Chapter 4
Four
Mila
W hile biting my fingernail, I paced the floor in the office. My heart raced because I knew I was about to be jobless.
"Mila, calm down, you might not be in too much trouble," Chasity insisted, digging in her nails.
I rolled my eyes at Chasity because she didn't know what would happen.
She wasn't the manager. Chasity was my cousin on my daddy's side.
She and I grew up like sisters, but once Kyle and I got married, she and I didn't talk often.
Chasity was recently promoted to the head bartender at Justine's.
Due to her promotion and the diner wanting to quickly fill the vacant position, I was hired right away.
She'd heard what happened and instead of judging me, she showed up to help, like Trina did. She insisted I move to where she was so I wouldn't risk the chances of running into Kyle and his new family.
"Chas, I got into it with a customer. He demanded to see Justin."
Justin was the manager of Justine's. I thanked him a million times for hiring me on the spot, especially since I had no experience. Now here I was ruining my opportunity because of the way I talked to a customer.
She sucked her teeth. "Girl, Trey isn't going to push to get you fired. He's cool. All of them are. They are here every Thursday during the football season and basketball season."
I rolled my eyes. I didn't care how cool they were.
I was sick of having to tolerate these men.
Since working here, every man I served has asked to pay me for other services.
I'd had enough after the last table. The older man left me a one-dollar tip on a fifty-five-dollar tab.
I needed money. I had to take care of myself and KJ, but I couldn't take dealing with the advances, which was why I gave him attitude.
He was pressing me, asking me questions, and I already knew what he wanted.
It was a trend here at the bar. I was at the point now where I was back-talking all customers if I felt they had another motive in place.
"Most of the men who come in here are weird. They only want to hit on you. They do small talk and then leave barely five percent on the tab but want some ass. This shit is too much, Chas." I flopped down in the seat.
My eyes watered thinking about how much my life changed. Before a tear could fall, the office door opened, and Justin appeared. He didn't look happy or upset. He held a blank look on his face.
"Chasity, can you excuse us, please?"
Chasity immediately walked out, but not before looking back at me, mouthing that she loved me. Justin came and sat beside me. We sat in silence for thirty seconds before he spoke up.
"Mila, you can't keep doing this. You've only been on the job for a few days, yet I've had more complaints against you than anybody."
"Justin, these men are disgusting, constantly trying to hit on me, acting like they care, and probably having a wife at home."
He shook his head, then placed his hand on my knee and smiled.
Justin was a forty-five-year-old black gay man.
His husband was the chef in the kitchen.
Justin took over Justine's when his mother could no longer run it.
He changed the atmosphere to accommodate today's society.
He took pride in helping, hence why he didn't hesitate to give me a job.
"Everyone ain't him, baby. You have a child to provide for. Shake that shit off and make the money. You're more than this. You're still letting that man control how you move, and he ain't even here."
He was right. Justin knew everything that happened with Kyle and me.
During the interview process, Justin asked me why I wanted to work at Justine's, so I spilled my guts, letting him know about how drastically my life had changed because of Kyle.
Even though he never met Kyle, he hated Kyle just as much as I did.
Kyle had ruined me. I barely slept at night, and I barely ate.
I'd lost ten pounds and ended up chopping off all my hair, so I didn't have to keep looking at the curls Kyle swore he loved so much.
Men now disgust me, and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
Still, Justin was right. KJ needed me, and I couldn't let him down.
I needed to be grateful for this job and start taking it seriously.
"Sorry, I will do better. I promise."
"I know," he said, standing up. "And you're going to prove it by finishing the table out."
My eyes widened, and I jumped to my feet. "No, Justin! Please don't make me help them anymore. I already embarrassed myself."
"Those are my regulars, and they treat everyone here well. Don't push my regulars with money away. I'll have Chasity make them around of beers on the house. Now straighten up and go turn this whole thing into a three-sixty." Justin walked out of the office, leaving me there.
I hoped Justin would've passed the table to another server.
I let out a frustrated sigh before checking my appearance in the mirror.
