Page 82 of Love Me Boldly

“Can I help finish cleaning the tables for you? All my customers are taken care of and getting ready to leave.”

Oh, thank goodness. More people leaving meant a slowdown was coming.

And getting out of cleaning? I handed her the cloth. “Knock yourself out.”

While she cleaned the tables, I cleared off the remainder of them. I swooped over to two tables that had moved their plates to the side, and soon I was carrying back an overly filled bin to get back to the dishwasher.

“Hi Jimmy, more work.”

He swiped the back of his hand across his forehead. “Busy night.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t keep you past quitting time.”

“Thanks,” the teenager muttered in that sullen way they perfected. After hiring so many, I knew it well.

After washing my hands and grabbing a quick drink of water, I headed back to the hostess stand. Fifteen minutes later, all the people waiting were seated. I let Emily and Annie handle the tables so they could earn the tips, and I helped with drink orders and cleaning the hostess stand.

“There you are!” Trina said, breathless as she hurried in. “I’ve been calling you. I’msosorry we couldn’t come hang out with you today.”

I smiled. Trina was lovely. Older than me, sure, but since our kids were all the same ages, the age difference never really mattered. It was when she and Ashley prattled on about married life that I felt like a third wheel.

“What’s up?” I continued wiping down the menus and tucking them in the basket next to me. “Are you alone?”

“No, Cole’s parking the SUV and bringing the girls in. He just got called in, and since I was just starting to cook dinner, I scrapped it. Figured the girls and I could hang out with you for a bit.” She glanced at the restaurant behind me. “Unless you’re too busy?”

“I’m never too busy for you. Everything okay?” Cole rarely got called in.

“Should be. I think someone got sick or something, I don’t know. He’ll tell me later.”

She shrugged it off like it was no big deal, but every time I thought about his job, my stomach tightened into a tiny ball. They saw the worst, and they met people at their worst moments. I’d had a front-row seat to all of it once, and it was something you never forgot.

“All right. Let me get you girls a table.”

“Thanks, Holly.”

As I turned, Junie, and I knew it was her because her quiet voice was permanently stuck at level ten, shouted, “Mommy! We’re here!”

I shook my head, chuckling at the wild one who was still only six, but man, was she a handful. Boys had their own energy about them for sure, and sometimes I didn’t know if Jonah was calmer than most because it was just me and him most of the time, or if it was his personality, but Junie rolled through life like a tumbleweed with a tambourine stuck inside.

I set them out at a table where Junie’s volume wouldn’t pierce the eardrums of the closest customers and set down the children’s menu, crayons, and Trina’s menu.

“Hi, Miss Holly.”

“Ella.” I bent down and kissed her cheek. “How are you today?”

“Good. Mom and Mama Trina took us shopping today.” She held out her hands. Her fingertips were covered in tiny flower stickers. “Look what I got.”

“Oh, that’s so pretty. I like the yellow ones.”

“They’re my favorite, too.” She slipped into the booth all the way to the edge, and Junie bounced into the one on the other side.

“Mama Trina?” I whispered, brows raised in surprise.

“It’s a new thing. Marie seems okay with it, so we’re letting the girls set that pace.”

“It’s sweet.”

She grinned at her stepdaughters and shook her head, like she couldn’t believe this was her life. “It’s wonderful.”

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