Page 23 of Falling Backwards
Damn.It’s been too long.A minute or two is plenty of time for someone to get in their car and—
Wait!A car!
Smiling in relief, I head towards the shiny black Mercedes parked a few spaces left of where I am.The man I’m searching for is in the driver’s seat, texting on his phone.
I wave and hold up his card, calling, “Mr.Leslie?”
His window is up, but he still looks at me.It takes him a moment to register what’s going on.Then astonishment is on his face and he’s rushing out of his car.
“Oh my God!”he says.“Is that mine?”
“Yes, sir!Looks like you dropped it on your way away from the bar.”
“Oh myGod.” He takes the card from me, reads it, then closes his eyes.“Thank you.Thank you so much.”
“Of course.”
When he reopens his eyes, I smile at him, but to my surprise, he looks like he might be growing emotional.
“You’re more appreciated than you know,” he tells me.“I’ve had the worst couple of days, and I can’t believe I was this close to adding a lost credit card to everything else.”
My smile wilts into sympathy.“Oh no.I’m really sorry to hear that.I hope things will look up for you soon.I’m glad, too, that you don’t have to worry about a missing card on top of it all.”
He shrugs.“Two family deaths in a row and a hell of an assets battle just starting up.I’m afraid stress lies in my foreseeable future.”
Wow.I can’t even imagine.Frowning now, I tell him again, “I’m so sorry.”
“It is what it is.”He extends a hand, and when I reach out to shake it, he grips mine hard.“Thank youfor your honesty here.”
“No problem at all, sir.Best of luck to you.”
“The same to you, young man.”
I go back into Lucent feeling relieved I was able to catch him in time.
Never know which direction your day will turn towards next, huh?
Once I’m back behind the bar, Maggie asks what happened with the card.I tell her I got it returned, and she looks relieved too.
It occurs to me that she deserves a bit of applause for the part she played in the whole thing.However, she’s gone back to her silverware inspection before I can figure out how to make my mouth form the words,‘Good job noticing he dropped it.’
Wouldn’t be easy to say that kind of thing to her sans sarcasm.
Oh well.I’m sure she’s plenty proud of herself anyway.
Instead of bothering saying anything else, I start cleaning the bar top.
After that’s done, I move on to restocking the beverage coolers for whoever will be arriving shortly to tend bar after me.I’m partway through it when Maggie finishes her work and disappears.
I finally feel like I can breathe easily.
Within fifteen more minutes, I’m set to leave the area as well because my replacements are here and ready to take over for me.I bid them farewell and head for the back room.All I need is to clock out and get my coat and I’ll be good to go enjoy the rest of my Saturday…although I don’t know yet what I might do with it.
I ponder my options all the way to the wall hook my coat is on.Food definitely lies in my future, but it’s a hard choice between—
“Luke!”
This time my name is a pop through the air, like I’m in trouble, but not with a certain girl like usual.
