Page 5 of Unfounded

“I don’t know what to tell you, ” the girl replies with a shrug of her shoulders. “The boss said she’s gone.”

“Then get me theboss,” I reply a little more gruffly than I probably should, but this kid is getting on my nerves. No respect, blatantly rude, and doesn’t hide the fact she’d rather be anywhere other than here. The girl stares at me in shock for a moment, but then shrugs her shoulders again before turning to head into the back.

“What’s put a bee in your bonnet?” Bo asks. “You’re being awfully rude to that girl. She’s just trying to make a living.” I glare at Bo, wondering if he’s lost his mind. Did he not see what I just saw? You don’t answer texts when waiting on customers.

“I’m not being rude,” I inform him, my tone letting him know what an idiot he’s being. “She isn’t our waitress. I’m not giving her the tip when all I’ve seen her do is text on her phone. Didn’t you see the accident she caused earlier because she was looking at her phone instead of where she was going? She caused Marley to drop the tray with our drinks and then stood by and watched while Marley cleaned up the mess!”

Bo stares at me for a moment before his face breaks into a huge shit-eating grin. I roll my eyes, sighing heavily as I wait for whatever inane comment he’s about to make.

“You’ve got the hots for this Marley,” Bo declares. He turns to Rosco, another of our brothers, and punches him on the shoulder. “Dude, Luke’s in love!” Bo proceeds to sing a kid’s song about kissing and sitting in a tree. The man is thirty-four years old but acts like he’s ten. Rosco and Enos are no better. They both chime in singing their stupid hearts out. The things I put up with in this family. Dalton and Kelvin, our longtime friends and employees sit back grinning, enjoying the show but, thankfully, don’t join in with the trio.

I wish Daisy were here. She’s our only sister, and besides me, she’s the only one in the family with any sense. I suppose I sheltered the younger ones too much when we were raising ourselves while our mother was out looking for her prince charming. I took responsibility for the family, getting a job even before I was legally old enough to work, taking money under the table to keep a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. I don’t regret a moment of the it, either. I might not have had a typical teenage life growing up, but I’m proud of my siblings and how they’ve turned out. Even if my brothers are still acting like children, they are all successful and independent adults.

Daisy is a doctor in the Navy, and I rarely see her any more. I worry about her more than the others, not just because I’m around my brothers almost daily and not because she’s a female. It’s because she has a death wish. She volunteers to go into combat zones to help the injured. I admire her bravery and her desire to save our service members, but I’m not happy at the risks she takes. She has no regard for her own safety. Many times, I’ve sat at her bedside while she’s recovered from one injury or another. I’ve complained to her superiors, but it hasn’t done any good. Daisy has made good arguments to support her choices to put herself at risk. Getting care to service members during the ‘golden hour.’ The first hour after an injury in trauma cases can make the difference between life, death, and disability. She’d passionately argued her point, and her superiors had agreed withher. I expect to hear from the Navy any day that she’s been killed in action.

I know why she’s taking such risks, and it frustrates me to no end. She feels guilty over my accident and resulting paralysis. I’ve tried to get her to understand what happened wasn’t her fault. Those kids who’d made a bad choice to drive drunk had been at fault, but I can’t convince Daisy. She feels like it’s her fault for going to a party I’d tried to talk her out of and then calling me to come get her when the girls at the party had treated her badly. I don’t blame Daisy, not anymore. I had been angry with her, for a little while, when I’d first learned I’d never walk again, although I’ve never told her. She had been beating herself up enough over it. I hadn’t wanted her to feel guilty and blame herself. It’s just how my life is meant to be. It took me a little while to come to that conclusion, but I know in my heart it’s true.

Once I came to accept my fate, I let all my anger go. Even the anger I’d felt at the kids in the car that hit me. Most of them died on scene, not having a chance to regret their poor decisions. I’d realized while my life was not going to be what I’d hoped for, I’m alive. For me, at the end of the day, being alive to keep looking after my siblings had been more important than being able to walk, to join the Marines, or to get married and have children of my own. I won’t lie and say there aren’t times when I feel the loss of all those things, but I’ve chosen not to dwell on the loss but to embrace the life I have and make the best of it. I can honestly say I’m happy with how my life has turned out, so far. I have a successful business, a college degree, a nice beach house, and money in the bank. I have everything I want and need…at least mostly.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to discover, I do hope to find love someday, to find a woman who won’t mind me being in the chair. A woman who’ll love me as I am. A woman like Marley, but I’m beginning to lose hope that’ll ever happen. I’m thirty-seven years old. I know many people consider me to be in the prime ofmy life, and I suppose I am, but I feel the years creeping up on me. It won’t be long before I’m forty and will likely have already lived half my life or more. I suppose I’m greedy, because I want as many years with my life partner as I can get. Which means the longer it takes to find her, the less time I’ll have with her. The arrival of the manager brings me out of my musings.

“Hello, I’m James Conner, the owner of this establishment,” an older man with graying hair and kind eyes says when he approaches our table. “May I help you?”

“Yes,” I answer. “Where’s Marley, our waitress?” The man looks shocked at first and glances toward the parking lot.

“She’s no longer employed here,” James replies. His face flushing, whether from embarrassment or anger I’m not sure, but his words have left me reeling. She was just here clearing our table.Why is she no longer employed?

“What do you mean?” I demand. “No longer employed? She was just here. Why did she quit?” I’m struggling to put all the pieces together. She seemed fine just a few minutes ago. I’m sure she’d been frustrated with the other waitress who makes her job harder, but she hadn’t seemed aggravated enough to quit her job.

