at what was supposed to be a family restaurant. It was fast paced, but they
worked around her schedule. She’d started at nine and got off at two, which
left her more than enough time to get home and be there waiting at the bus
stop for Chloe. If that arsehole could have kept his hands to himself, she’d
still have her job. She’d been coming from the men’s washroom and she’d
been carrying an entire tray of food. He’d not so accidentally grabbed her
bottom as she went by, pinching sharply. She hadn’t even dropped her tray.
Without thinking, she’d backed into him, stepped on his shoe, and planted
her elbow in his side. Of course, she was the one fired.
“You’ll find something else,” Adriana assured her. “I have some
friends too. Let me ask around for you. I’m sure something will come up.”
“Thank you both. Really.” Taylor stabbed a piece of chicken and
smiled broadly. “This is amazing, by the way. Thank you so much for
having us over.”
“It’s my mom’s recipe,” Adriana said, and Juliana covered her hand
again, on top the table. Adriana smiled back at her, a soft, tender smile. A
lover’s smile.
That secret, shared smile between the two women touched Taylor
and cheered her up. Everything would be fine. She was a hard worker. She
knew that life sometimes got hard, but that was no reason to give up. This
was just another setback. Her friends were right. She would find something.
She had a small amount of savings to get her through. More
importantly, she had supportive, wonderful people around her who accepted
and loved her for who she was. She didn’t have to hide here. She could sit
with Juliana and Adriana and envy their obvious love. She could laugh and
smile when Joseph spat out a mouthful of peas he just couldn’t swallow.
She could hope, because she had a gorgeous, healthy, happy daughter.
She’d found another life in Austin. It might not be everything that she
wanted, yet, but she was going to work hard, and hope hard, and keep
smiling hard, until that changed.