draw drivers’ attention better. Fortunately, we lived fairly close by so it didn’t take me long to get there and I arrived without mishap. Sally looked happy to see me, almost as if she hadn’t expected me to actually show up.
“You rode a bike to get here?” she asked, looking surprised.
“Uh-huh. We only live a short distance away. I could walk here, actually, but this is faster, plus a lot more fun.”
She looked unconvinced. “Okay, well, we have a non-food storage area with a metal rack you can park that next to. You leave that outside, it might go missing, even with the chain. With all the tourists around, you don’t want to leave anything of value that someone can take easily.”
She showed me where it was, and I took a large flattened cardboard box that was waiting to go out to the recycling dumpster in the small alley out back. I placed it on the floor and then wheeled my bike onto it before leaning it against the end of the metal rack she’d mentioned. There was a gap several inches wide between the rack and the wall, so I backed into it, stopping when my pedals hit the lower shelf. I chained it, leaning it so it rested mostly against the wall, and hung my helmet over the handlebars. A quick dash to the restroom to smooth my hair back down from where it stuck up a bit thanks to my helmet and a handwash, and I was ready to go after handing Sally my paperwork and her checking it over.
“Grab the tables and chairs from the back and put them out,” Sally told me. “Make sure to leave room for people to walk by without bumping into customers.”
I’d seen them in the back in the same storage room as where I parked my back, so hurried to obey. The tables in question were small folding tables designed to seat two, similar to ones people put on their patios and balconies. It didn’t take me long to get them set up and place the chairs around them. My next job was to get a tub of hot water and put a metal ice cream scoop into it.
“The warm scoop will make it easier to serve the ice cream,” she informed me. That made sense. “Make sure to rinse the scoop after each use.”
She opened the door wide and put a doorstop in place, and customers began to trickle in. I had a surprising number of ice creams to serve despite it being only mid-morning. I saw several people come in, wanting eggs, grits, and bacon, which the cook made with efficiency. The closer it got to lunch, the busier we became, and I was starting to see why she told me to wear sensible shoes. I had to juggle clearing the tables and getting the dishes to the back for the dishwasher while not leaving a customer waiting for more than a minute or so to order ice cream.
Lunch itself was insane thanks to a minibus full of people pulling up outside. A bunch of old dears from The Daisy Chain Community Center, according to the lettering on the bus.
“We’re having an ice cream social,” a lovely older lady said to me, beaming at me from under the green plastic visored cap she wore. “We’re getting ice creams and then going for a stroll on the beach.”
I smiled back at her. “That sounds like fun, and you’ve definitely come to the right place.”
I quickly learned how to make sundaes as most of the group did not want plain scoops of ice cream. I sliced bananas, sprinkled nuts, garnished with sauces, whipped cream, and cherries. After I’d served the last of them, I was horrified to see that the dishwasher, Alan, was bussing tables for me.
“It’s okay,” Sally reassured me. “When we get hopping, he comes out to help. Part of the reason we all split the tips between everyone on shift.”
I nodded, grateful I wasn’t in trouble.
The rest of my shift was quieter and at the end of it at two, Sally asked me what I’d like for lunch. “One of the perks,” she said, her eyes twinkling. I decided on the fried catfish and hushpuppies. They were delicious, but as I sat inside, my eyes kept drifting over to the door. I hadn’t thought of him even once while we were busy, but now I found myself looking to see if he’d tracked me down.
If he really loved me the way he said, he’d have figured out where I was by now. Okay, it’s only been a whole day, so maybe that’s unrealistic. Seeing as we’re not only in the human world but a completely unrelated place to where we’d lived before, it might take a few days. If he’s even looking, that is. Though undoubtedly grandmother would have employed someone powerful with mad skills to find me, her powerful bargaining locii chip, I thought bitterly.
“You alright?” Mindy, the waitress asked me.
“Yeah,” I gave her a sad look. “Bad break up, you know?”
