The Johnson Sisters (15 page)

 

I was at the end of my shift and was having a great day so far. I had made $247 in tips, which made this day even better. I was tired though. I worked hard for every dime of that money. I had a couple of large groups to serve, but it paid off. Twenty more minutes to go and I would be going home.

One of my coworkers came back saying someone was sitting in my section, and I thought,
Damn.
It would be my last table. Didn't it always happen like this? As soon as I was getting ready to leave, I had to start serving another table.

When I approached the customer I said, “Hi, my name is Shauna and I'm going to be your server today.” I got tired of saying this sometimes. I hated being fake. It was too much like kissing ass to me; but this time I didn't know I would have an asshole sitting at the table.

As soon as I saw it was him, I turned to walk away, but he grabbed me by my arm to stop me. “Wait a minute, Shauna,” Cal said.

“Let me go,” I said, jerking away from him. This sudden movement caused a couple sitting behind me to glance in our direction to see what was going on. I turned to look at them and smiled even though I didn't feel like it.

I hadn't seen this man since the night he put his hands on me. My bruises were just starting to go away, and here he was sitting in my section like I was supposed to be cool talking with him.

“I'm going to get someone else to serve you,” I said, still with this fake grin plastered on my face. I didn't want to cause a scene and give the patrons around me a reason to be worried; but when Cal grabbed my arm again it was hard not to have this look like some type of altercation was going to break out.

“Please wait. I need to talk to you,” he said, gripping my wrist.

“I don't want to talk to you,” I said, trying to pull away, but this time he had my wrist gripped extra tight so I couldn't jerk away. I didn't want to cause a scene on my job, but the way he was holding my wrist was pissing me off. I knew I was seconds away from going off on him.

“Look. Calm down, please, and I will let you go,” he said, looking around nervously. He had a black-and-orange San Francisco Giants snapback on his head with a matching shirt. Cal had the snapback pulled down so far over his eyes that it looked like he was trying to hide. He probably was, since my cousin Big Ray and them was still looking for him. He must not have cared much if he showed his face here.

I told him again, “Let me go, Cal.”

“I will when you calm down,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Oh, you are going to let me go whether it's with a scream, with force, or with the cops coming to arrest you for assault,” I said sternly.

“Okay, Shauna,” he said, releasing my wrist, “but please give me two minutes. Can you please do that for me?”

“What would you like to drink?” I asked him, hoping this would clue him in that he had two minutes.

“I didn't mean to come by your job, but you wouldn't take any of my calls.”

“Tick, tick, tick,” I said, looking at my watch.

“I'm sorry for what happened. I didn't mean to hurt you. You know I love you.”

“Love doesn't require you abusing me like you did. You damn near killed me,” I snapped.

“I don't know what happened. I lost it.”

“And your losing it caused me many bruises physically and psychologically, Cal. No man has ever put his hands on me, not even my father, and I'll be damned if I'll be with a man who thinks he can,” I said angrily.

He dropped his head, clenching his hands in front of him on the table. When he looked up, he had tears streaming down his face.

Wow, he really wanted his apology to look genuine. What pathetic depths did he have to dig down and pull from in order to produce these fake-ass tears? They didn't mean a damn thing to me. This punk cried all the damn time anyway. I think if we watched the childhood movie
Charlotte's Web
this man would cry like a baby. I truly believed he could will his tears to come when he wanted them to. It was his “I'm a sensitive man” thing, where in the past women swooned over men like him. At one time, I was one of those women, but never again. I wasn't a fool who fell for the same trick twice, and no matter how many tears he shed, I was never going back to him again.

Isn't that like abusers? The first ones to smack you upside your head, and then they drop tears later, feeling sorry for what they did. This may work on the Lifetime Network, but here today it meant absolutely nothing to me.

“Babe, I'm really sorry,” he said, getting choked up and grabbing his face like he was trying to hold his sobs back.

I looked at him like, “Whatever.”

“For real I am. I love you too much to ever hurt you like that again. I want you to know that. I want you to give us another chance. We are great together,” he begged.

“Apology noted. Now, what can I get you to drink? Your time is almost up,” I said, holding the pad to take his order.

“Shauna, I love you, babe. Please give us another chance.”

