“Do we have to listen to this crap right now?” Holly asked.
Charlie shook his head. “How many times I gotta tell you? Sports ain’t crap.”
Holly made for the radio dial real fast, like she was going to change the station. Charlie tried to smack her hand away, but she pulled hers back before he could.
“Football ain’t crap, woman. Real men watch and listen to football and baseball and sports stuff.”
“Real men get jobs,” she said half under her breath.
“What you say?”
“I didn’t say nothin’. Just askin’ why men love sports so much.”
Charlie took his eyes off the road and looked at Holly for a second. He smiled wide.
“Guess it gives us something to look forward to.”
Holly shook her head. “Well, women look forward to men being busy with sports. That’s when we can really do what we want.”
That knocked the smile right off Charlie’s face.
“What you really wanna do, woman?”
“Hurry up, Charlie,” she said, ignoring the bait. “I don’t want to be late for this one neither.”
Charlie pressed down on the gas. Maybe he was trying to get her there. Maybe he just wanted to scare her by going fast.
They drove in silence for a few minutes then pulled up to the diner. Holly looked at her watch. She was right on time.
“Well, get goin’,” Charlie said. “And try not to screw this one up.”
Holly got out and slammed the car door.
Charlie rolled down his window and called after her. “I’m sorry, baby. I love you.”
She didn’t turn around.
Holly walked into the diner and was hit with something that smelled like Thanksgiving dinner. Her stomach rumbled. A haggard looking waitress flew by her and out the door.
“Hello,” a teenage girl said. “Table for one?”
“Oh, no, no,” Holly said. “I’m supposed to meet with a Mr. Winter for an interview. For waitressing.”
The girl smiled and quickly looked Holly over.
“Oh, how great! Let me get you a seat, and I’ll get him for you.”
The girl led Holly to a booth near a window. She could see Charlie in the car in the parking lot from there. He was talking to the waitress that had left the restaurant just as Holly came in, smiling and flirting like he was single.
“You want a drink?” The teenage girl asked.
“Oh, no, no,” Holly said. “I’m nervous as heck.”
The girl smiled. “I’ll get you something to make you feel a little better.”
The girl turned and walked out of sight, and Holly took off her jacket and sat down. Her fingers fumbled with her hair and tried to smooth it out a little. Then they tried to straighten out her dress.
When she felt together enough, she looked around. It was busy, for sure. Forks clinked and clattered against ceramic plates. A low rumble of voices came from everywhere and nowhere. A half dozen other waitresses were zooming around, all wearing the same bluish maid-looking dress. In the booth next to her, there were a bunch of fat teenagers. They were giggling about some nonsense. In front of her was a mom with three little kids. One of them climbed onto the seat and started looking at Holly. Somewhere on the other side of the diner, a baby started screaming.
The girl came back and put a big glass of iced tea in front of Holly.
“Some sugar’ll help,” she smiled. “Mr. Winter’ll be right with you.”
“Is it always this busy, hon?” Holly said.
The girl looked around.
“Well, just mainly during lunch and dinner times.”
“And how do you like it here?”
“Hey, young lady?” A man in a suit said from a few booths away. “Can you come over here and fix my order?”
The girl turned on her heel and went over to the man.
Holly watched. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, with all the talking and noise and such, but the man was pointing to the plates on the table and then back to the one in his hand. The girl took it and came back towards Holly. Her face was red, and that smile was gone.
Holly looked at another waitress not too far away. She looked like she’d been doing this for sixty years. Holly bet that her shadow probably looked old, too. Another one looked like she hadn’t had a bath or a shower in a couple of days.
Holly swallowed some air. “Oh, no, no.”
She looked around real quick. She didn’t see that girl or nobody that looked like a Mr. Winter.
She gulped down that iced-tea as fast as she could. She even took a few of the sugar packets from the table and put them in her jacket. Then, she got up and walked out of there fast enough, but not too fast to look out of place.
When she got back to the car, she didn’t see that other waitress anywhere. And Charlie had his head leaning back on the headrest, already napping.
She looked at him for a second. The bum.
“What’s he so tired for?” she thought.
She knocked on the window, harder than she really meant to, and he jumped straight awake. He looked around, trying to figure out what he heard. He saw Holly standing outside the passenger door. He wiped his mouth with the back of his fist and looked like he was trying to remember how to unlock the door.
After he finally found it, she jumped in.
“Well?” He said.
She turned and looked at him. Then her eyes narrowed.
She smacked him on the shoulder real hard.
“It’s all your fault. I told you I wanted to be early.”
“What are you talkin’ about, woman?” He half yelled.
“That manager, he said I was late. Said if I couldn’t be on time for the interview, I wasn’t gonna be on time for the job. He didn’t want no excuses neither.”
She folded her arms and leaned back in her seat. “I ain’t never been so embarrassed. Take me home.”
Charlie looked at Holly for a second. When she didn’t say any more, he turned the car on. He started backing up out of the parking spot.
Holly slapped her hand real quick at the radio station. This time, she didn’t fake it and changed the station to some music.
“I don’t want no more of your nonsense today, Charlie.” She said it without looking at him.
He didn’t answer. And he didn’t change the radio back to the football game.
She made like she was looking out the window, but really, she just had to turn her head, so Charlie wouldn’t see her smile. She put a hand over her mouth and tried not to laugh.
Oh, yes, yes, she thought.
She got him good this time.
THE END
JC loves all things story, health, fitness, and wellness, and is a nerd (a proud one) in too many ways to list. He and his wife have a clan of six pooches.