AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Four
The weather this year had been all over the place. First it was bitter cold, then it turned warm and pleasant like Terri thought spring should be. Today turned out to be a cold, blustery day, quite unlike yesterday’s unseasonable warmth.
Standing at the rear entrance, hidden from public view, Terri curled further into her coat while she waited for Luke to unlock the doors to the club. Her teeth chattered and she held the uniform clutched in her fist tighter to her chest, as if she could glean some kind of warmth from the thin material.
“Come on, Grandpa,” she goaded, and bounced on her toes to emphasize how cold she was and that he definitely needed to hurry before she froze to death.
“Hold your horses,” Luke muttered, trying another key.
Finally the lock clicked open and as soon as Luke turned the handle, Terri shoved her way inside, eager to be surrounded by warmth.
“Never knew you could be so pushy,” Luke complained. The smile on his face told her he wasn’t the least bit mad or annoyed, not that Terri would have cared either way.
Shrugging a shoulder, Terri headed for the locker room. “I’ll just go get changed.”
After relocking the door, Luke followed. “I’ll be in my office making a few calls if you need me,” he informed her, then ducked inside.
Terri was just pushing open the door to the locker room when she heard Luke’s voice carrying from the open office door. The guy didn’t waste any time, Terri thought.
The locker room was pretty basic, just a few battleship-gray gym lockers lining one wall, a floor to ceiling mirror opposite and a long couch from yesteryear that was remarkably comfortable considering its age and appearance.
Terri opened her own locker set at the far end of the row and shrugged off her coat, hanging it on the hook inside. Tugging the turtleneck over her head, she took her time folding it and placing it on the interior shelf, then proceeded to undress and redress in the same fashion until she was standing in her uniform, goosebumps rising on her arms and legs from the chill that hadn’t quite left her yet.
Terri had never been alone at the club, before or after hours. With no one to talk to and without the chorus of voices mixing with music to drown out her thoughts, it felt strange. Even so, it was sort of nice being caught in the calm before the storm, all alone with her thoughts. It made the task of setting the bar less tedious somehow. And without the constant interruptions from having to take orders or clear the way for another of the waitresses, she found that everything she did went twice as fast.
She had the glasses washed, dried and put back on the shelves in less than fifteen minutes. The counters were already wiped clean from the previous night, so she set about pulling the chairs from the tabletops and replacing them on the floor. Once finished with that chore, Terri wasn’t sure what else to do with herself, so she returned to the bar and started wiping the already gleaming countertops.
When she was finished with that task, she meandered about the room, finally settling herself in a chair. As the pervading silence engulfed the room, her thoughts wandered down a dark path.
She hadn’t been able to shake her worry from the previous night and ended up calling her lawyer first thing that morning. What he told her disturbed her. Randy had been released from prison nearly one week ago. No one had bothered to inform her, not the court and certainly not her own lawyer.
She was furious, and she decided to share some of her outrage with her lawyer.
She should have been told immediately, she argued. What did she pay him for anyway? If he couldn’t handle making one phone call, he wasn’t worth the fees she paid him. His only excuse was that he had a large case load and was planning to get around to it. Her response: When? When she was dead? Because that was what would probably end up happening if she hadn’t found out for certain that she needed to be extra cautious now. Randy could have sneaked up on her and killed her and all because she hadn’t been made aware that he was a free man. Still could, but the only difference was that she would see it coming.
Maybe this way she stood a chance of defending herself.
The first time she experienced any measure of peace today was when Luke came to pick her up. It was as if the cloud of distress hanging over her head had dissipated. She felt calm and relaxed and definitely safer now that she was no longer alone. She knew it had a lot to do with Luke’s masculine presence, and wished that she could somehow bottle him so she could carry him with her forever—a charm against anything, or anyone, that wished to harm her.
Luke emerged from his office nearly two hours later looking downtrodden and a little ticked off. Terri had intended to ask what was bothering him when the rest of the wait staff started filing in through the back door. Instead of attempting a discussion that would get waylaid in an instant, Terri passed him an encouraging smile and set about doing the final preparations required to open the club to the line of patrons already growing outside the building.
***
The night progressed as any other. Terri served drinks to her tables and filled orders at the bar between rounds. The women were catty as usual, sharing sordid tales of bathroom encounters that she tried desperately to block out. A part of her really wished Luke would do away with the practice of letting everyone do as they pleased, because she had trouble holding onto respect for these women each time she witnessed one slink into the back with another John.
Holding respect for Luke should have been a problem too, but he had some redeeming qualities her coworkers lacked, like self-respect and strength of character. Luke did for others, and by allowing these women to sell themselves for an extra buck, he was giving them the opportunity to make a better life for themselves—if that’s what they could really call it—and to do it in a safe place, while putting himself on the line.
She would never understand the allure, and she never wanted to. The only thing she could possibly say that she would like to share with the women was their ability to share the details of their lives with one another. Between them, there were no secrets. Terri was the odd man out here, for a couple of reasons: One, she was the newest member of the staff. No one wanted to open up to the newbie. There was no history, so there was no trust; two, Terri wasn’t exactly an open book. She liked to keep the details of her personal life personal. She didn’t talk much, and when she did it was usually about business.
Unfortunately, Terri had never known the benefit of having a good girl friend to confide in, and it looked like she never would. The silver lining? You can’t miss what you never had.
Terri kept telling herself just that while she worked the tables, cleaning up messes from spilled drinks and collecting empty glasses and bottles. It kept her mind busy, but never enough to completely banish all thoughts of her ruthless soon-to-be ex-husband running around as a free man. The very idea had her looking over her shoulder.
When it came time for her break, Terri headed for the tiny break room that used to be a storage room. It was attached to Luke’s office by a thin paneled door with a large pane of glass in the middle. It offered no privacy whatsoever, and as Terri took a seat at the round bistro table provided them, she scooted her chair far enough away to be out of his direct line of sight. She didn’t feel exactly comfortable sitting there listening to a muted soap opera while he ranted at full volume about a lack of adequate supplies and whose ass he was going to fry if it wasn’t resolved immediately. She felt as if she was eavesdropping.
Nibbling on her tuna and rye, she returned to her previous ongoing thought process. Had that kid who had been involved in the hit-and-run last night been an unfortunate victim of Randy’s temper? If, in fact, it had been him, it didn’t take a giant leap to figure out that he had probably been in the club watching her that evening, too. Just the thought of him being so close without her knowledge was enough to turn her into a nervous wreck.
Terri leaned forward, folding her arms on the table and resting her head on top. She should be calling the police, telling them about her suspicions. That would be the right thing to do, wouldn’t it? The problem was, she didn’t have any proof that Randy was involved. She had no idea where he lived or if he was even in the area. He could be miles away for all she knew. With her luck, most likely not, but a girl could hope.
