Page 2 of The Disputed Legacy
Especially concerning my son.
Before I could call it a night, Margo gestured frantically from her usual spot behind the counter. Instead of seeming to need help balancing dishes we waitresses had dumped into her bins for her to sort through, she lifted and waved her arm so fast that the loose skin jiggled underneath. With her hurried motion, she frowned deeply.
Oh, crap. Now what?
The manager had left around lunchtime, so if there was an incident, we’d be fending for ourselves.
“What is it?” I asked Margo, hurrying toward her. I shoved my order pad into my apron and glanced in the direction of where Oscar still sat, now coloring as he waited for me to be done working so we could walk home.
“Rosie.” She shook her head, wincing as she beckoned for me to go back to the kitchen. “Keith’s pestering her and she looks scared.”
I groaned, hurrying more at the mention of one of the senior cooks bothering the newest and youngest waitress on our staff. Slamming my palm on the swinging doors, I narrowed my eyes and wondered why he wouldn’t just get the hint already.
That older creep tried with all of us. Irene. Me. All the others. Maybe he’d skipped over Margo, but if any new employee with a vagina started to work here, he’d act like the sleazy predator he was and try his best to?—
“Oh, for God’s sake,” I snarled as I came back to the kitchen.
Ignoring the pots and pans moving, the loud pops and sizzles of grease on the range, and the overly loud and too peppy beat of the other cook’s Caribbean hip-hop, I headed directly for Keith as he pushed Rosie against the stove and pawed at her. His greasy fingers groped for the buttons on her blouse. He jammed his leg between hers, smearing all the kitchen stains on his slacks over her clean skirt that she’d have to spot-treat to keep clean, lest she have to pay for a replacement already. So tall and big, he loomed over her and smiled maliciously, counting on no one to stop him from having his way. With the managers already gone for the day, we were expected to fall in line without supervision. Two surveillance cameras would capture some of the action in the building, but not all.
Without announcing my arrival, used to this crap that Keith would try, I strode up behind him and yanked his arm back. Itwasn’t a simple tug on his elbow. Nope. I used all the muscle memory I had of how to deflect an attacker. He flung away from her, but before he could take advantage of his height and come at me, I followed up with a strategic jab to his side. Next, as he reacted with a grunt, I stepped toward him so I could bring my knee up to his nuts. I didn’t make contact. He knew it was coming. But as he hunched over to protect himself, I smacked my hand up at his head and got him under the nose.
“The fuck!” he groaned and staggered back, straightening to cover his face with his hand. Those backward steps pushed him in the range of view of one of the cameras back by the freezer door, and that was as good as getting him caught as I could hope for. Just in case he’d attempt to harass Rosie again, I took a handful of salt and tossed it on the range. Smoke billowed up and I dusted off my hands.
“Smoke alarm’s gonna go off,” I warned, leading Rosie away from the hot, steaming area.
“Goddammit, you bitch! What’s wrong with you?” Keith lowered his hand and rushed to shove aside the salt that would burn and smoke. That was my second way to keep him in line. If any alarms went off, the owners would be pissed.
“What’s wrong withyou, asshole?” I countered as I led Rosie out of the kitchen. “Keep your hands to yourself!”
Rosie trembled, staying close to me as I guided her through the swinging doors and out to the front. Margo frowned, watching our backs, then shook her head at the young woman who tried to wipe off the greasy marks Keith had left on her shirt. With her head down, she looked more like a terrified and naïve child than a twenty-year-old adult starting a new job.
“I told you to stay away from them back there,” Margo warned.
“I did. But he said he had dishes for me to bring to you and I thought that he meant it, and I didn’t want to get in trouble and—” She cut herself off with a deep sniffle.
I sighed, handing her a napkin. “It’s all right. Don’t cry.”
“But I thought he was really going to… to”
I rubbed her back and shared a dull look with Margo. She was just as sick of assholes like Keith as I was. But what could we do about it?
Nothing. That’s what. There’s never any hope like that.
“Thank you.” Rosie wiped her eyes and still sniffled as she calmed down. Her back heaved with deep breaths as she caught her breath. “Thank you for helping me, Willow.”
“Anytime.” I glanced again at Oscar, making sure he was all right off to the side. It didn’t matter that I was on the clock. It was instinct for me to be a mother and worry.
Just like how I’d worried about Rosie here. She wasn’t my daughter, but it wasn’t easy for me to turn my back on someone in need of help.
“Thanks for…” Rosie blinked, sobering up from her almost-crying-spell that she staved off. “That was impressive.”
I wouldn’t have called it impressive. I’d taken the time to learn self-defense because I had to, not because I wanted to look like a badass.
“Will he get in trouble?” she asked.
“Nah,” Margo replied, matter of fact. “The manager’s already gone home for the day. It’s just us. But we’ve got each other’s backs. Don’t forget it, all right?”
She nodded, going out to the dining floor to tidy up and likely just to put more distance between herself and the cook line in the kitchen where Keith was probably grumpy that I’d stopped him from having his fun—again.