It seemed as if the table was many miles away as I took my time.
I knew Justin was watching me. Internally, I prayed I could keep my composure for the rest of their visit.
I felt embarrassed when I stopped at their table because I knew they knew Justin had scolded me.
I swallowed hard when they stopped talking to look at me.
"I would like to apologize for my behavior earlier. It's been a rough day, but no excuses. Justin had let me know that this round is on us. Can I get you all started with some apps?"
The other two gentlemen looked at me with soft smiles. The one who wore gold glasses spoke up first.
"I'm Vance. You said your name was Mila, right?"
I smiled softly at his ability to remember my name. "Yeah."
"Nice to meet you, Mila. You'll be seeing us here often, so we might as well get acquainted, right?"
I nodded, still smiling, appreciative of him not being a dick after everything that happened.
"Let me get the ten-count lemon pepper wings with blue cheese."
I wrote his order and put a V beside it to remember that the order was specifically for him. The next guy who gave off an intimidating vibe spoke next.
"I'm Owen. Let me get the six-piece buffalo wings with ranch. I don't fuck with all that blue cheese shit this nigga be on. Um... the buffalo shrimp and a side of fries. Then add a round of shots of tequila for the table."
I quickly jotted his order, placing an O beside it. "Got it. Thank you."
I took deep breaths before I had to take the last order.
My heartbeat increased, and I wasn't sure if it were because I didn't know how he would speak to me or because I couldn't avoid how attractive he was.
Out of the three, he was the most handsome.
He had a clean look, but I could tell he was about business.
The low-cut Caesar with the waves was perfect.
The semi-full beard surrounding his full blush-colored lips added to his mature look.
He had almond- colored skin without a blemish in sight.
He looked like he didn't get his hands dirty and would rather pay someone else to do it.
His aura screamed money, but there was no telling how he got it. I cleared my voice and looked at him.
"And for you?" I asked.
"Just the steak nachos."
He didn't even look at me. He turned his attention to the TV screen and sipped on his beer.
"Just the nachos?" I repeated.
He nodded and kept his eyes on the TV. His coldness didn't bother me.
It was expected. We didn't start off on the right foot, so I didn't expect him to treat me like gold.
I repeated their orders before heading to put them into the kitchen.
I checked on my other tables and stepped outside to get some fresh air while I waited for the food to be prepared.
I reached for my phone, checking my notifications.
KJ was staying with Chasity's mom while I worked.
She had been a big help since I moved to the area.
She didn't hesitate to help me with KJ while I figured everything out.
It also worked out because Chasity had two kids around KJ's age who kept him occupied.
The door opened behind me, and Chasity walked out.
"You good?" she asked.
"Yeah." She handed me a drink.
"I snuck this from behind the bar. I felt you needed something stiff. I dropped your drinks off at the table."
"Thanks, Chas."
We stood there in silence as I chugged the contents.
The drink helped relieve some of the stress, but the pain was still there.
I felt myself tear up as I thought about how my life went from sugar to shit so fast. It had to be a world record of how quickly things fell apart.
I was serving in a restaurant, staying in a hotel, and barely knew if I was going to make enough money for gas and groceries.
"Cousin, it's going to get better. I promise. If anybody knows about starting over, it's me."
"I need a fucking miracle. I never imagined my life would be like this. My goal was to stay married, die married, and have more kids, but Kyle ruined that for me. I was content in my life. I've done nothing wrong to anyone. So why is life karma beating me down so hard?"
A lonely tear fell down my face.
Chasity wrapped me in a hug. "Don't look at it like that. Sometimes we must go through a storm to get to happiness. It will get better for you."
A part of me wanted to believe everything that Chasity said, but after everything, there wasn't an ounce of hope in my body.
"Let me get back in here. I'm sure their food is about ready."
I left Chasity outside as I made my way to the kitchen to grab the food and headed back to the table. I placed their orders in front of them.
"Can I get you gentlemen anything else? I asked.
"Nah, we're good. Appreciate it," Owen said.
"Thank you." Vance smiled and blessed his food.