Ryleigh
Ryleigh Walker stepped out of the bus and started her short walk home. It was official. Not only did she flunk this semester in her bachelor of Social Work, she’d now also lost her job.
Alessio, her boss at the Italian restaurant, warned her he would look for another waitress if she missed one more shift. She wished she’d possessed the superpower of being in two places at the same time.
When her sister Jessie had called her three nights ago to help with her daughter Liv, Ryleigh had grabbed her overnight bag and stayed with her niece so Jessie could work overtime at the hotel.
It wasn’t a secret Jessie had been only a paycheck away from getting kicked out of her home. Between the two of them, Jessie’s job mattered the most because she also had Liv to care for.
Not that Ryleigh missing her shift and getting fired had helped a thing, since Jessie and Liv ended up homeless regardless and moved back home yesterday.
Ryleigh walked up the driveway and unlocked the front door. Her mother Emily immediately pulled her in for a hug in the hallway. “Did you return your stuff at the restaurant?”
“Yeah.”
Emily closed the front door behind Ryleigh. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I wish I could’ve done more to help you girls out.”
With a shake of her head, Ryleigh said, “Mom. You’re already doing so much. You take care of all eight of us in this house on top of working at the diner.”
“That’s what moms do, sweetheart.”
“Nah, you’re special, Mom.”
Emily’s frown disappeared when her husband Ron wheeled into the hallway.
“What’s up with the teary eyes?” Ron Walker asked.
Ryleigh leaned down and smacked a big kiss on her dad’s cheek. “I’ve just returned my work clothes.”
“Ah, I’m sure that pompous ass had something to say for himself?”
“Dad… it’s not his fault. If it were my restaurant, I would fire me too.”
“I’m never ordering a damn pizza from his place again.” Ron pushed on the rims surrounding the large wheels of his wheelchair and entered the small kitchen. “They taste like ass, anyway.”
“Dad!”
“It’s true, Ry. We only ordered from Alessio’s because you worked there. I’m sure if we didn’t order there, the place would have been out of business months ago.”
Ryleigh grinned. Like her family ordering pizza once a month on her employee discount was the one thing keeping Alessio’s afloat. She sat down next to her father, who rolled up to his empty spot at the head of the dinner table.
“I know how you love those breadsticks, Dad. It wouldn’t offend me if you’d still—”
“I don’t think ordering from that dump would put family—”
She finished their family motto for him, “Family first… yeah, I know, Dad.”
“Okay, enough about that weasel. What are you going to do now, my sweet lioness?”
Ryleigh smiled up at her father. She loved his nickname for her and even used the unusual name Luria during her fights because of its meaning ‘brave lioness’.
Thinking back on her fight a few months ago, the handsome stranger popped into her head. Whenever she closed her eyes, his raven hair with the matching close shaved beard and emerald eyes appeared.
She hadn’t seen him since that night. It shouldn’t disappoint her because he’d already told her the underground fights weren’t his scene.
Remembering his penetrating gaze gave her goose bumps, even now. She loved how his eyes never left her from the moment she’d stepped into the cage till the moment she drove away in her cousin Kieran’s truck.
How she’d been brave enough to take the stranger’s earlobe between her teeth, she would never know. It had all been so out of character for her.