by Noelle Adams
Her brows drew together as she read the note he’d written on the back of the card. She’s your new waitress. Trust me. R.
“But you don’t know me,” she said, a little breathlessly. “You shouldn’t vouch for me like that.”
He gave her that little half smile again, the one that seemed to indicate he was pleased with the direction the world was moving. “I’m owed more favors than I know what to do with. I can use one of them on this.”
“But why?” She really wanted to know.
“Everyone deserves a chance.”
Her smile was a little wobbly as she clutched the card in her hand. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” He was clearly uncomfortable with too much gratitude and was making an effort to brush it off. “You sure you don’t want me to come over to help you with the flapper?”
She was more tempted than ever to accept, but once again she had the feeling that if she admitted she couldn’t do it, Arthur would somehow score another victory. “I’ve got it.”
She thanked Rob again and waved as she walked out of the store, feeling as encouraged as she had first thing that morning, but with more foundation for it now. She headed right over to Dora’s, since it was just two blocks away.
When she stepped inside, she asked for Trey, and a balding man with a potbelly and a dirty shirt came out from the kitchen. Allison handed him the card, not sure exactly what to say.
“Seriously?” Trey muttered, eyeing her up and down like she was an alien from a different planet.
Okay. That wasn’t the reaction she’d been hoping for.
“I could do a good job,” she said quietly. “I need this, so you can count on me to work really hard.”
Trey sighed, still staring down at the card. “Damn it, West,” he muttered.
Clearly he wasn’t speaking to her, so she didn’t say anything else.
Finally he looked up. “Fine. I’ll give you a try. I owe Rob big-time. But if it doesn’t work out, I can’t keep you on. The favor I owe him will only go so far.”
“Understood. I appreciate you giving me a chance.”
“When can you start?”
“Tomorrow. Or whenever you need me to.”
“Okay. Tomorrow’s good. It’s the early shift I need covered, so you’ll have to be here by six.”
She was so excited about getting a job that she only cringed slightly at the thought of getting up so early. “No problem.”
“Hey, Chelle,” Trey called out.
The redheaded waitress she’d seen yesterday walked over, looking tired and not very friendly. “What do you want?”
“She’s our new girl. Get her a shirt, will you?”
Allison had noticed that all the waitresses wore a dark blue golf shirt with DORA’S CAFÉ appliquéd on the pocket. She wouldn’t normally be caught dead in a shirt like that, but she gratefully accepted the one Chelle handed her.
The other woman didn’t smile. Maybe she’d warm up once she got to know her.
“You better wear more comfortable shoes,” Chelle said, glancing down at Allison’s little heels.
“I will. Thank you.”
Trey made a snuffling sound. He smelled like grease and smoke, which wasn’t a pleasant combination, but Allison was so relieved she didn’t even notice much. “Come back this afternoon,” he said. “You’ll need to fill out an application, and I’ll need your proof of identity and all the legal junk. But don’t come until two. We’re too busy before then.”
“I’ll be here at two. Thank you.”
Allison stopped at the small grocery store in town before she headed home. Since it was still just after ten, as soon as she got home she looked on the Internet for directions on how to fix a toilet. For the next two hours she followed them step-by-step, having to restart several times.
But finally she managed to change the flapper and stop the toilet from running all the time—so that made two victories for the day.
—
The next morning Rob walked into Dora’s, hoping to see Allison.
He ate at Dora’s almost every morning—and also several nights a week—so it wasn’t strange for him to be here.
It was strange for him to be so excited about it, though.
His whole body clenched a little when he saw Allison in the far corner, pouring coffee for the elderly couple who sat in that same booth every morning.
Allison wore the normal Dora’s shirt, but it looked different on her. She’d somehow made the shapeless shirt fit so it showed off her luscious body. She wore it with black cropped pants and ballet flats. He took a moment to admire her deliciously rounded ass before he realized he couldn’t just stand in the doorway and leer at her.
He took his normal seat at the counter, accepting the coffee Trey brought over for him.
“Thanks for that,” Rob murmured, nodding over toward Allison.
Trey gave him his typical scowl. “You owe me now.”
“I only owe you if she doesn’t work out. Otherwise we’re even. She seems okay, doesn’t she?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Trey said begrudgingly. “She was on time, and she’s been nice to the customers. She’s only been here thirty minutes, though.”
The cook called out something, so Trey had to go back to see what the issue was. Rob sipped his coffee until Allison came over to him.
She was smiling, and he was immediately drawn to what he could sense was soft and vulnerable beneath her polished appearance. “So it worked out, then?” he asked, stating the obvious so he could have something to say.
“Yes. Thank you so much.” She tucked a brown curl back behind her ear.
He waved a hand, brushing off her thanks. He liked to be needed—particularly by someone as gorgeous as her—but he didn’t like to be thanked excessively. “So how is it so far?”
“So far, so good,” she said. “Of course, I haven’t been here long, and it hasn’t gotten crowded yet.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
“What can I get you?”