“She didn’t quit,” James answers. I know my face is covered with shock. I feel my eyes widen and my eyebrows shoot up.He fired her? Is the man insane?She’s an excellent waitress, and while I know I don’t really know her, I feel like I do. I can’t fathom she would do anything to warrant being fired. “I won’t discuss my firing of an employee with a customer, sir. I’m sorry if her service wasn’t up to par, but I’ve taken the necessary action to prevent any future issues. Now is there anything else I can help you with?”

My anger flares red hot. I can’t believe this man would let Marley go. Despite my attraction to her, she seems to be a genuinely good person. She works hard, and I won’t just sit here and not say or do something to defend her.

“Her service was more than above par. She’s an excellentwaitress,” I convey. My voice hard as steel in my anger. “Unlike the other young lady you have working today. You are a fool to let Marley go. I have eaten here almost daily for the last year or so. A big reason for that is Marley. I bring clients here because the food is good and the service has been excellent, but no more. I won’t be back, and I’ll make sure to let all my friends, family, and clients know this isn’t the sort of restaurant they would want to patronize.”

Mr. Conner looks like he’s about to say something, but I hold up my hand cutting him off. “You fire a kind, competent waitress while keeping a lazy, face-stuck-in-her-phone child? You should re-evaluate your business plan. Unless going out of businessisyour plan.” I turn to my brothers as I throw cash down on the table for our meal. “Let’s get out of here.” I roll my chair back and begin making my way to the door, leaving the owner gawking after us. Thankfully my brothers follow me without making comments on my outburst, other than to agree with me that none of us will be back.

Once I’m in the parking lot, I begin making my way over to my SUV. The driver’s door opens, the lift descending. I back onto it getting ready to leave this place behind when Bo appears at my side.

“We’ll meet you back at the office in an hour,” Bo informs me. “Enos has gotten a lead on the Henderson case we’re working on. We are going to check it out, but we shouldn’t be long.” I nod my understanding although I’m only half listening. My mind still on Marley. I can’t help but worry about what will happen to her. I’m sure she can easily get another job, but the realization that I may never see her again hits me like a punch to the gut.

As I turn to tell Bo to be careful checking out the lead, my eyes catch a glimpse of a car near the back of the lot. A woman, no, not any woman, Marley, is sitting in the driver’s seat. I lean forward trying to get a better look. She’s crying. I can see thewetness gleaming on her cheeks. Her hands come up to cover her face, and she leans her head on the steering wheel. My heart is aching at the sight. I can’t let her sit there all alone. I need to comfort her, to help her somehow.

“Out of my way,” I growl at Bo, who looks shocked at first, but then turns to see what’s caught my attention. When he sees the car, I’m staring at, his face frowns, but he steps back as I begin pressing buttons to reverse the lift to get me out of my vehicle. It’s at times like this, I feel frustration over my situation. It takes entirely too long for my liking to get my chair back on the ground so I can get to Marley. I keep glancing her way, fearful she will drive away before I can get to her. Bo surprises me when he speaks.

“You want me to go back in and kick the owner’s ass?” Bo is gritting his teeth in his anger. “Or better yet, I can just drag him out here and let you kick his ass. Whichever way you want to play it.” If not for being so angry, I’d laugh. Neither of us would attack a virtual stranger without just cause, and firing someone isn’t just cause to beat his ass, but the fact he’s made Marley cry is just cause in my book. I’m stunned Bo is thinking along the same lines. Enos, Rosco, Kelvin, and Dalton come over to see what’s going on. Enos is anxious to go check out his lead, but as has always been the case with us, family comes first. Marley isn’t technically family, but because she means something to me, she means something to all of us.

“What’s wrong?” Rosco asks when they arrive at my side. “I thought you were going to the office, and we were going to run down the lead.” I don’t take time to reply. Bo fills them in as I make my way over to Marley’s car. Reaching her driver’s door, she still has her head resting on the steering wheel. I knock on the window to get her attention. Her head jerks up, a shriek leaving her lips, fear evident in her eyes as she turns to look at me. The unadulterated fear on her face unleashes something inme that I’ve never felt before. A consuming need to shelter and protect Marley so she never has to feel fear again. I reach for her door handle, determined to erase her fears and replace them with something better. Safety, security, and whatever else she’ll allow me to give her, but in this moment, I want to give her the world.

MARLEY

Relief floods me. The person knocking on my window is Luke Robertson, the handsome customer I’d just been waiting on before I was fired. He is sitting outside my door. We stare at one another for a moment, then he’s reaching for my door handle. I hit the unlock button. He opens the door, and when it’s open enough, he rolls closer to me.

“Are you all right, Marley?” Luke asks. His face full of concern and another emotion that looks a lot like anger. I frown as I consider this handsome man is angry on my behalf, but that’s ridiculous. He doesn’t even know I’ve been fired, or at least I wouldn’t expect him to know. I can’t tell this handsome man all my troubles even though it’s what my heart and my head are telling me to do. I swipe at my tear-stained face in an effort to get myself under control. I breathe deeply before blowing it out.

“Yes, I’m all right,” I lie, trying to sound confident, but my voice cracks as my frayed emotions attempt to overwhelm me once more. Luke frowns at me, likely not believing my lie for a second. He seems concerned for me. Maybe he isn’t asking to just be polite. He seems to really wants to know if I’m okay. I can see it on his face, which only serves to bring my emotions evencloser to the surface. Seeing him look at me this way causes me to cry even harder. Try as I might to hold them back, tears stream down my face again. I swipe at them angrily, willing them to stop, but it’s to no avail.

I’m frustrated and overwhelmed. The kind look on Luke’s face is my undoing. I want so much to crawl onto his lap, have him hold me, and tell me everything is going to be okay, that this is all just a bad dream, but I know it’s not. This is my new reality, and I have to figure out a way to deal with it all on my own. I don’t have anyone else to lean on, and I need to remember it.

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