Pausing on the sidewalk outside Carmine’s, I let the pink and blue neon lights wash over me and took some deep breaths. Was I really going to do this? A woman in revealing clothing walked past me, and for a moment I wondered how difficult it would be to become an escort instead. No, that wasn’t me. Besides, Mom would have a heart attack. Still, there were plenty of times I’d rather sell my soul than work for Dotty, let alone my body.
“Come on, Harper,” I murmured aloud. “You can do this.” Pushing my fears aside, I walked inside and took a look around.
Immediately, my eyes met beady black ones peering at me from behind the counter. Dotty held my gaze for a long moment before a slow, sinister smile spread across her face. She must’ve figured out why I was there.
Like a child who’d been caught cramming sixty-seven Oreos into her mouth, I shuffled toward the counter. “Hi, Dotty,” I began. “How are you?”
“Well, well, well,” she began, thrumming her fingers of one hand on the counter while she moved around a filthy dishrag with the other in some semblance of cleaning. “If it isn’t Princess Juliet, back from Sunset Boulevard.”
So much about what she’d said was wrong, I didn’t even know where to begin to correct her. “You wouldn’t happen to need another waitress, would you?” Unlike Uncle Joe’s, this place was always looking for another set of hands. They paid shitty, and Dotty was a monster.
A low chuckle radiated out of her thick throat. “What’s the matter? Sleeping with your boss only got you so far?”
I opened my mouth to protest, but she didn’t wait for me to answer.
“Yeah, go grab a uniform out of the back and get started. We need someone right now.”
Shocked that she wanted me to start right away, I just stood there, staring at her greasy gray hair, wondering why it always looked like she was moving even when she was standing still.
“Hop to it, Princess. These customers ain’t going to get up off their asses and serve themselves!” She motioned toward the back with her nasty rag, and that was enough to get me moving again.
In the back, I found a uniform in my size. It had a large spaghetti sauce stain on it, but most of it would be covered with the apron. The one and only apron they’d expect me to use every night. Oh, how the shit had become real once more.
“Harper?”
Hearing a familiar voice, I turned around just as arms came flying around my neck. “Molly!”
“Oh, my God! It is you! You’re back!” She squeezed me so tightly, I thought I might pass out. “God, I’ve missed you so much!”
When she finally released me, I said, “I’ve missed you, too.” It was true. Molly was one of the only good things about working in this cesspool. “How have you been?”
Grumbling, she told me about how her boyfriend spent all of their rent money on video games and still hadn’t found a job. It sucked that such a good person was in such a horrible predicament, but trying to get Molly to dump his ass was impossible. I’d tried. So I just listened sympathetically.
“What about you?” she asked. “I saw all of those magazine articles. God, Harper. Was that all true?”
“No,” I assured her. “Very little of it was true, actually. But people will believe whatever they’re told, and I was tired of seeing my mom get trashed all over the place. So I had to quit.”
Molly’s expression matched mine, our faces set in deep frowns as we slowly shook our heads. Both of us knew what it was like to be handed a raw deal.
“Well, I hope that things die down for you soon. You don’t deserve to have to put up with that kind of shit, girl.” Molly patted my back and then headed back to take another order before Dotty started screaming at us.
Right on her heels, I took the next couple that came in and found them a table, falling right back into the routine of being a waitress. No, it wasn’t glamorous. It was hard work for shitty pay, and most people weren’t very nice. But it paid the bills, and I’d never seen anyone go out of their way to snap a photograph of a waitress before.
Thankfully, it was a short shift. After about four hours, I dragged myself out of the diner, my feet aching, wondering how I was going to handle all of this since I’d given up my apartment with Tammy. I couldn’t make it back to my mom’s house every night because of how the trains ran. Sighing, I decided to go somewhere to chat through this with someone that I trusted.
No more taxis for me. Hopping on the subway, I headed to SoHo, sending Kylee a text to let her know I was on my way. She’d been so supportive while all of this was going on with Logan, and I really appreciated having her there for me. A few seconds later, a text popped up that she was home and would pour the wine.
Dragging myself into her living room, I collapsed onto her couch. She took one look at my uniform and said, “Shut the fuck up!”
“What?” I asked, barely sitting up to take the glass of wine she offered me. “This outfit is all the rage. Everyone is wearing these stained waitress uniforms now. It’s the new thing to do.”
“You went back to Carmine’s, didn’t you?” Her tone wasn’t accusatory, only concerned.
Slowly, I nodded. “I didn’t have any choice. I have to work, and Uncle Joe’s didn’t need me.”
Sinking down next to me on the couch, Kylee took a drink of her wine and contemplated how to respond before she said anything at all. When she did finally comment on the disheveled state of my existence, she said, “Well, if that’s what you’ve got to do for now, I get it. But I don’t think you should have to do that for the rest of your life.”
“What are you talking about, Kylee?” I managed to pull myself up to sitting. “What else am I going to do? Run for president?”