About whatothergirl I could be sharing it with.
3
Yara
Like I toldmyself I would, I wake up nice and early, have a shower, and do my make-up so I look at least semi-passable as a human being before I start off for my walk into work. Of course this would all be a whole lot easier with a car, but hey, we can’t all be Jeff Bezos, can we?
I make sure that Lyle and his girlfriend Delilah’s cars are both gone before I leave out the side door of the garage.
Lyle and hisgirlfriend.Of course a guy like him has a girlfriend. Why wouldn’t he?
It’s not too cold on the walk into town, but as Winnie the Pooh would say, it’s a pretty blustery day, and by the time I’m approaching the Tangerine Forks Diner, I feel like all the work I did on my hair this morning was for nothing.
I really don’t know what I’m doing staying in this town anyway—not after what happened with those men. I’m still walking to get around too, and it’s not like I’m any safer than I was when I first got here. I’m still vulnerable out on the road, like a deer walking around with a broken leg being stalked by mountain lions or bobcats or whatever animals they have out here in New Hampshire that hunt deer.
What I should be doing is getting another bus ticket and moving on to another town immediately. But that would also require finding another job, and it took me long enough to find this one. Who would have thought, right? Finding a job as a server at a diner taking a long time?
But I also don’twantto leave. This whole thing was my plan. I wanted to come to Tangerine Forks, and I’m not about to let one bad event ruin my whole plan. Plus, I had no idea that the most handsome man in the world also lived here. Am I really going to just catch a bus and leave him behind?
And so what if he has a girlfriend? Girlfriends and boyfriends break up. It happens all the time. Not thatIwould know…but I’ve seen it happen.
No, I’m staying here in Tangerine Forks. I’ll buy some bear mace or something off Amazon, and if those jerks in the pickup truck come and mess with me again, they’ll get a face full of fuck-you from yours truly.
An old bell rings as I push open the door of the diner and step inside to the smell of old coffee and burnt bacon. There are only a couple customers at the counter and two in the last both in the corner. I’m supposed to be meeting the manager here, so I go up to the register and wait a couple minutes before dinging the bell.
A moment later, the swinging door to the kitchen opens, and a girl who looks to be in averybad mood storms in, places one hand on her hip and one hand on the counter and glares at me.
“Yes? What can I get you?”
“Oh, um, my name’s Yara,” I say, countering her bitchy-energy with every ounce of happy-energy I have inside me. “I’m here for the servers job. I’m supposed to meet with—”
“The manager?” she interrupts. “Yes, that’s me. Nice to meet you. My name’s Delilah. I’m the manager and owner.”
The world seems to freeze as she extends her hand, and my heart immediately sinks into my toes. Luckily, I’ve had so many jobs since I was thirteen that my body is on total autopilot and reaches out for me and performs the shake so I don’t have to think about it.
This can’t be. Lyle’s girlfriend is my new manager? There’s just no way.
How canshehe Lyle’s girlfriend? She’s not even that pretty.
Don’t be a bitch, Yara.
That was a horrible thing to think, and I immediately feel bad about it. That was pure, unadulterated jealously flowing through my veins, and I’m completely disappointed in myself. I just met the man, and he has every right to be in a relationship, and here I am physically judging her for simply being the woman in that relationship instead of me.
Yes, I’m being a bitch.
“Here’s your apron,” Delilah says, handing me one from behind the counter. “I assume you know how to use the Square POS system to take and send orders to the kitchen?”
“I do, yes,” I reply, forcing a smile.
“Good. Now let me show you the rest of the diner and the other staff you’ll be working with.”
Delilah may be in a mood, but she definitely knows what she’s doing. She takes me into the kitchen and introduces me to the two line cooks, Andy and Max, and shows me where to pick up the food when it’s ready and where to drop off the dirty plates for Nate, the dishwasher who looks to be about seventeen and is so thin I wouldn’t be surprised if a light breeze carried him away.
“Are there any other servers?” I ask as she takes me back out front. I’ve got my hands in my pockets to hide the fact that I’m shaking. I don’t want my new boss thinking I’m nervous about the job when I’m actually just shaken up by the fact that I’m hiding on my new boss’s property after work and completely jealous about who she’s dating.
“Just you for now,” she replies. “We lost Katie to a school. Thinks she’s going to get her psychiatry degree or something.”
Delilah groans as though she just said Katie had wanted to run away to be a Vegas singer.