“I saidnow.”
Sunny and I share a look, then follow the other two back to the break room.
“What’s happening?” Sunny whispers to me.
“Angela’s been stealing Sarah’s tips all morning.”
“Oh, hell no.” Sunny makes a move to walk over and take care of things, but I put my hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
“Let Sarah fight this battle.”
“You’ve been swiping cash off of my tables all goddamn morning,” Sarah begins, shooting daggers at her foe. “You can hate me all day long, but you won’t fucking steal from me, Angela.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She examines her chipped nails, as if she’s not worried in the least about what Sarah has to say, although her eyes do slide over to see that Sunny and I are listening. “People just don’t tip piss-poor waitresses. You should step up your game.”
“Uh-oh,” I mutter when Sarah’s already heaving chest quickens. “You might want to call the cops. I have bail money.”
Sunny just shakes her head.
“I’m going to file charges,” Sarah says, her voice much calmer than her body language. “I’m filing charges for the stolen tips, and for you breaking into my house.”
Angela’s jaw drops. “Wait, what? I didn’t break into your stupid house. You don’t have anything that I want.”
“Obviously I do, because you’ve stolen it from me. And now that I think about it, my tips were low the other day, too. I think you’ve been skimming off my tables ever since I wouldn’t cover your shift just so you could go to a motherfuckingconcert.And you’re going to pay for it.”
“I didn’t break into your house, you stupid bitch,” Angela yells back. “But yeah, I took your money. It’ll teach you a fucking lesson not to be a cunt to your coworkers.”
“And that’s all I need,” Sunny says brightly. “Angela, collect your things and get out of here.”
“No way,” Angela counters, shaking her head wildly. “I’m not getting fired over that sack of trailer-trash garbage. She’s lying about all of it. She’s just like her mother, probably hiding the money so she can make me give her more for drugs. That’s what those people do.”
Now, the woman sounds like a lunatic and is changing the story again.
“That’s enough,” Sunny snaps, but Sarah’s already flown into action, her fist reared back, and I snag her around the waist and hang on with all my might, preventing her from clocking Angela in the nose.
“Let me at her,” Sarah snarls, but I hold on tight.
“She’s not worth it,” I say into her ear. “She’s already lost her job. Don’t you lose yours, too.”
“I don’t care about the job.”
But I know that she does, and we watch together as Angela rants and yells, but she gathers the stuff out of her locker and turns to Sarah.
“You’re going to pay for this, you piece of shit.”
“Oh, good, more threats. I’ll add it to the complaint I’m going to file today.”
Before Angela can rage anymore, the cops show up, two younger guys that I don’t know by name, and they escort Angela out the front door.
Sarah’s shaking now, still breathing hard, when Sunny approaches her.
“I assume Gordy called the cops,” she says and lays her hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “I’m pretty sure the whole restaurant heard that fun exchange. Shake it off, honey. She’s not worth this. You go home and gather yourself. I’ll call in Willow. She’ll cover once I tell her what happened.”
“No,” Sarah says, and takes a deep breath, settling herself. “I’m okay. I can finish the shift. Unless you’re firing me.”
“I should,” Sunny says. “You didn’t handle that in the best way. You should have come to me, and then we would have figured things out. But that woman has been antagonizing you for a while now, and I suspect I would have lost it, too. Now, let’s get back to work. I’m pretty sure the people out there are pissed off by now.”
She walks away, and Sarah just turns andthudsright into my arms.