Page 6 of Midsummer Phoenixes
At the bar, his ballcap next to the cup of coffee I’d gotten him, Ben was frowning at his phone.
I pointed. “My section is usually tables one to ten. Clockwise. And we split the bar left to right as well, although if you see someone needing something and take care of them, that’s fine. Oh, and there’s a regular who comes in pretty late. He used to sit in my section, but he moved to table seventeen. I still take care of him, if that’s okay.” I cocked my head. “If it’s slow, you can leave early anyway.”
Rae’s eyes widened. “I’ve been told I leave at three. I wouldn’t want to make a mistake and get the boss angry at me.”
Ben glanced over at us, frowning.
I said, “Dwayne’s pretty relaxed about that sort of thing. Like, if you have an emergency or need to take a sick day, he’s the last person to get mad at you.”
Rae nodded. “I think I’ll stay until closing if you don’t mind.” They turned on a dazzling smile. “It’s probably lonely, right? You all by yourself in this big old diner? I’m really good company.” They leaned in. “I dance.”
Ben sighed and returned his attention to his phone. I looked back and forth between the two of them. Something told me it wasn’t Dwayne who had hired Rae, and I didn’t want them to get into trouble either.
“Sure, that’s fine. Three in the morning for the both of us it is. You don’t have to dance though.”
Their face fell. “Are you sure?”
Ben looked up again.
“I mean, if you want to dance?”
“Yes! Always.” They pointed at Ben. “This one’s in my section, right? He looks very critical. Should I get him something sweet to make him smile?”
Ben snorted. “Not my kind of flavor, sugar.”
“Your loss,” Rae said and headed for the opposite end of the counter.
I put a menu in front of Ben. “Pick what you want. It’s on the house. Or on Soyer, I guess.”
Ben’s eyes crinkled with humor. “Thanks. And thanks again for those earbuds. The best I ever had, sir. I actually prefer them over my Bluetooth speakers these days.”
“Just call me Amory, and you are welcome.”
I left him to his menu to get started on my tables.
With Soyer now a co-owner, I should have expected the diner to fill up when, on any other day, it would have emptied an hour into the late shift. I had no idea which of our patrons were pawns, but I had no doubt that some were.
I caught Ben a few times, giving people a long look and texting. I stopped at his corner of the counter on my way to take care of table seven.
“You okay? Are you sure I can’t get you anything other than egg salad on rye?”
“Oh no, sir. This is fine.”
“Call me Amory. Sir sounds weird,” I said, trying for about the fourth time.
Ben looked around. “If you insist, sir.”
I sighed and shook my head. Did I have to talk to Soyer about giving Ben the okay to just call me by my name? I wished I knew how all of this worked, pawns and cursed, rules of a world I now knew existed but didn’t really understand yet.
At table seven, I pulled my notepad from my apron. Both it and the pen came with the Moonlight’s logo, a crescent moon and three stars, and I sort of loved that. I wasn’t sure why we were still doing paper and not digital, seeing as how mostly everything had been updated after the fire, but maybe some things just had to stay the same even if you burned down the old and rebuilt.
“Have you decided?” I asked the four.
“Hmm, I’m not sure about the salad dressing,” the blond man bun on the left, closest to the window, said.
“Are you fucking kidding? Man asked you something. Don’t you dare do that bitchy salad dressing acthere,” the tallest and broadest of the four said. He was on my right, closest to me. “I’m sorry about him. I’m Atkins by the way. It’s nice to see this place reopen.”
I nodded. “Thanks. We’re excited to be back finally. Thanks for visiting us today.”
