Chapter 15

15

DEREK

H er story was heartbreaking and it had me feeling a wave of protectiveness building up inside me. I couldn’t imagine a family treating their kid that way, bulldozing over their own feelings and their own choices as to how their life would be and treating them like a tradable commodity. It seemed so unfair, and I simply couldn’t even put myself in their shoes. It made me angry for her, and the anger bubbled up inside me in a way that I couldn’t recognize. I had never felt like that for anyone that I wasn’t directly related to before.

When she left, heading back to her room, I lay back in the bed and tried to sleep. It didn’t come easy. I tossed and turned, unable to find a comfortable position, and even when I did, my mind kept going. I knew I could operate on just a few hours of sleep, but I was inching closer to the time where I might need to send Ally a text and tell her I would be late.

Finally, I drifted off and got a little bit of rest. I wasn’t sure if I got even one full REM cycle, but I got enough that when I dragged myself out of bed and into a shower, I figured I could power through a shift with enough caffeine. As soon as I was out of the shower, I brewed two giant thermoses worth of coffee and lugged them with me into the car. At least it seemed like Jodi got a little more sleep than I did, but the bags under her eyes said it wasn’t that much. I didn’t blame her. If it bothered me as much as it did, I could only imagine how hard living through that could be.

The shift was rough on both of us. I kept a cup of coffee by me at all times, a bottle of water beside it so I didn’t dehydrate myself. But it wasn’t enough. By the time dinner service was winding down, I felt like I had been hit by a truck and then backed over a few times. Jodi didn’t look like she was faring much better. She was moving slowly and seemed to be staring into the middle distance most of the time.

I found myself wanting to pull her close, to embrace her and tell her it would be okay. It was an odd compulsion for someone I didn’t really know that well, but I couldn’t deny it. I wanted her to know I was there for her. Yet, every time I looked for her, she seemed like she was avoiding me. Maybe she was just giving me space to digest everything she’d told me the night before, but it was bugging me that she wasn’t being more open.

Then it hit me that she was probably upset about how she had exposed herself. She seemed like the type that held herself together as a source of pride and being as open as she was while sitting on the edge of my bed was probably tough for her. I needed to be more patient and understanding.

As the night wore on, I kept my eye out for Jodi as she walked by, going from the kitchen to the floor in a bit of a fog. Still, none of her orders came back as being incorrect, so I took that as a win. Most of the other waitresses would mess up orders if they were even the slightest bit flustered. Jodi seemed to be holding it all together by sheer force of will and had yet to mess anything up as the final dinner orders started to come in.

Ally was at her own station, working apart from me mostly in silence. I didn’t know if she was as bugged by how Jodi was acting as I was or if something else was going on, but she seemed to be in her own head too. This meant the kitchen was eerily quiet, and I was able to follow along with the TV show that was playing in the corner. Usually, I was able to catch snippets of it while it played during the night but would lose track when things got loud, which was why I usually just put on food competition shows or sports. This time, Ally had put on some show with a plot, and I found myself far more engrossed than usual.

When the last of the night’s entrees went out, Ally went to the sink and washed off before coming over to me. She seemed like she had been contemplating what she was going to say to me for some time. I had packed up my station, including packing away my knives as the line cooks prepared for any dessert orders that might come in.

“Hey, Derek,” Ally said.

“Hey,” I said. “Good show you picked.”

“Oh, yeah. Noah liked it a lot, and I figured I could catch up to where he was while we were working. Hope you didn’t mind.”

“No, it’s fine,” I said. “Nice change of pace from Alton Brown, I guess.”

She laughed and looked around, seemingly seeing if we were sufficiently alone.

“So, has Jodi said anything about what is bugging her? She seems really out of it tonight,” she said.

“I think she’s going to be okay,” I said. “She talked a little bit about what was going on. The stuff with her family.”

Ally was nodding, indicating that she had heard at least some of that before.

“She mentioned seeing her brother, I think?” Ally said.

“If you heard that part, then you probably know about as much as me.”

Ally pursed her lips on one side of her mouth.

