Chapter 38

Mariah

 

The night crowd is just starting to trickle in as Elle and I are wrapping napkins around silverware sets, having just cleaned up the tables from the evening dinner crowd. Waitressing is harder work than I’d anticipated; my back and legs hurt, and I’m grateful for the chance to sit down for a minute and talk to Elle, which I’ve been doing for the past ten minutes or so on our break.

“So, this bitch just let your dad waltz right into the office and spill your secrets to your man?” Elle asks, looking aghast.

I’ve come clean with her – at least I’m capable of being honest with someone – and told her all the sordid details of everything that had happened over the past couple of months.

“Well, girl, if you’d have listened to me from the beginning, none a this woulda happened,” Sterling pipes in.

He’s been eavesdropping as he makes his rounds around the diner, picking up the slack while Elle and I have been on break. I don’t work here that often and somehow the two of them, plus a cook and dishwasher, manage to hold the whole place down. It’s pretty impressive and they’re both hard workers.

“I know, Sterling,” I tell him. “Honesty is the best policy. Just like you always say. But, it really seems easier said than done sometimes.”

“That’s not true,” he says. “Telling the truth gets pretty easy when you make sure to practice it. Practice makes perfect, you know.”

“Okay,” I tell him. “Then, I have a confession to make. Tonight was going to be my last shift here. But then I was never able to get my real estate paychecks, so…”

Sterling laughs, shaking his head at me. “Girl, you ain’t gotta be that honest. I didn’t need to know you planned on skipping on outta here like we was a bus stop in your journey to bigger and better things.”

“Sorry,” I say, trying not to blush. “I just thought, I don’t know, like telling the truth about something to someone.”

“Well, maybe it’s not too late to tell the whole truth?” Elle fixes her ponytail and stares at me. “It sounds to me that you had the real thing with this Wesley guy. He sounds really into you. What if you just go fess up and admit that you made a mistake?”

I scrunch my nose up at her suggestion. But maybe she’s onto something. I’ve been running from the truth this whole time, trying to hide from it – but it’s always there no matter what I try to do about it. So why not just face it?

I know a couple reasons why, I think.

“What if he’s so mad at me that he tells everyone in town not to hire me, and I can never get a job in real estate, even though I’m actually really good at it?” I ask her. “I mean, not to brag, of course.”

“Well then I guess you’ll have to just keep working here forever,” Sterling snickers. “You thought this was a temporary second job. Oh, the irony if it turns out to be your only permanent one. We don’t care that you got knocked up and are a single mom. There’s nothing anyone could say that could ruin your reputation here.”

“Yeah, our standards are pretty low,” Elle says. “It’s amazing to find someone who can remember when it’s time to take the tray of food out to the customers. And I like babies. They’re so cute! You’re welcome to stay with me for as long as you need. The baby, too. I’ll even babysit the little booger.”

“Aww, thank you,” I tell her, genuinely touched by her offer. At least I know I won’t have to live in a motel forever – not that I could afford to.

“But, seriously, he might be mad at you but I bet his heart will melt like butter when you tell him there’s a little mini-him on the way. I really think he’s in love with you,” Elle says.

I think she’s right. Or at least, he was in love with me. Can love just go away like that, now that he has good reason to be upset with me? I guess I might have to find out.

“I’ll try to find the courage to go talk to him,” I tell Elle. “Thanks for the advice.”

“No problem,” she says with a wink. “And I really hope it works out for you guys.”

“Don’t forget to go wait on that new table that just came in, and finish your shift before you go running off to all your other big priorities,” Sterling commands.

“Of course I won’t forget, Sterling.”

“Yeah, yeah. Look who went from being ready to ditch us, to thankful she’s still on our payroll.”

I smile back at him, knowing that he’s right. I’ll never take the smaller things in life for granted again.