Chapter 4 #2
With a nod, Seaton reached out, took the burger plate from the top and moved to the right of the man in green and set the plate in front of him, taking great care to only touch the very edge of the plate.
As she helped to empty the tray, Seaton felt her confidence building as old habits came quickly to the forefront.
When the waitress turned to the next table, Seaton went with her and helped unload the tray.
After it was done, Seaton followed Sam to a table and the two of them sat down.
Seaton felt a little shaky, not because she was scared, but because she was excited.
A little winded by the experience.
"Wow."
She picked up her glass of water and took a long, satisfying drink. When she set it down on the table, it was more than half empty.
She blew out a breath and looked at Sam.
"That was fun."
He nodded. "Yeah, it was."
She took another long drink of water and then lowered it from her mouth, but she held it in her hands, turning the glass around and around.
"What kind of a place did you work in?" she asked him.
He lifted an eyebrow at her question. "Is it written across my forehead."
Her instinct was to reach across and sweep her fingertips across his forehead.
It shocked her enough that she set the glass down and lowered her hands to her lap to keep herself from doing it.
"It's more like... It takes one to know one."
He nodded. "You, too?"
"Yeah," she sighed. "I worked after school in a pizza place."
He looked a little startled and leaned in against the edge of the table. "Me, too."
"Chain or Mom and Pop?"
"Mom and Pop. Not mine, though. But the place was an institution in Caddo Mills."
"Caddo Mills," she echoed. "So that's why they call you Caddo?"
He nodded. "Not as cool as Cowboy, or Rush, or Peace-"
"Those nicknames are kind of cool."
"Then there's Rhett," he added.
"Rhett... Butler?"
Sam nodded. "That's his last name."
"Now that's cool." She sighed.
"Me?"
Seaton looked up and saw the waitress at their table.
"I'm Chloe," she tossed her dirty blonde hair, "and I am cool!"
Seaton nodded eagerly. "I know! Those plate stacks were next level!"
Chloe made a little bow with a flourish of her hand, but when she stood up again, she looked a little dizzy.
Seaton reached out her hand to steady her, and Sam did the same on his side of the table.
The mirrored gestures made Seaton's heart flutter a little.
Silly?
Probably... but that's what she felt.
"Are y'all ready to order?"
Sam grimaced a little. "We were talking and I forgot to get Seaton a menu."
Chloe hit her forehead with the heel of her hand. "Oh, I should have done that!" Before she could turn away, Seaton reached out her hand and caught her arm. "I could really go for a burger, fries, and about a half gallon of iced tea."
Chloe nodded. "Burger? What's the temp on that?"
"Medium." Seaton smiled, enjoying the easy conversation.
"Any special requests for toppings?"
Seaton was about to shake her head but changed her mind. "Bacon?"
"Crispy or..."
"Oh... Crispy, please." Seaton shivered in anticipation. "I love crispy bacon."
Chloe looked over her shoulder dramatically and nodded at Sam. "You got that little tidbit for later?"
When Seaton turned to look at Sam, she found that he was looking at her.
He nodded. "Got it."
Seaton started to blush and relax when Chloe turned around and looked at Sam.
"What'll you have, hotness?"
Seaton giggled at the over the top slouch that Chloe made in Sam's direction.
"I'll have what Seaton's having. That sounds really good right now."
Chloe turned to face the table and touched the tips of her pointer fingers together. "You two are soooo cute."
She didn't tease them any more than that.
Chloe sashayed off toward the kitchen, leaving them to watch her exaggerated hip sway.
"She's really something." Seaton knew she was smiling like crazy. "This is the most fun I've had in... in months?"
"Months," he echoed. "More or less?"
"More, I think," she sat back in her chair and soldiered on to another subject. "She's so energetic. I've been staying mostly in the house once I found it. Before that, I was..."
Her words faded away as she realized what she was about to say.
She'd nearly told him that she'd been in a women's shelter for a few weeks, waiting for the settlement from her divorce.
She'd come close to telling Missus March, but stopped short of it because she didn't want one of her favorite teachers to know that she'd failed so horribly at life.
She wanted the older woman to remember her for her funny conversations about books and the meaning behind them.
Seaton didn't like any reminders about her ex and their divorce.
She was afraid that if she told Missus March, it would disappoint her old teacher who seemed to think that she hung the moon.
She wanted to have at least one person who had that opinion of her.
Back then, she loved being in school because it meant that she wasn't around her mother, or the alcohol that was always present in the house.
So, she wanted Miss March to 'see' her like she was back then. That wasn't too much to ask, right?
Seaton's gaze strayed to the photos on the wall again, the story of the diner in black and white.
"Hey," she grinned, "I think I see you."
Instead of just turning around to see the photo, Sam took a quick look and then picked up his chair and moved to the side of the table where she was at his left instead of across from him. "Which one?"
Seaton felt a little flustered, having him so close.
Still, she knew he was waiting for her to answer him.
She lifted her hand, choosing the one away from him, and pointed at one of the larger pictures on the wall that had been behind him. “The big one. Second from the right side.”