“I'm not ever getting back with you, Cal. You can cry buckets of tears and it still will never make me take you back. So if you didn't get it before, hear me now. We are done. Your time is up. I will send another waitress to serve you,” I said, attempting to walk away, but this fool jumped up from his table.

I looked at him, wondering what his sudden movement was about. I knew he wasn't stupid enough to put his hands on me in here. If he did, I had plenty of eyewitnesses to help put his behind in jail.

“You can't do this, Shauna,” he said loudly, causing others to look at us even more.

No, he wasn't doing this here and now. Not at my job. Not when I was fifteen minutes away from leaving for the day. Hell, I would have preferred he confront me in the parking lot. Yes, it was less safe, but at least it wasn't in front of a roomful of people where I made my money.

“You are causing a scene,” I tried to mumble as I looked around to see who was watching.

“Is it someone else? Are you fucking another man?” he asked.

“What?” I questioned him like I didn't hear him the first time; and I wished I hadn't, because he repeated himself, but louder this time.

“Are you fucking another man? Is that why you are not taking me back?” Cal yelled.

“Please leave,” I said, walking away. I didn't have to stand here and be the target of his craziness.

“All you had to do was tell me. You don't have to be a bitch about this, Shauna. Be a woman and tell me if you are fucking another man,” he said, following me.

“Is everything okay?” my manager asked, coming up to me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. My manager looked around me to Cal and then back down at me. I knew Cal would take this wrong because that was the type of guy he was. It didn't help that my manager was very attractive. Standing six feet two inches, about 220 pounds, with a clean-shaven face, close-cut hair, and almond-shaped eyes, my manager, Grayson, was hot to trot.

“Oh, is this the guy you fucking?” Cal asked heatedly.

“No, everything is not okay,” I answered my manager. “This is my ex, and I told him to leave, but he keeps harassing me,” I explained.

“Sir, we are going to have to ask you to leave,” my manager told Cal.

This infuriated him even more.

“Is this your loverboy?” Cal asked, ignoring Grayson. I refused to answer him.

“Leave,” I told Cal.

Cal began to come toward me, but my manager stepped in front of me. “Sir, please leave,” Grayson demanded.

“I'm not going no damn where,” Cal said, stepping so close to Grayson that they were practically nose to nose.

Without flinching or stepping back, Grayson calmly replied, “Then we are going to call the police and have them remove you.”

“Call them. I don't give a damn. By the time they get here, I will have beaten your ass anyway for sleeping with my woman,” Cal threatened.

“We don't want any problems here,” Grayson said, voice still as calm as could be.

I stood back watching, hoping Cal wouldn't be stupid enough to try to fight my manager; but this was Cal we were talking about. He was always trying to play the big man who didn't take any shit. I didn't know when he was going to learn there were plenty of people who could always teach him a lesson.

Cal said, “I have a problem with you butting your nose in me and my girl's relationship.”

“There is no relationship,” I said, stepping to the side so I could look Cal in his face.

“We are over when I say we are over,” Cal retorted.

“Shauna said it's over, then it's over,” Grayson responded.

“Move out of my way,” Cal said, trying to push past Grayson.

Grayson held his hand up to stop him as I stepped back to get away from Cal, and that's when Cal swung on Grayson. I screamed when I saw this. I couldn't believe this was happening.

“Stop it, Cal!” I screamed.

Before I knew it, Cal was lying on the floor. Grayson blocked his punch and threw Cal down. Cal got up again to try to rush Grayson, but Grayson caught him again and threw him to the floor. It was as if Cal was a puppet to Grayson. He was hardly moving as he tossed Cal around like he was nothing.

When Cal got up again, he reached over to one of the tables and grabbed a steak knife, but before he had a chance to swing the blade, Grayson took it from him. He then grabbed Cal by the wrist and twisted his arm around, bending Cal's arm behind him, causing him to scream in pain. Grayson had him locked down. The more Cal tried to move, the more he screamed in pain.

“Let me go!” Cal yelled.

“Not until the police get here.”

 

Cal was taken away in handcuffs by the police. My drama-filled love life had played out over baked potatoes and iced tea. My fifteen minutes of work turned into over an hour being here in this restaurant, and the sad part about it was this was not overtime.

After questioning me, the police were taking statements from several people about what happened, and I was embarrassed beyond belief. After everything calmed down, I had to meet with my manager in his office. I knew this would be my very last day working there. I couldn't blame him for firing me. What went on in my life outside of this place jeopardized the safety of the patrons who attended this establishment, and that wasn't cool.

