“I might as well stay till the end of the shift. Here come some customers anyway.”
Fayette looked up as a utility truck stopped out front and three men in work boots piled out. She sighed.
“Shoot. I could have gone all day without him coming in.”
The driver led the way, and Lainie could hear his raucous voice through the window. He was laughing when he pushed through the door.
“Fayette, honey, come here and give your daddy a big ol’ kiss.”
Fayette’s smile didn’t change when he grabbed her around the waist, but her eyes flashed as she pulled away. “Now, Chet, just sit down and behave yourself.”
“Aw, you’re getting too fat anyway.” Chet grabbed a menu from her hand and slid into the nearest booth. “What you got that’s not pure-D slop?”
Lainie could see that Fayette was struggling to keep her tone light. “You sure come in here often enough if all you can find is slop.”
The other men in the group looked uncomfortable as they studied their menus. One sitting across the table from Chet looked up and muttered, “Give it a rest, Chet.”
“Aw, she knows I’m just kidding around, don’t you, Fayette? We go way back.” He swatted at Fayette’s backside with the flat of his hand, but she skipped out of reach.
“Chet, that’s enough out of you.” Fayette’s smile and her bantering tone never faltered. “Now, can I bring you something, or did you just stop by to torment me?”
Chet chuckled and went back to his menu, not looking up again until Lainie appeared with glasses of water.
“Well, hello, darlin’! Where’d you come from?” He slapped his menu down on the table and looked up in pleased surprise. Lainie didn’t bother to hide her contempt and set his water in front of him with such force that it slopped over the rim.
“Wait a minute. What’s your hurry, darlin’?” He grabbed her wrist. “Fayette, you hire more little bits like this and you might actually get some customers in here.”
Lainie jerked her wrist away. “If you want to keep that hand at all, keep it to yourself.”
Chet recoiled in mock fear. “Ooooh, this one’s tough. I’m all a-scared now.” He laughed, and when Lainie turned to go, he ran his hand down her hip.
Before he could react, Lainie reached behind her and grabbed his thumb, bending it back to nearly touch his wrist. Chet’s eyes flew wide open and his mouth was a frozen O of shock and pain. Giving his thumb an extra twist that caused his mouth and eyes to open even further, Lainie pushed her face within inches of his.
“Listen, Jack, if you ever, ever touch me again, I’ll break your thumb right off.” She shoved Chet’s wrist into his chest and let go of his thumb.
The diner was silent. The men who had come in with Chet looked from him to Lainie and back. Fayette had come back into the room and stood frozen. Only Lainie acted as if nothing had happened. She put glasses of water in front of the other men.
Chet’s silence lasted only a few seconds. “I’m outta here. You got so many customers you can let the help talk like that, Fayette, you don’t need me.” He stood and strode toward the door. “And unless you guys want to walk back to the site, you better beat me to the truck.”
One of the men muttered “Sorry, ma’am” while the other dug through his wallet and placed a ten-dollar bill on the table before they followed Chet into the parking lot.
“What a jerk.” Lainie picked up the untouched water glasses. “Who needs customers like him, anyway?”
“I do.”
Lainie looked up and for the first time noticed that Fayette had not moved from her spot in the middle of the diner.
“Oh, come on, Fayette. He’s a loser. Good riddance. Do you like being treated like that?”
“Of course I don’t, Lainie. How can you even ask such a thing?” Fayette’s voice was near enough to tears to break.
“Well, then I did you a favor. You’re welcome.”
“You don’t understand, do you? You can just waltz off anytime you want to, but this diner is all I’ve got, and I’ve got a boy to take care of and hopefully send to college one day. You think I don’t want to haul off and slap Chet’s head off his shoulders? Of course I do. But that’s a luxury I just don’t have.”
“I still think you’re making a big deal out of nothing. He’s just one guy.”