"Oh, that? Yeah." He gestured at the photo, and she lowered her arm down. "That's Yun on the left, the cook and owner of the Lone Star."
She nodded. "He has such a proud smile on his face."
"Yeah..."
She chanced a quick glance at him and saw that Sam's smile also had the lift of pride in it.
"The guy next to him is his son, Lincoln."
She nodded. "That's a neat name."
Sam looked at her with his eyes bright. "Like Seaton."
She was blushing now.
"Their last name is spelled ABE, but it's Japanese so it's pronounced Ah-beh. But Yun came to the US as an immigrant as a child. His parents brought them to Hawaii, and when he became a citizen, he joined the Air Force and was stationed here in San Antonio."
She nodded. "Lochlan? Or something like that?"
Sam gave her a wincing smile. "Lackland, but close. He served and when he was injured in a training crash, he had to find something else to do. He was driving past this place and saw a FOR SALE sign. The rest is the history you see on the wall."
"Wow." Her gaze roamed over the pictures again seeing the firefighters in one prominent picture and then photos of some of San Antonio's most famous people like Summer Glau from the TV Series Firefly and Jared Padaleki who she knew from the show Supernatural, but it looked like he was dressed in his uniform for Walker, the reboot of Walker, Texas Ranger.
Even a few local elected officials smiled at her from boldly colored frames.
"It's amazing." She meant it. All of it.
She didn't even notice that someone was approaching the table until there was a plate set in front of her.
Seaton saw the burger with all of its juicy, meaty goodness as the top bun was set on the side against the mountain of French fries that were cut thick and hearty.
The blonde waitress tilted her head at the man who stepped up beside her. "This is Yun, or as I call him, Big Daddy."
Yun raised a salt and pepper colored brow at the waitress. "Since when have you called me that, Chloe?"
Chloe shrugged. "Just now. I thought it sounded fun and made an even bigger hero than you are on a daily basis."
Seaton heard the truth in Chloe's voice. She really did like her boss.
Yun Abe sighed and rolled his eyes, but Seaton could tell he liked Chloe a lot. He'd probably been on the receiving end of a number of nicknames. He set down a plate in front of Sam. When he spoke again, he spoke to both of them.
"I heard you two were helping out here while Margo went to get our mail."
Seaton's first reaction was to demure and not admit to it. When her mother or her ex started saying things like that, it wasn't good.
They were usually about to say something cutting or mean. The best she could get was a back-handed compliment, but even those became yet another reason to shrink away from taking credit for anything.
Sam put his hand on her shoulder, giving her a gentle squeeze. "Seaton has experience working in food service like I did years ago."
Chloe had just finished pouring two glasses of iced tea when she turned to look at Yun.
The cook turned and looked back at Chloe before they both nodded at each other slowly.
You turned back to look at her.
Seaton shrank back a little, her eyes looking at one and then the other.
Yun was the one to speak and the way he had his arms crossed over his chest and lifted his chin in a proud smile made him look a little like Mister Miyagi from the Karate Kid films. A character she had secretly wanted in her life. Someone who was stern, but helped and uplifted others.
"Any chance you're looking for a job?"
Seaton felt her heart flutter in her chest.
At first trepidation and then... hope?
She nodded. "I'd love one."
She'd been trapped at home for so long she didn't think anyone would give her a job with the gap in her job history.
Could it be this easy?
Seaton turned and looked at Sam, shaking her head to clear it of the fog that had settled in. She leaned in closer, whispering to him. "Is this real?"
Sam looked up at Yun and she turned her head to follow. "This is real, right?"
Yun nodded. "It is. I saw the stack of plates that Chloe took out, and I started to follow her to help.
" He looked straight at Seaton, and she was amazed that his frank stare didn't make her shrink back.
Instead, she felt more confident. "I mean it.
You stepped right up and helped. It's obvious that you'd either done work like this before or that you're a natural with all the instincts you’d need.
Either way, we just had a waitress leave.
Her husband is stationed at Lackland and they're transferring him out of state.
The whole family is going. That's why we're short of help today. "
Chloe rushed in with her words. "You don't need to start today, but we have a gap in the schedule two days from now."
Seaton swallowed and felt something akin to sunlight soaking into her skin. "Yeah. I can do that and pretty much whatever space you have in the schedule. I'm happy to help out."
Chloe held up her hand for a high-five from Yun who grudgingly gave it to her.
Yun rolled his eyes, but his smile said that he really liked her silly behavior. He looked at Sam. "Caddo? Can you get together with Lincoln? He has the paperwork for new employees."
Sam reached for her hand where it lay on the tabletop, and he gave it a squeeze.
"Sure," she heard him say the name like Abe Lincoln and Seaton smiled at the way they'd turned his last name into a firehouse nickname, “I'll call Abe and ask if he wants to come over for dinner tonight with us and," Sam turned to look at her, "you can meet him and get your paperwork taken care of. "
Seaton nodded at him, blinking in a vague stare.
She'd gone out for a meal, almost in her PJs, and ended up with a job and dinner.
Her head was swimming from the rush of activity, and it was, in a word, amazing.