“Ohhhh…” she looked at me sympathetically. “Those are the worst. What you need to do is find a hot guy. Just you wait. Lots of hot guys come in here, and they will try to pick you up.” She giggled. “Happens all the time.”
“Mreow?”
“George? What are you doing here?” I rose from my seat.
“You know that cat?” Sally called out.
“Yeah, sorry, she’s mine. I don’t know how she found me,” I fibbed. “George, you can’t come into places like before. You’ve got to stay home.” I looked back over at Sally. “I’ll go get my bike and take her home.”
“Didn’t you come by bike?” Mindy asked.
“It’ll be okay. She can ride in the basket.” I ignored the looks from everyone that said they thought I was crazy. I hurried into the back, wheeling my bike around. George was still waiting by the front door, patiently washing her paws. Mindy came out to hand me a to-go box in a bag.
“I put the rest of your lunch in it for you.”
“Thanks.” I hung it over the handlebars, plopped George into the basket, and fastened my helmet. Then we were off.
Chapter 28
Mindy hadn’t been kidding. This cafe was hot guy central. Over the next few weeks, I saw three in particular, who were regulars. They came in at least twice a day for mid-morning ice creams they took back for their co-workers and later in the afternoon for milkshakes. Today the penny dropped why I saw them every day no matter which shift I was working.
I handed over four Cookies and Cream milkshakes in a cardboard drinks carrier to one of them, and he thanked me. He reached into his pocket, and I thought maybe he was reaching for change to put into the tip jar, but no. It was a piece of paper with a name and phone number. He winked as he placed it on top of the ice cream freezer. I stared at it. Kevin wanted me to call him, probably hoping for a date.
“Told you,” sang Mindy. “Now one of them has made his move. Just wait, the other two will find out and try to get you to call them instead, or maybe ask you outright.”
He was good looking, and a bodyboarding and surfing instructor at the place I’d taken a brochure from. If I went out with him, I could probably score some free personal lessons. It didn’t feel right, though. I left the paper where it was.
“He really is into you,” Sally said after ringing up a customer. “
He only started coming in like that once he spotted you, and every Friday he leaves a ten dollar tip in the jar, letting me know it's for when you served him the rest of the week.”
I felt happy about that but still no spark of romantic interest. Damn it, Laurent had broken me. If I even thought about dating, it led to thinking about holding hands and kissing, and that led to Laurent, which led to Brent and Charles. Who I shouldn’t be thinking about, as they are together while Laurent and I were just their magickal partners with benefits kinda. No! I shouldn’t be thinking of Laurent, either. And as for comparing how the guys coming in looked compared to the Royal Trio, well, that was a hell no too.
I’d been here going on nearly four weeks now, and none of those magical heart breakers had tracked me down. Like I told myself that very first day of work, if they genuinely had loved or cared for me for myself, they would have tracked me down. It had been enough time for them to find me if they’d really made an effort, surely. I mean, come on, Aunt Lisanne had been close to the deputy head who was related to Charles. I’m sure they could have gotten him to tease a clue out of her, especially since I’m positive the secretary would have spilled about my phone call as soon as I was discovered missing. Or even tried to find me using the bracelets shackling our magicks together for all time.
No, it was over. It had been fun at times, hanging out in the common area with friends, and learning how to do magick. Even being at Grandmother’s hadn’t been a total drag. I got caught up on all the rudimentary stuff I should have learned as a kid, made out with three hot guys, had a bit of sex with one of them, and cast a bitching spell with them in the rose garden. None of which made up for it all having been a lie to get me to do what they wanted. For Laurent, anyway, and probably Brent. I still was on the fence about Charles as he’d been sweet to me from the very beginning, unlike Laurent. Brent hadn’t been mean, either, but he was stiff at times. Probably because of hiding their real agenda from me. Yes, that had to be it.
Discovery of Magick (Dark Light Academy Book 1) Page 18