“Come in,” Grayson said as I tapped at the open door. “Can you shut the door behind you?” he asked, writing something down. I did as he asked. “Have a seat.”

I did that, too. I was a person moving as if someone was sending signals of action. I kept quiet, waiting for him to ream me out about what happened between me and Cal. I looked around his office, and the tan walls were bare. There was nothing hanging up, not even a clock or painting. The room felt cold and intimidated the hell out of me. A window behind Grayson held miniblinds that were open. The sun beaming in was the only refreshing thing about the space.

Grayson wrote for a couple more minutes before he gave me his undivided attention. I had to wonder if this was another intimidating tactic he used to make people like me nervous.

“You do know why I called you into my office?” Grayson asked.

“Yes.”

“We can't have what happened here today ever happen again, Shauna. This is a place of business.”

“I know, and I'm sorry for everything that happened. I tried to make him leave, but he kept coming at me,” I said sadly.

“I know. I watched the entire thing.”

“You did?” I asked, surprised. His once-stern face softened, causing my shoulders to relax a bit.

“Shauna, as much as you think I don't pay attention, I do. Just like when you tried to cover up your bruises with makeup,” he said, causing me to drop my head in shame. “I'm not saying this to embarrass you. I'm saying this because you could have come to me.”

I looked up, taken aback by what he was saying.

“I know most people don't want other people in their business, and I get that, but I thought you felt comfortable enough to come and talk to me about what was going on,” Grayson explained.

“I don't like telling anybody about my life. I told my sisters, and things escalated before I knew it. You are my boss. What do I look like coming to you saying my boyfriend tried to kill me?”

“It would look like you telling a friend. I know I'm your boss, but we were friends first, Shauna. I've known you since high school.”

“But things change, and so do people.”

“I haven't changed,” he said sweetly. “I might have some authority here, but I'm still the same Grayson from back in the day. I got a bit bigger and matured a lot, but nothing else about me has changed. You could have come to me.”

“This is embarrassing for me to talk about. I haven't been able to register what has happened myself. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”

“I know that,” he said.

“How?” I asked curiously.

“Because I know you. I remember you fighting in school and not taking junk from nobody. Not even a dude. You didn't play, nor did you back down from anything. So why would I think you allowed this to happen? No woman allows abuse to happen to her.”

I nodded and said, “He caught me off-guard.”

“Exactly. Even the best fall sometimes. As much as you think you can fight like a man, there is always a man stronger than you. That punk had no right to put his hands on you.”

“Well, you made him fall pretty good,” I said, smiling.

“I wanted to punch him in his nose and break both of his arms, but I couldn't,” he said.

“I wish you would have.”

“My hands are deadly weapons. One punch from me and I could have killed that dude,” Grayson admitted.

“Your hands are deadly?” I asked, frowning a bit.

“I have a black belt in martial arts,” he boasted. “Not many people know that. Only my mom and my two brothers know this.”

“Impressive. No wonder you could throw him around like he was nothing,” I retorted.

“So now you know why I didn't swing. It wasn't a fair fight.”

“Still, you should have hurt him. He tried to stab you with a steak knife.”

“As long as no one was hurt, I'm good. He's in a better place now.”

“I plan on pressing charges and getting a restraining order against that fool,” I said.

“I hope so. I hope you know after today you can come to me about anything,” Grayson offered.

“So you are not firing me?” I asked.

“No,” he said, frowning like he couldn't believe I'd said that. “You tried to resolve the issue. You couldn't help that it escalated like it did. Your ex has been banned from this establishment for good, but just in case he manages to get back in here and approaches you, come find me. Yell, even. You have to take care of yourself regardless of your setting, especially with someone as unstable as he is.”

I smiled and told him, “Thank you, Grayson. I appreciate this.”

“You are so welcome.”

“I'm going to have to make you dinner or something as a thank-you, but you are my boss, so I'm not trying to overstep any boundaries between employee and employer,” I joked.

“What people don't know won't hurt them,” he said with a look that made me wonder if Grayson wanted more than friendship from me.

“So dinner tomorrow night at seven?” I asked, throwing the hook out to see if he would bite.

“Tomorrow at seven sounds great,” he agreed, smiling, and just like that I went from sad to delighted.