“Just one guy.” Fayette brushed her hair off her forehead with the back of her hand and crossed her arms across her chest. The lines etched around her eyes and mouth seemed deeper. “You know, Lainie, every month when I sit down to do my accounts, I pray that I’ll have enough to pay my bills. And sometimes I don’t. So I pray that the next month will be better. God has always met my needs, and I thank him every day for that. But I need to do my part, and that means seeing to it that every single customer who walks in that door walks out happy and ready to come back.”
“Yeah, well, if you think God wants you to keep getting pawed by creeps like that, then go for it. But it’s not for me.”
Fayette closed her eyes and rubbed the vertical lines between them with two fingers. “You know, Lainie, it’s been a long day. Why don’t you go on home now? I can handle it from here.”
“Whatever.” Lainie untied her apron. “You want me to come in tomorrow?”
“I’ll call you later. We can talk then.”
9
You’re home early.” Elizabeth hit the mute button on the remote control when Lainie walked in. “I wasn’t looking for you for another couple hours. How’d it go?”
“Fine. I just got fired.” Lainie walked through the living room to the kitchen without slowing down.
“Fired? Fayette’s never fired a soul in her life. What in the world did you do to get fired the first day?” Elizabeth struggled out of her recliner and followed Lainie to the kitchen.
“Naturally it’s my fault. Thanks for the confidence.”
“Lainie, I’m sorry. You just caught me off guard, that’s all. What happened?”
“Like you really care.” Lainie tried to push past Elizabeth in the kitchen doorway, but Elizabeth wouldn’t budge.
“I do care and I said I was sorry. So sit right down here at the table and tell me what happened.”
Faced with the choice of knocking Elizabeth down or doing as she said, Lainie dropped into a chair at the kitchen table and filled Elizabeth in on the afternoon’s events.
Elizabeth shook her head. “Poor Fayette. I feel so bad for her.”
Lainie’s feet hit the floor under her chair with a thump and she stood up. “I’m done. I’m going to go shower.”
“For Pete’s sake, Lainie, sit down. Sometimes I think you just go around waiting for someone to say the wrong thing so you can get mad and stomp off. As it happens, I think you did the right thing. No one should put up with behavior like that. It just breaks my heart that Fayette thinks she has to.”
Lainie shrugged. “Her choice.”
“Is it? That’s mighty easy for you to say. You and I can just sit here drinking soda pop, talking about what Fayette should and shouldn’t do, but she’s the one trying to make ends meet in a diner that by all accounts should have closed down years ago.” She looked up and smiled. “I’m just suggesting a little compassion and understanding for Fayette.”
“Yeah, the one who fired me for not letting some jerk grope me? How am I supposed to understand that?”
The smile left Elizabeth’s face as she got to her feet and reached for the phone. “Why don’t I just give her a call and see if we can straighten this out?”
“No! Let it go. I can handle my own problems.”
Elizabeth’s expression softened. “I know you can, but I know Fayette like my own daughter, and I might be able to help.”
Lainie shook her head. “Let’s just drop it. I am so done with today, and I just want a shower.”
Elizabeth sighed. “All right then. Dinner should be just about ready when you’re done.”
After dinner Lainie stood by the si
nk drying dishes. Last Chance was not working out. How far could she get with the three hundred dollars she got for her car? Would it be far enough so Nick couldn’t find her? Lainie was still lost in thought when she noticed that the television had gone mute and Elizabeth was talking to someone. She stuck her head around the corner and saw Fayette, still wearing her uniform, standing just inside the screen door.
Fayette’s eyes met Lainie’s over Elizabeth’s head. Her smile was tired and didn’t reach her eyes. “Hi, Lainie. Could I talk to you for a few minutes?”
Lainie threw her dish towel onto the kitchen counter and walked through the living room and out the front door without speaking. Fayette followed. The night wind gently tossed the branches of the cottonwood tree in the front yard, and a cricket in the corner of the porch added accompaniment to the rustling leaves. The air was rich with the fragrance of honeysuckle. Fayette eased herself to the top step of the porch.
“Oof. I’d better be careful about sitting down. I might not be able to get back up again. I can’t remember the last time I was this tired.”
