“Good, then. When can you come back?”
“I can just go get my toolbox and come right back.” Llew picked up his backpack, and made to leave.
“Well, hold on. I assume you came in to eat.”
“Yes. I can take it to go.”
“Oh shuga’, I don’t do ‘to go’ orders. I like to hear the moans when someone eats my food.” She laughed loud enough to turn heads. “So what’ll you have this evening? Everything here is good. I’m Shirley, by the way.”
Llew blinked as she rambled on about who knew what. He looked up at the chalkboard, saw the daily special was the fried chicken and mashed potatoes dinner, so he went with two orders.
“You boys and dem appetites.” She shook her head, scribbling down his order on a notepad. When he tried to pay she waved his hand away and shooed him to go wait at a table. Llew mustered a slight smile and sat at the table off to the side waiting for his meal. His stomach rumbled while the pleasant smell of fried meat wafted into the dining room. He’d sure needed that small act of kindness from Shirley right about then. He guessed Shane was right after all. Ms. Pat did have some influence in this town. He’d just have to be patient.
Llew scrubbed at his eyes. Work had been hard but satisfying; it made him feel like a man now that he was earning a decent wage. He pulled out his modern architecture book and flipped through the pictures of some of the more fascinating buildings in the twenty-first century. He felt his cell phone buzz in his pocket and saw a text message from his brother.
Hey bro, you alright??? You sounded bummed… I’ll call you as soon as I get home.
miss you man
Llew tucked his phone back in just as four guys from the work site came in still wearing their work clothes. Instead of ducking his head, he met each one of their glares as they walked by him on their way to the counter.
Shirley brought his food out to him on brown plastic tray and set it in front of him. “You need anything else?”
“No ma’am, thank you. Looks good.”
“I know.” She laughed. “But tastes even better.”
Llew set his book aside, and picked up his fork.
“Maybe Joe spit in it, it’ll serve him right.” Llew heard one of the guys mumble at the counter. Llew’s fork was only half way to his mouth when he heard the disgusting comment, but he wouldn’t let it phase him. He ate his food. If someone spit in it, then it was the best damn spit he’d ever eaten. With only a few mashed potatoes left on his last plate, he looked up and saw Shane and Jack walking in. The smile Shane gave him was like nothing he’d ever seen. Pure and sincere. He thought he saw him give a slight wink, too, but it was gone so fast Llew couldn’t be sure. He watched Shane tap Jack on his arm and nod his head in Llew’s direction before breaking off from him.
“Hey, Llewell,” Shane said in the most wonderful sounding voice. He spoke to Llew like no one else. Looked at him like no one else did. He couldn’t understand how a man’s voice could be soft and deep at the same time, but Shane’s was.
“Wow. Now he’s suckin’ up to the boss man.” One of his coworkers grumbled on his way past with his tray.
“Ignore them.” Shane shrugged. He slid Llew’s new architecture book in front of him and glanced through a few pages. “You know you don’t have to know architecture to work for me, Llew.”
You think I’m just some stupid criminal. Building and design is everything for me… was everything.
Llew watched his boss for a few more seconds, then placed his used napkins on his tray. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Shane.”
“Wait, Llew don’t go. I was just—” Shane looked over at his guys and shot them a look that made all of them turn and look the other way.
Llew got up and emptied his tray. Shane was nice, but he thought just like everyone else. Either he was to be avoided like the plague, or he was helpless and needed saving. Shane couldn’t come to his defense or shield him from every attitude he encountered in this town, the man had a day job. He went to the counter, told Shirley he’d be back in thirty minutes, and strode out the door, careful not to throw Shirley’s door so hard that he had to fix that, too. He had only made it a half-block when he heard Shane’s beautiful voice calling him.
Shane watched Llew leave, wondering what the hell went wrong. Llew looked at him like he’d insulted him, but he was just trying to make things easier for him, lord knows everyone else was making it harder.