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I had to respect his commitment, his attention to detail. And it wasn’t like I was being paid badly. The money I was making was allowing me to give Macy things I’d never dreamed of before. Finally she had a new coat, new sneakers. I was able to give her money for school trips and music lessons. If I was careful about my spending, we were even going to be able to fly home to Wisconsin this Christmas, see my folks, who hadn’t seen Macy since she was four. I poured my money into my daughter, finally able to give her a taste of what she deserved. And proud of it. But in doing so, I had to put up with Alex. The handsome billionaire, asshole who always managed to put a downer on my day.
But back to the important issue at hand—by which, I mean, the shoes.
After Alex had told me about them for the twentieth time, I went out and got myself a brand new pair of Penelope Chilvers loafers. I could feel a tingle of excitement as I came in that day.
All morning I waited for Alex to show up. When he finally did, I waved to him cheerily behind the bar.
As usual, he fixed me with a look.
“Something I can help you with, Lola?” he said.
“Take a look,” I said.
Alex stepped behind the bar, and I twirled for him.
“You look very nice,” he said. “Very pretty.”
I stopped, and blushed. “Notice anything different?” I said.
Alex looked at me blankly, and shook his head.
“Yousure?” I said.
“I don’t get it,” he said irritably. “What am I meant to see?”
“Myshoes, Alex!” I said. “I got new shoes! Like you said?”
He rolled his eyes.
“You call that a shoe?” he said, and marched through the door and up the stairs to the office.
I sighed, and puffed my cheeks out, wandering miserably over to where Andy was polishing a stack of glasses.
“Don’t mind him, baby,” said Andy to me. “He’s just a grump.”
“Some grump,” I said. “I wonder what made him that way?”
Andy looked around to see if no one was listening.
“You know what I heard?” he said. “Alex ain’t got no family. I mean, nothing. He grew up in Philly. North side. Fairhill. My cousin grew up there. That’s a tough neighborhood.”
I almost didn’t believe it. I couldn’t. I’d assumed Alex had come from wealth. He was just so sophisticated and aloof.
But the truth was I was more confused than annoyed with him. And when he’d told me I was pretty, I’d felt something between us. Electric and mysterious, and lost to the past. Or so I’d assumed until now.
***
Juggling my job and Macy was tricky. I woke early and got her to school. If I was on a day shift, I could be back home by the time the bus dropped her off and make her dinner. But if not, Sara picked her up for me and put her to bed. She was my rock, and I paid her back by looking after Luis, her son, now and then. But the worst days of all were my double-shifts when I closed. Working them meant I got two, sometimes three days off. But it wasn’t easy—and I didn’t get home until late, sometimes 1.00am.
But Sara never complained. “You go out there and find yourself one of those rich uptown men, baby!” she told me. And we laughed.
I was closing one evening atThe Blue Orchidwhen I had every waitress’s nightmare: three complaints at once.
“This steak’s medium-well,” said one customer. “I wanted it medium-rare.”
“This wine tastes funny,” said another.
“I don’t like this. I want something else. The steak.”