She looked up at Lainie, who had yet to speak.
“Come on, sit here beside me. We need to talk.”
Lainie shifted her weight to the other foot and crossed her arms. “I don’t know what we have to talk about. It’s done. I guess we could talk about what I think about your reasons for firing me, but I don’t really think that’s why you’re here.”
Fayette reached up for Lainie’s arm and gently tugged. “That’s exactly why I’m here. And I didn’t fire you. I just said we’d talk later.”
Lainie sat down next to Fayette. Sam appeared from under the honeysuckle vine with a cricket in his mouth. He dropped it and pounced again when it tried to hop away.
“Lainie, I’ve been thinking all evening about what happened this afternoon. I can’t tell you how bad I feel about the whole thing. You shouldn’t have had to deal with someone like Chet your first day. I just want to tell you that most of the folks that come into the Dip ’n’ Dine are real nice people. You won’t have to put up with the likes of Chet Babcock very often, I promise.” She smiled at Lainie.
“I’m not putting up with the likes of Chet at all.”
Fayette’s smile faded.
“Look, Fayette, I’m not saying I don’t need this job, because I do. But if Chet came in tomorrow, I’d do the same thing.”
“Oh, Lainie, he doesn’t mean anything by it. He thinks he’s being cute. Just stay out of reach. That’s what I try to do.”
Lainie didn’t say anything for a long moment. The struggle to subdue the pain and rage that had resurfaced that afternoon was almost more than she could deal with. When she spoke, her voice was hard. “You know, that’s almost word for word what my mom said when I tried to tell her what her boyfriend was doing. ‘He doesn’t mean anything by it. Just stay out of his way.’ When staying out of his way didn’t work all that well, I tried to talk to her again. That’s when she threw me out. I was fourteen.”
Fayette reached over and covered Lainie’s hand with her own. “Oh, Lainie, I’m so sorry.”
Lainie pulled her hand away and shrugged. “No biggie. Happened a long time ago. But I’m just saying you’re not the only one who’s had to deal. The difference is, I decided then and there that I call my own shots. No one lays a hand on me unless I say so. No one.”
After a long silence, Fayette stood up and stretched. “Well, I should get home. Matthew didn’t come in for dinner and I need to see what he’s up to. Let’s just leave it at this: I want you to work at the Dip ’n’ Dine. I could tell today that you’re going to be a great help. And if Chet, or anyone like him, comes in, just let me handle it, okay?”
“Wonder what Matthew thinks when he sees you letting men treat you like that.” Lainie’s remark, spoken to Fayette’s retreating back, was almost offhand, but Fayette’s expression, when she turned around, was shattered.
She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again, and her eyes seemed to age ten years before she turned and drifted down the walk to the faded red sedan parked in front of the gate. Lainie sat on the steps stroking Sam and listening to him purr until the red taillights disappeared around the corner. “I don’t know, Sam. Was I out of line? Does someone like me even belong here?”
Lainie wasn’t sure what to expect when she returned to work, but Fayette met her with a hug and a warm smile, and within a day or two, their working relationship had settled into an easy routine. Lainie was placing a chef’s salad and a tuna melt in front of two ladies sitting at table four when Carlos hung up the kitchen phone and called out, “That was Ray. He wonders if someone can run a hamburger over.”
“Lainie, you go ahead.” Fayette finished making a fresh pot of coffee. “But don’t be gone long. If things get busy again, I’ll need you.”
The Closed sign was still showing in the window of the High Lonesome, but the door was unlocked when Lainie tried the latch.
“Hello? Anyone send for a hamburger?”
Ray appeared in the doorway of his office, and his face lit up when he saw Lainie. “Well, hey, look who’s here! How’s it going?”
Lainie shrugged. “Okay, I guess, once I made it through the first day.”
Ray laughed. “Yeah, I heard about that. You’re one tough cookie. Remind me not to get on your bad side.”
Lainie handed him the white paper bag. “Like you’ve never been there. Here, you’d better eat this while it’s hot.”
