Page 24 of Hawk
13
Maci
“Riles,” I call out to my daughter the next morning. She loves to sleep in, and I can’t blame her. If my mind wasn’t full of all this bull shit and wondering how I’m going to tell my kid that our house burned down, I might be able to sleep, too.
“What?”
My eye rolls. Damn, sassy child!
“How about you come out and have breakfast with your mom?”
“Do I have to?” She hisses back.
“Yes!”
Not before long, we’re in the car and on our way to the diner I’m going to be working at starting tonight. There isn’t many places to eat in this town, and I’m thinking this is the only breakfast joint.
My sweet tooth is demanding for pancakes and extra syrup. Yeah, like I said, I have a sweet tooth.
I pull in the car into the parking lot and notice a couple of bikes out in the front. Great! I wasn’t expecting all of this, but it is what it is.
And on top of everything else, Hawk probably thinks I’m sort of psycho bitch who doesn’t have her shit together.
“Two?” A tired waitress asks.
I nod.
I’m in a pair of jeans and Riley is still in her pajamas but at least she brushed her hair. That’s always a fight in the morning to get her to brush her damn hair. The girl has long curly hair that takes forever to brush out.
I keep my head down as I don’t want to attract any attention to us. I’m already being risky by being out and about today. I’m thinking it might be easier to discuss what is happening to us out in public instead of the apartment. At the apartment, she’s able to run from me a little more.
“What can I getcha to drink?” An older woman asks as she chomps away at her gum. Could she be anymore stereotypical right now? Jesus.
“Coffee, black. Riles, what do you want to drink?”
“Chocolate milk. Large, please,” she mumbles and looks over the menu.
The waitress looks at me over her thick rimmed glasses to make sure that’s okay. I nod. I don’t really care what Riley drinks or eats while we’re out, as long as she’s eating.
Last year, my daughter started to show me signs of an eating disorder. The school I had her enrolled in, had a bunch of superficial girls who used to pick on her for being a little chubby. She wasn’t fat, by any means. She just a little extra baby fat. Anyways, she stopped eating as much as she normally did and only drank water. She lost about thirty pounds in two months and started working out harder than needed. When confronted about it, she admitted she felt fat.
Needless to say, after all of that, I just want her to eat.
“I’m getting chocolate chip pancakes and bacon,” I inform her.
Riley shrugs and looks at the menu with too much concentration. “I guess I’ll get the same?”
The waitress comes back with our drinks and we order our food. She smiles and scurries off to put it in the computer.
From the corner of my eye, I can see Capone and someone else who looks like they are friends with Hawk off to the corner. Capone is nudging his friend and they are looking over at our table. I burrow my head a little more to just stay out of the way.
I don’t need them to know about my daughter. Hell, I don’t need them to know anything about us.
“So, why did you drag me out of bed?” Riley asks and chugs half of her chocolate milk. I don’t bother telling her to slow down. Those moments are long over.
“It’s noon,” I inform her flippantly. Teenagers!
“Whatever.”
