Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
I know what it takes for waitresses to make good money working at a bar, and it says a lot about the people coming in who put them in those positions. Good service isn't enough any longer, but I make sure to pay my waitresses well. They make more than basic minimum wage, although I haven't hired someone yet who doesn't want to supplement their income with tips.
"I'm gonna go ahead and get out of here."
I snap my head up to see Maggie standing in the open doorway.
"Everything is ready for your shutdown," she says with a smile.
"Can you send Claire back here?" I ask before standing. "No. I'll see her out there."
Maggie watches me as I walk toward her. "Claire left over an hour ago. Said she'd be back on Tuesday."
I grind my teeth as I leave the office.
Chapter 4
Claire
I check on Larkin before leaving the living room. She's playing with toys while a popular kids' show plays quietly on the television.
The small duplex allows me to hear every sound made inside, and, to my minor annoyance, almost everything that goes on next door.
I walk into my bathroom so I can get ready for yet another shift at The Hairy Frog.
Walker had said that he was going to talk to me after my first shift. I was certain he was going to insist I didn't come back, but we haven't spoken since. I've worked three more shifts in the last two weeks, and not once has he asked me to leave.
Maggie smiles every time I show up, and she seems genuinely glad that I'm there. Maybe he relented on his uncalled-for hatred of me, or, at a minimum, he isn't talking trash about me behind my back with other staff members.
He stays to himself, or at least he keeps his distance. I haven't been asked to stick around for cleanup at the end of the night, but I know that will change eventually. I know I won't make much more for that additional hour, but every penny counts.
I scowl at the stack of bills sitting on my dresser, hating them on sight. The thick stack has been the bane of my existence for years. No sooner do I throw one bill away, I get more notices in the mail. Despite making payments, the damn number just keeps growing.
At this rate, Larkin will have graduated college by the time it's clear.
Who am I kidding? I doubt I'll even be able to put Larkin through college at the rate I'm going. I bet Nora and Leo would love the hell out of that.
I'm well past the years of perfect makeup and stressing over that one lock of hair that has a mind of its own, so I'm back out in the living room in less than ten minutes.
Larkin hasn't moved from her spot in the living room, but when she pauses the brush in her troll doll's hair to smile up at me, I feel some of the stress I live under daily lift from my shoulders.
In order to give her a few more minutes of playtime, I head to the back patio door and look out at the small backyard.
I think every parent dreams of all the things they can give to their kids. They want them to have a better childhood than they did, and that's not always a jab at their parents. Mine could've done better, but knowing that just makes me work harder for my own daughter.
"Broken," Larkin says, and I know she's referring to the ride-on car I grabbed for her on impulse at a garage sale a few weeks ago. If I had any other place to bring it, I wouldn't have put it in the backyard. It's impossible to explain to a three-year-old that she has to wait to play with the toy until I have the money to get it fixed. When they told me it needed a new battery, I figured it would cost less than the fifteen dollars they were selling it for.
"Not broken," I tell her. "Just out of gas. Are you ready to go get your book?"
I love the excitement that sparkles in her pretty blue eyes when she looks up at me. The child loves her bedtime stories. There have been many Sundays when she brings me a book and climbs up in my lap so I can read to her rather than wanting to play with her toys.
We already don't get enough time together, and it makes packing her up and putting her in the car to take her to her grandparents' house that much harder.
I shouldn't have to work two jobs to pay off a debt that isn't mine, but I own on a technicality. I've learned, however, that life isn't fair, and being bitter and emotional about something that won't change is a waste of energy. Honestly, I'm too damned tired to squander any time I could be spending with Larkin.