“Now that you mention it, I have been on the wrong end of that stick. And I didn’t much like it, either.” Ray pulled the burger out of the bag and unwrapped it. “Can you stay and keep me company while I eat this? How about a soft drink or something?”
Lainie glanced out the window at the diner across the street. No new cars in the parking lot. “I guess so, for a few minutes, anyway.”
“Another grape soda?”
“Um, no. A diet cola will be just fine.”
Ray grinned as he poured her drink. “I didn’t convert you, huh? Woman, you just don’t know what’s good.”
He took a huge bite of his burger and shifted it to his cheek. “What are you doing Sunday?”
“Are you serious? If Elizabeth has her way, it’ll be church in the morning. Then in the afternoon I’ll watch paint dry.”
Ray took another bite. He laughed. “Well, I can almost guarantee that she’ll have her way. But why don’t you come with me Sunday afternoon. I’d like to show you something.”
“What?”
“A surprise. Are you in?”
Lainie shrugged. “Why not?”
Ray grinned. “Great. I’ll pick you up about 1:00.”
“Or you could just come to church and we could leave from there. We could have a whole day of fun.”
Ray still smiled, but there was sadness in it. “I know you’re joking, but the truth is, I miss that church. My mom had me there every Sunday of my life. In fact, I still have a couple perfect attendance Sunday school buttons somewhere.”
“If you love it so much, what’s keeping you from going?”
Ray gestured around him. “This. The bar. It just seems weird, serving drinks till 2:00 a.m. and then turning up at 9:30 for Sunday school. There’s a disconnect somewhere that I can’t get past. But this isn’t forever.”
“Why did you even buy the bar if it’s not what you want to do?”
“I didn’t buy it. It was my dad’s. He had a stroke about five years ago, and I came back to Last Chance to help him out. He died last year, but before he did, he made me promise to keep it for my brother who’s in the Marines. Steven always loved this place. He and my dad used to talk about how the two of them would run it one day. Steven should be getting home next spring, so as much as I’d rather be elsewhere, I’m here till then.”
“So you and your mom went to church and your dad and your brother had the bar? How’d that work out?”
Ray laughed.
“Well, Steven went to church too, u
ntil he got my dad on his side. But after that, yeah, you’ve about got it right—me and Mom at church and Dad and Steven here.”
“Sounds like your mom and dad were kind of mismatched.”
“Everybody in town thought so when they got married, from what I hear. Sweet little girl from a prominent ranching family running off with a rodeo bum. Then when he messed up his leg, he took his insurance money and came back and opened this bar. The family liked to never get over it, especially since it was my granddad who bought the policy in the first place so my mom would have some security. I guess Granddad didn’t think rodeoing provided all that much of it. Anyway, since Mom’s family were all nondrinkers and pillars of the church, it caused a big scandal. But the truth is, they were crazy about each other. They were sweethearts until the day she died.”
Ray set his empty soda bottle down on the bar. “But that’s enough of my family skeletons. How about you? You grow up in a soap opera too?”
“I wouldn’t say that. But I wouldn’t call it pretty either.”
The phone in the office rang, and Lainie looked out the window. Three cars and a pickup were parked in front of the Dip ’n’ Dine. She jumped off her stool.
“That’s got to be Fayette. Don’t answer until I get out the door.”
Ray laughed. “I’ll tell her you left a long time ago. See you Sunday. And wear jeans.”
10
Lainie was sitting on the top step scratching Sam’s chin when Ray’s pickup pulled up at Elizabeth’s gate. She smiled at the pale and well-worn Stetson pulled low over his eyes.
“Hey, cowboy, that’s some getup you’ve got there. Going to a rodeo?”
He tipped his hat back with one finger. “No ma’am. Just dressing up to make a Sunday call. And may I say you look mighty fine yourself?” His smile widened as he took in her well-fitting jeans and white cotton shirt.
“So where are we going? I hope it’s someplace air-conditioned. I wore jeans because you told me to, but it’s hot out here.”
Welcome to Last Chance Page 7