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At least I was able to find a nice hotel downtown for the holidays. I’m checked in for ten days—it was all I could afford, assuming I no longer have a job to go back to after New Year’s Eve. My phone is off. I can’t bear the sound of it ringing and buzzing. Not today. Not on Christmas Eve.
The few friends I have in Providence are out of town. And going back to Kieran’s is completely out of the question.
All I’ve got is myself, for now.
With newfound determination and hoping it’ll last long enough to get me through the holidays, I grab my wallet and head out to the local diner. There’s a handful of customers left at this hour. It’ll be midnight soon enough, so I am thankful for whatever they have left in the cake and pie display to serve as my dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast. There’s also a shawarma place further down the street, and since they don’t celebrate Christmas, they’ll be open for business. Gotta love America sometimes; it’s a melting pot that accommodates a variety of needs.
“Hey, honey, what can I get you?” the waitress asks from behind the counter.
I take a seat on one of the barstools and give her a warm, tired smile, noticing the way she braided her black, curly hair to frame her pretty, round face. Her skin is the color of milk chocolate, creating a lovely contrast with the pale pink of her uniform. “Hey, Lacy,” I say, reading the nametag. “Can I get one of those pies to eat here, and two more to go?”
“Sure thing. We’ve got one slice of cherry left, and two apple. Which one do you want to have here?” she says, already fetching a plate from behind the shelves below.
“Let’s go with cherry,” I tell her. “I’ll take the apple to go.”
“Cherry it is.”
I watch quietly as she slips the cherry pie onto the plate and puts it in the microwave oven for about a minute while she packs the apple slices into a brown box. She looks up and smiles.
“Anything to drink?” she asks.
“Just a…” I pause, realizing I was about to go for a Diet Coke. “Orange juice?”
“We’ve got orange juice.”
With a baby on the way, I might as well start looking after myself. This body is going to bring another human into the world, and I owe it to this little person to make sure he or she gets the best seat when they arrive. I wonder who the father is. Matthew, Jason, and Sully were equally generous in that sense, but I never thought to keep track. We spent so many nights together—the four of us and one-on-one. It would be impossible to assume anything without a DNA test. How am I going to tell them? I’m not sure if I even want to or if I should.
Matthew sent me away. I can only assume that he, along with Jason and Sully, simply didn’t want me around anymore.
Once the orange juice and pie are set in front of me, I take my sweet time with this so-called dinner while I try to put some order to my thoughts. My options are limited, but they do exist. It’s the only silver lining I’ve got to hold on to right now. As soon as I get back to the hotel, I’ll get on my laptop and start looking for a new job. January might be a dry month, but there are plenty of gigs I can go with in the meantime. My car still works, so I can use it for Uber or deliveries. I know the city well enough to navigate my way around.
“You know, we still have the kitchen open,” Lacy says.
I look up, and the smell hits me. Fried eggs, bacon, French fries… all the greasy goodness that my heart so desperately desires. “Anything I can get to go, then?”
“Have a look at the menu,” she replies and gives me a laminated sheet with a handful of dishes to choose from. “The Midnight Breakfast is my favorite. I’ll have Bobby throw in a couple of pancakes on the house, if you want. Maple syrup and everything on top.”
“You’re too kind.”
“It’ll be my pleasure, darlin’. You wouldn’t be here at this hour on Christmas Eve if things were easy,” Lacy says.
It’s not pity I’m getting from her voice. It’s pure empathy. She’s been down this road, or at least one similar, at some point in her life. I suppose wounded souls tend to recognize one another, even in a crowd. I can’t help but smile.
“You know what, I think I’ll go for that Midnight Breakfast, then. The pancakes, too.”
“Excellent choice.” She writes it down and takes the order into the kitchen, then comes back to refill my drink. “How’s the pie?”
“Honestly, it’s fantastic. It might be the best pie I’ve ever had,” I tell her, and I mean every word. I can literally taste every ingredient, every granule of sugar, the sweetness of the cherries, and the soft flakiness of the crust. The custard fills me with pure joy, and the slightly sour end note amplifies the whole experience. “Then again, I’m eating for two, and I hear pregnancy can really mess with your taste buds.”
Lacy lights up, a huge grin beaming across her face. “Oh, honey, congratulations! You’re going to be a mom!”
“Yeah. Worst possible timing,” I chuckle dryly.
Her brightness fades as she understands my predicament. “Oh. I’m so sorry…”
“It’s okay. I’m gonna be okay, somehow. Jobless, homeless, broken-hearted on Christmas Eve. Just found out I’m pregnant, too. Do you think it can get any worse?”
She leans over the counter, her brown eyes slightly narrowed. “I’d say don’t tempt fate on this one and just roll with the punches.”