“I just hope she’s alright. I can’t imagine how wild it is to be running from your entire family like that,” she said.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I think she just needs a few days of calm to feel safe again. She’s still doing great at her job, so there’s that. No tables complained.”

“I spoke to Charlotte. She said she’s great. Just that she seemed like she was distracted tonight.”

“But no screwups?” I asked.

“None. I wanted to say though, we do have that spare room. If she needs it, she can come on over.”

“The one you guys filled up with stuff from your old place?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. “But it’s got a bed in it. I can move some of that stuff to the garage, make it a livable space.”

“Well, you should go ahead and offer. I know it’s probably weird staying at her male boss’s house. Then again, I don’t have any kids making noise, so…”

Ally slapped my shoulder playfully.

“Hush, you,” she said.

I laughed softly under my breath as she walked away, presumably to find Jodi.

I went back to cleaning the station and then relieved the line cooks. The dessert menu for the evening was something I could handle on my own, and if I needed help, Ally was more than capable of picking up the slack. The cooks took off gratefully, apparently quite sick of the show that had been on and ready to begin their night of carousing and drinking. Ten years ago, I would have been right there with them. Hell, a year ago I would have. Having the responsibility of running the family restaurant had done a fair amount to mature me in ways I had never expected.

Slowly, the night kind of petered out with only two dessert orders before close. I checked with Charlotte and made sure the orders were done and went about cleaning the stations for the night. Ally was nowhere to be found, but Jodi was still on the floor, taking care of the last of the customers and vacillating between there and the bar to count out her earnings.

I went back to shut off the lights in the back, and by the time I made it back to the floor, the customers were gone, and the only people left in the building were Charlotte and Jodi. Ally walked by Jodi and said something, then headed for the door. I nodded to myself and sighed. That must have been it. She must have left to go call Noah and get him to empty out the room so Jodi could come over.

Charlotte headed for the office, and I said good night as I made my way to the door. She had a key for the building, and I trusted her to lock up, but Cam was apparently in his office too, and I knew he checked all the doors before he left if he stayed late.

As I got out to my car, I opened the front door and noticed Jodi still had her purse in the passenger’s seat. I tried to decide if I should bring it in to her or if I should just head home. Surely, she would need the stuff that she’d left in my office if she was going over to Ally and Noah’s. I could probably just go there, pack everything up for her, and put it in the car with the purse and bring it over.

I was still trying to figure out what I should do when I saw the door open and Jodi come out. She was searching the parking lot, and when she made eye contact with me, she started heading over to my truck.

“So,” she said as she got within speaking distance, “are you sick of me already?”

I blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out why she would say that.

“Excuse me?”

“Pawning me off to Ally?” she asked, seeming to be less upset at me than just upset in general. I hated the look in her eyes. The idea that I might have done that to her.

I shook my head.

“No, I didn’t pawn you off at all. Ally came to me. She said she had that extra room, and I figured that if she was willing to have you over there, that you might be a lot more comfortable with a woman in the house and not being in the office of your single, male boss. I thought you had already accepted and were going over there.”

“No,” she said. “I told her it was okay. I was comfortable at your place.”

“Oh. You just seemed to trust Ally so much that it made sense.”

She sighed and looked down at the parking lot concrete before looking back up to me.

“I do trust Ally,” she said. “She’s a great person, and she has been so accommodating and helpful. But I trust you too.”

My chest tightened, but in a good way. I had this entire situation playing out differently in my head, and her saying that changed everything. Suddenly my ears were ringing, and I had cotton mouth. A combination of excitement and embarrassment was causing me to have trouble thinking of words.

“Well, good,” I stammered out. “Are you ready?”

She nodded and walked around to the passenger side of my truck. I walked around and opened the door for her, and for a brief moment, our eyes locked, and a slight smile curled up one side of her lips. My body stirred, and I had to look away. I shut the door behind her and made it over to my side, sitting down heavily and looking over as I cranked the engine.

“Want some music?” I asked.

“Sure,” she said. “I love the eighties station.”

I grinned and turned on the radio.

“Me too.”