Nora moved even closer and put her hand on my arm. Her eyes rounded as she waited to hear.
"Jack fell down. He was running across the pavement. We have a rule. No running," she told me in strict teacher fashion.
"Yes, but he's three, and sometimes the rules fall out of his head. Is he all right?"
"He skinned his knee."
There was a loud knock on the doorframe. Carol stood in the middle of it with arms crossed and her second chin resting like a pillow on her neck. "Break time is over, ladies. We've got customers."
Nora left my side begrudgingly. "She's on the phone with the day care."
"Is Jack all right?" Carol asked. She could be the gruff boss one minute and a sweet, wonderful friend the next. Everyone at the diner adored Jack. They were his family.
Nora led her out, so I could finish the call. "Is it bad? Is he upset?"
"He wailed pretty loudly, but a butter cookie helped calm him down. We cleaned it and put on a bandage. He was asking for his mom." She knew I worked, so adding that in was just payback for not answering her call.
"Again, I'm sorry I didn't see the calls until just now." I could hear the volume in voices and chairs clattering in the dining area increase exponentially with each passing moment. "We're really busy at the diner right now?—"
"It's all right. Guess you didn't listen to your last message. Your mom came and got him."
I breathed a sigh of relief. Carol was a supportive boss, but she'd be angry if I had to dash out in the middle of a busy lunch hour. Not to mention, I couldn't miss out on the hours or tips.I was in that terrible single mom world where working my ass off at two jobs earned me just enough to keep food in the fridge. Mom helped whenever she could, but she was on a fixed income. She watched Jack when I worked my night job, and he was at day care during the diner hours. Sometimes it felt like my amazing little boy and I were just two strangers passing in the night, barely able to say hello to each other before I had to dash off to work. Knowing that he was asking for me this morning broke my heart in two.
"All right, Marcy, thanks for letting me know. I've got to get out to the dining area. Goodbye."
A toddler began a crying fit in the background, so she hung up without another word. My phone rang the instant Marcy's call ended. "Hey, Mom, I just heard from Marcy. I'm sorry. I didn't see the call. How is he?"
"He's fine. I gave him a glass of chocolate milk, and he's snuggled down with Bronty and watching a movie. I had to leave my knitting club. They were going to teach us how to do a rib stitch. I wanted to make us matching sweaters for Christmas."
"I'm sorry about that, Mom. Listen, I've got to go. They broke ground across the street, and all the workers are piling in for lunch. Could be some really nice tips for the next months."
"Gosh, that would be nice, Ray."
"It sure would. I'll call once the lunch hour dies down. Give Jack a kiss for me." I hung up, tossed my phone into the locker and headed out to the dining room. I froze for a moment. The dining area was packed. Nora and I were the only servers, so Carol had put on her serving apron. It seemed she was going to have to expand her serving staff while the site was being built.
Carol was filling water glasses behind the counter when she spotted me. Her brows raised in question. "He's fine," I mouthed to her. She motioned with her head toward the crowded diningroom and shrugged. A big smile followed. She walked past me with a tray of waters.
"Are you ready for this?" She grinned at the packed room. "You take tables three, six, eight and nine."
"Got it." I walked over to table three. Three men and a woman, each with a hardhat line on their forehead, were laughing about something. "Afternoon. Welcome to Carol's. I'm Rachel, your server. Can I get you something cold to drink?"
The woman put down the menu. "What do you recommend for a girl who likes to watch her figure?"
"I'm definitely watching Rachel's," one of the men said as he leaned back in his chair and looked me up and down.
The woman threw a sugar packet at the man. "You can stop that shit now. I'm your supervisor, remember? And I don't stand for sexual harassment even if it's the server at the diner. Treat women with respect or start looking for another job. I'll have a diet cola." The woman, my new hero, smiled up at me. "Where's the ladies' room?"
"Right past the bakery case," I said.
The woman got up, and I winked at her in a show of solidarity.
"Told you it wasn't gonna be any fun working under a woman," the man she'd scolded muttered to his coworker.
I took their drink order and moved to the next table. Four men, two older with permanent leathery tans, and two that looked no more than thirty filled the small table. One of them had a thick head of shiny black hair. He was staring down at his phone when I walked up to the table.
"Welcome to Carol's. I'm Rachel, and I'll be your server."
The exact same scene followed. It was one of the leathery-faced men. He leaned back in his chair to get a look at my legs and then made the bold move to reach for my ass. The guy with black hair hadn't looked up from his phone yet, buthis arm shot out to block the man from touching me. Instant tension circled the table, and it even reached the neighboring tables. Conversations fell quiet. The man who'd tried to grab me stared hard at the man who'd blocked him. He finally put down his phone and looked directly at the handsy man. Maybe having hungry construction workers filling the diner everyday wasn't going to be such a great thing. I already dealt with leering men enough at my night job. I certainly didn't need it in the diner.