He ordered his eggs, bacon, and toast, and she wrote it down and took the slip back to clip it on the rack in the kitchen with the other orders. He watched her as he waited for his food. She had on a particular expression—a helpful, friendly expression that wasn’t exactly like her normal face. It was almost like she was playing a role.
Maybe that was the way she was able to do a job that she must have assumed she’d never have to do.
He tried to think of something to say when she came over to him again. If she was ever going to be interested in him, he needed to get her to think about him as something other than the helpful guy across the street. He was usually pretty good at flirting—he’d never had trouble getting girls interested in him—but when he’d had his chance yesterday, he’d gotten distracted by her job issues. So she’d ended up grateful to him but not any more interested in him as a man than she’d been the day before.
He was usually good at this. He could think of something.
Allison took two more orders before his food was ready. She was smiling at him when she brought his plate over, but it felt more like her “waitress face” than her real smile. He needed to change that.
He was about to say something funny and a little sexy—he wasn’t sure exactly what it would be, but he was sure something would come out when he started to speak—when he noticed that the guy down the counter from him had an empty coffee cup and was starting to look annoyed by it.
So instead of flirting, he nodded toward the guy silently, trying to give Allison a significant look so she’d refill the coffee before the customer was rude to her.
Her expression changed as she read his silent signal. She mouthed “Thanks” at him and went to grab the coffeepot, then filled up every mug in the restaurant, including Rob’s.
Rob frowned as he ate. He’d missed his chance. Now more people were coming in, and Allison was too busy to chat with him.
While she was working was probably not the best time to get to
know her anyway. She was going to be learning the job for a while, so she’d probably be kind of stressed. He was trying to think of some reason to invite himself over to her house when the bell on the door jingled again.
He glanced back automatically to see who had entered, and his entire body drooped when he saw it was his ex-wife, Dee.
She was pretty in the way a lot of women were pretty in Fielding. Her hair was teased out and dyed blond. She wore a lot of makeup, and her jeans were very tight. They’d been divorced for three years, and he found her so frustrating and annoying now that the attraction he’d once felt for her had completely died.
She’d obviously come in here to see him. She knew his habits just like everyone else in town. She plopped herself down on the stool beside him, smiling in her ingratiating way.
“What’s up?” he asked. He tried to be polite, even when he didn’t feel like it, since she would make a fuss if she decided he was being rude.
He felt Allison looking over at him as she took the order of a large family who’d come in. She’d be wondering who Dee was. He didn’t need anything else to turn her off.
“Cali didn’t get home until four last night,” Dee said, her red lips turning down into a pout.
“Was she with that boyfriend of hers?” Rob asked, scowling at the thought of his fifteen-year-old ex-stepdaughter having a boyfriend at all.
“Of course. I don’t know what to do with her.”
Rob couldn’t help but think that if Dee spent a little less time with her own boyfriends, she’d have more time to spend with her daughter, and that might help the girl to not act out so much. But he wasn’t married to Dee anymore, so there was only so much he could say. “Have you talked to her?”
“You think I haven’t talked to her?”
“I mean, really talk to her. Not scream at her when she comes home late.”
“I’ve done everything.”
Rob sighed. He’d been very fond of Cali in the six years he was married to her mother. The marriage had never been very good—he’d realized six months into it that it was a mistake—but he’d loved the little girl and had done what he could to be a father to her.
He had no real place in her life now, though.
“I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Can you talk to her?” Now Dee’s eyelashes fluttered in a familiar beseeching look.
“What do you want me to say?”
“You could at least try. She never listens to me.”
Rob shrugged. A glance over his shoulder proved that Allison was finishing up the orders from that large table, but she was glancing over at him occasionally.
She was wondering who Dee was. She was wondering what his relationship with her was.
It would be just his luck for her to decide he was taken and not give him another thought.
“I’ll try,” Rob agreed, hoping it would get Dee to leave. She hadn’t ordered anything yet, so maybe she wouldn’t stay long. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Dee reached over to rub his shoulder, sliding her hand over to the back of his neck. “Thank you so much, sweetie.” It was all Rob could do not to jerk away from her touch. Instead he carefully adjusted his posture so he could pull away from her.
Another large family had come in, and Allison had hurried to get them menus. It was getting more crowded in here now, and she was starting to look a little flustered. Her cheeks had gotten pink, which just made her even prettier.
Dee’s eyes followed Rob’s gaze. “She must be new,” Dee muttered. Then she straightened up and snapped, “Hey, new girl! I’ve been waiting forever. I need a Diet Coke.”
Allison turned quickly, having just offered the last menu to the table. Whatever her initial expression had been was quickly covered by her polite waitress face. “Of course. I’ll get it right now.”
Rob cringed internally, embarrassed by Dee, wondering why he’d ever hooked up with her. He’d been attracted to her, and she’d come on to him strong. It had been so easy to just go along with things. Plus, she’d always been very needy.
