In return, she pushed me to do fun things, reminding me at least once a week that I was only twenty-one and perhaps the fate of the universe didn’t literally rest on whether or not I balanced my checkbook to the penny. Along the way, she taught me how to do smoky eye makeup, how not to freak out when a guy asked me to dance, and how to “borrow” music off the Internet. (When I pointed out that “borrowing” music was stealing, she agreed and started using iTunes for her downloads. To finance this, she “borrowed” her dad’s credit card.)
“Well, apparently me and Blake no longer work here,” I said, leaning my head against her. “I don’t know if you’re fired or not.”
“Fuck that,” Danielle declared. “Eva can kiss my ass. If you’re out, I’m out.”
“You weren’t even part of it,” I protested.
“I don’t care. You’re a much better waitress than I am. If she fired you, no way I’d last there anyway. Let’s go get drunk!”
Blake laughed and caught me around the neck, hugging me from the other side. Puck watched us silently, his face grim. Just. Like. Batman.
The Dark Knight was easier to understand, though. Puck had treated me like I had the plague ever since that night five years ago, yet this morning he suddenly wanted to get breakfast? We weren’t friends. I didn’t even know where he lived, for God’s sake. Sometimes he’d just disappear for months at a time and despite full access to Callup’s sophisticated gossip network, I’d never been able to figure out where he was or what he was doing.
Not that I cared.
I didn’t.
Although I had to admit, I slept better when he was in town. He made me feel weirdly safe in a terrified, trapped-deer kind of way. Puck was a wolf, but for the most part he left me alone while scaring away the other wolves. This was a good thing and it worked for us—if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
“I can’t get drunk,” I reminded her. “I have to go home and shower, and then it’s time to head out for school.”
“Okay, tonight then,” Blake said. “We’ll get together and share our misery. I’ll bring my friend, the good Dr. Jack Daniels, and we can make a double date of it—you, me, Danielle, and our bottle. Sound good?”
I shot a quick glance at Puck, wishing he’d go away and stop listening to us. Ignoring my wishes, he studied me and Blake, his face turning thoughtful. Not the “oh, she should go out and have fun” kind of thoughtful. No—he was definitely having dark, broody thoughts. That’s when it hit me. Puck didn’t like the idea of me partying with Blake and Danielle.
That was exactly what I needed to tilt the scale.
“Tonight sounds great,” I announced. “Might as well celebrate the fact that we won’t be getting up at five tomorrow morning.”
Danielle grinned happily, and I smiled back at her, pretending Puck didn’t exist.
Eva stormed out of the restaurant at that moment, all angry and red in the face. Shit. She spotted me and started trucking across the parking lot under full steam, Regina and Melba behind her. Melba seemed to be egging her on, while Regina was trying to catch and hold her arm. Eva ignored both, and the look on her face convinced me that now wasn’t the time to discuss my final paycheck with her. Danielle apparently came to the same conclusion.
“She’s in a real bad mood,” she said, her voice dry. “I think we should leave her alone.”
“Um, yeah . . .” I agreed. “She looks like she’s going to have a heart attack.”
“You’re not getting away with this!” Eva shouted suddenly. Crap. Danielle and I glanced at each other, and Danielle’s eyes started to dance. She loved drama like this, crazy girl.
“Run!” she hissed. We sprinted across the parking lot, and I very sincerely hoped that Danielle had her keys ready to go. I heard a man’s deep laugh behind us—Boonie? Sure as shit wasn’t Puck. Not that it mattered. We’d committed our crime and now it was time to get the hell out of there before Eva tried to kill us.
We reached the back of the lot, where Danielle’s Jeep waited. Thankfully, she’d taken off the doors for the summer, allowing us to jump inside. She stabbed the ignition with her key and suddenly the big tires were spinning as we pulled out of the lot and onto the old highway.
I grabbed the roll bar and turned around in my seat, climbing up onto my knees to see Puck standing next to Blake. He was scowling and Blake was smiling broadly. Eva had started screaming and shaking her fist at him like a cartoon character, which didn’t bother our (former) cook in the slightest. I spun back down and dropped into the seat, looking over at Danielle. She giggled, and then we were both cackling like crazy—as shitty as it was to be out of work, seeing Eva like that was sweet, sweet revenge.
God, that woman was a bitch. Served her right for not protecting her waitresses.
TWO
By the time I got home that night the laughter had faded, leaving behind my cold, unpleasant reality.
School had been okay—I’d actually gotten there early enough to talk to my instructor about losing my job, which was good because I had no idea what my next work schedule would look like. Finding something compatible with classes might be hard . . .
My school advisor had suggested I move out of Callup and into Coeur d’Alene, where I’d have more employment options. Took me all of thirty seconds to rule it out. I didn’t want to be away from Regina and Earl and Danielle and Blake. Not only that, there was the safety issue. Did I live in total fear? No. Did I still wake up some nights screaming? Absolutely.