After the humiliation and helplessness of his first marriage, Rob had been looking to feel strong and in control of things, so he’d been drawn to her neediness. But he’d eventually learned that it was just another way to be used and manipulated.
Allison brought Dee a glass of soda, her eyes discreetly lowered as she murmured, “Sorry for the wait. Can I get you anything else?”
“No. I don’t want anything else.”
Allison glanced over at Rob’s empty plate. “Are you done?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“I’ll get your check.”
He watched her as she went back to the kitchen. She still looked perfectly pulled together, but he could tell she was flustered underneath. She wasn’t used to the job yet, and he could imagine it was hard to be faced with the pressure of a lot of tables and less-than-polite customers.
“I’ve got to get to work,” he told Dee, standing up.
She was sipping her soda and looked surprised and displeased by his abrupt departure. “It’s still early.”
“I’ve got stuff to do. I’ll see about talking to Cali as soon as I can.”
He walked over to the cash register, so Allison brought the bill to where he stood.
“I’ll pay for her soda too,” he said, gesturing toward Dee. She would expect him to, and it seemed kind of cheap and rude not to. “She’s my ex-wife,” he added.
Allison’s face reflected enlightenment. It might have been his imagination, but he hoped he saw a little relief there too.
“Was everything okay?” she asked, accepting the cash he handed her.
“Yes. It was great. You’re doing a great job.”
She gave a little huff. “We’ll see.”
This was where he should flirt with her, think of something funny and clever and sexy to say.
What he said was “Did you get your toilet fixed?”
Just perfect.
“I did. I managed it on my own.” She looked pleased by this accomplishment, and he couldn’t help but be pleased for her. It would have been nice if she’d needed his help, but he admired her desire to be independent, to get by on her own.
“Good. Good.” He was searching his mind for something else to say when the bell rang to indicate that an order was ready.
“I better get going. Thanks for your help with everything.”
And with that, Allison walked away.
Rob sighed as his eyes lowered to her rounded little ass. He felt a surge of frustration that he was making so few strides in attracting her, but he shrugged it off, telling himself it was still early days.
At least she liked him now. That was better than two days ago.
He’d gotten a five back as change, so he folded it up and walked it over to his seat. Dee had taken her Diet Coke to another table so she could chat with a couple of guys she must know. Rob laid the money on the table and then, struck by the thought of how hard a time Allison might have today—her first day on the job—he grabbed the Sharpie he always kept in his pocket for work and scrawled a few words on a napkin, leaving it with the tip before he walked out of the restaurant.
—
That evening Allison could barely move.
She couldn’t remember ever being so tired, and her feet and her back were killing her. She’d thought she’d worn comfortable shoes, but they weren’t good enough to be standing up for so many hours. This weekend she’d have to go shoe shopping—searching for comfort rather than style.
Vicki had called to see how her day had gone, so Allison filled her in on how stressful waiting tables really was. Then Vicki told her all about the shopping she’d done that week.
Allison felt a faint surge of nostalgia. There was a lot she’d hated about being Arthur’s trophy wife, but she’d always loved to shop, and she might never have that kind of freedom in her life again.
“You seem sad,” Vicki said after a moment of silence.
“But you got a job now, so things are going pretty well.”
“Yes. They are. I’m not complaining.”
“And you have a very cute neighbor across the street who wants to help you all the time.”
Allison chuckled, a little clench in her chest as she thought about Rob. “He’s pretty nice. But don’t be getting any ideas about him.”
“Why not?”
“He was raised in this town. He’s never going to leave it—and I’m only going to stay here for as long as I have to. Anyway, he’s got this ex-wife who seems to hang around him all the time. You know how that kind of thing goes.”
“You think they’ll get back together?”
“Who knows? It doesn’t really matter anyway. He needs to find himself a nice small-town girl, and I’m not looking for a relationship.”
“Why does it have to be a relationship? What about a roll in the hay with a hot country boy?”
Allison couldn’t help but laugh, trying not to visualize rolling around with Rob. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
“Just trying to get you to loosen up. I know what you’re doing is hard, but maybe you could have a good time occasionally while you’re doing it.”
“Maybe.” Allison didn’t believe it. She just wanted Vicki to drop the subject. “Anyway, I should probably start getting ready for bed. I’m about to fall over, and I have to get up at the crack of dawn.”
“Okay. Call me tomorrow and let me know how things are going.”
When she hung up, Allison managed to haul herself out of her chair (the one comfortable chair she’d been able to get up from the basement), where she’d collapsed an hour ago, and she picked up her water bottle and her dinner plate with the remnants of the sandwich she’d eaten to take them into the kitchen. She was starting to close the living room blinds when her eyes landed on Rob’s big brick house across the street.
His yard was perfectly manicured—every bush trimmed, every bed weeded, and not a dandelion in sight. It reminded her how messy her own yard was. She would have to work on it some this weekend, or the neighbors would start to hate her.