Welcome to Last Chance (7 page)

“I always put this stuff off too long. I'd rather do anything other than paperwork. That's why I'm still here instead of out at my place. It was either do the paperwork or shut down the bar for good.”

“Don't you live here?”

“No, this is where I stay during the week. I go home after I close up Saturday night. I don't get there until after three, but I have all day Sunday and a good part of Monday morning to spend there.”

“And where's home?”

Ray went to the door and opened it. “Come here. See that mountain way over there? Right where the land begins to rise, there's a pretty little box canyon that opens onto the valley. It's on my uncle's ranch, and I decided when I was about fourteen that I'd live there one day. I built a cabin during my summers home from college—just a couple of rooms, but it's mine. You can see the valley and everything in it clear across to the mountains on the other side from there.”

“Wow. That's a long way to go for one day a week.”

Ray's grin was a little sheepish. “Yeah. Well, it's where I live, and I always know it's up there waiting for me. I'll take you up to see it someday. You'll see what I mean.”

“Sounds good, but it'll have to be on my day off. I suppose you also heard I was going to start work for Fayette tomorrow?”

“No, I hadn't heard. Well, good for you. Fayette needs a break. Sounds like you're thinking about sticking around a while.”

Lainie shrugged. “I don't know. At least long enough to get
enough money to leave.” She stood up and tugged at her shorts. “Well, I guess I better be getting back. You've got work to do. Thanks for the soda.”

“Let me drive you. Truck's got air-conditioning too.”

When they pulled up in front of Elizabeth's gate, Ray smiled at the sound of squealing tires and gunshots from the television. “Sounds like nothing's changed.”

“I guess she's up from her nap. Want to come in and say hi?”

Ray shook his head. “Better not this time. If I'm going to give up a Sunday at my place to do paperwork, I'm dang sure going to get it done. Give her a hug for me and tell her I'll try to stop by to see her one morning this week.”

“Okay.” Lainie had turned to go into the house when Ray realized he wasn't ready to say good-bye.

“Do you want to do something some Sunday afternoon? It's about the only time both the High Lonesome and the Dip 'n' Dine are closed.”

She stopped with one hand on the gate and looked at him. Man, she had long legs. “Don't you usually leave town on Sunday?”

Ray grinned and shrugged. “Usually, but not always.”

A slow smile crossed Lainie's face. “Sure. Why not?”

After he pulled away from the curb, Ray waited till he got to the corner before looking into the rearview mirror to see if she was still standing by the gate. She was.

O
h, my. That uniform just swallows you whole. Just tie the apron real tight around your waist.” The air was still thick with the aroma of bacon and biscuits, but the diner had emptied of breakfast customers and Fayette had launched into her orientation lecture. Lainie only half listened. She let her gaze wander out the window. The High Lonesome Saloon was still closed. No sign of life anywhere.

“Come on in the kitchen. I want you to meet Carlos.” Fayette slapped the swinging door open and led the way. Lainie followed. “Now, Carlos here is the reason the Dip 'n' Dine can open its doors each and every day. He is flat-out the best cook in this county, if not the whole state, and I'll defy anyone to say different. Personally, I think the title ‘chef' suits him better, but he won't have it.”

Carlos glanced up from the huge pot he was stirring. “Nothing wrong with being a cook. Fancy names don't change nothin'. Unless you want to throw a big raise in with it.”

“Well, he's the king of this kitchen, and we try to keep him happy. He's got a special for every day of the week. Mondays it's green chile stew. We post it on the whiteboard by the door, but everyone in town has the schedule memorized. They won't let him change a thing. He usually has one of his nephews in here helping him.” She gestured toward a kid of about twenty who was chopping onions.
“This is Pete. He's studying engineering at State. And as I say, we just try to stay out of their way.”

She glanced back into the dining room. “Customers. Lainie, you go take them some glasses of ice water and menus, and I'll be right out.”

Fayette took all the orders and served the food as the lunch crowd came and went, but she had Lainie running right behind her filling iced tea glasses, busing tables, and fetching menus. Lainie could barely get a table bused and wiped down before another group of two or three turned up to claim it. And to her increasing discomfort, everyone seemed to know her and to call her by name.

“Well, Miss Lainie, you sure look busy. How do you like working for Fayette? I imagine she runs a tight ship.”

Lainie picked up the plastic tub of dirty bowls and glasses and turned to face a tall, thin man with white hair and a warm smile. It took her a minute to recognize him as the preacher from yesterday. He slid into one side of a booth and Russ Sheppard slid into the other side. Lainie had never said more than hello to a preacher before and was trying to figure out what to say when Fayette came up behind her carrying menus.

“Well, hi there, Pastor, Russ. I wondered if you two were going to get in here today. Y'all having the chile stew?”

“What else? And bring a few extra tortillas, would you?”

“You got it.” Fayette handed the menus to Lainie “Don't know why I even bothered to bring these over. Lainie, honey, take these over to table two.”

Lainie left Fayette chatting with the men and took the menus to two middle-aged women who beamed at her like she was their long-lost daughter. Then she fled to the kitchen. Carlos was hanging up the phone.

“That was Ray. Wonders if we can run a pint of stew over to him. He's all tied up. Lainie, you got a break coming?”

Pete was untying his apron before Lainie could speak. “No reason for her to spend her break working. I can do it. Be back in five minutes.”

“No problem.” Lainie spoke with studied indifference. “I've got a couple of seconds. I'll go.”

“Nah. Don't worry about it. There's something I've been meaning to talk to Ray about anyway.” Pete finished ladling the green chile stew into a carton, fitted the lid over the top, bagged it, and headed for the back door. As he reached for the knob, he glanced at Lainie's expression, and a knowing grin spread over his face. He held the white paper bag out to her. “Unless you got some reason of your own for wanting to go.”

“Yeah, right. I love running around in all this heat. Go ahead, knock yourself out.” Lainie pushed the kitchen door open and walked back into the dining room, furious that she could still hear Pete laughing as he let himself out the back door.

By 1:30, just a few tables held diners, and just before 2:00, the last two customers, ladies Lainie remembered from church the day before, had paid their check, gathered their purses, discussed the Bacas' new baby with Fayette, called their compliments to Carlos, and finally walked out into the heat of the afternoon.

Fayette brushed her hair from her face with the back of her hand and smiled at Lainie. “You had a real good first day, but I'll bet you're dead on your feet. I think that things have calmed down enough so that you can go on home. When we have a real busy lunch like we did, it's usually a pretty quiet afternoon.”

Lainie took a quick look out the window. The High Lonesome was open, but the parking lot was empty. Maybe if she left now, she could stop in and see Ray for a bit before she went home. But as she watched, the old pickup that had been in the parking lot the night she arrived pulled in, and Les got out and made his way inside. No point in going now.

“I might as well stay till the end of the shift. Here come some customers anyway.”

Fayette looked up as a utility truck stopped out front and three men in work boots piled out. She sighed.

“Shoot. I could have gone all day without him coming in.”

The driver led the way, and Lainie could hear his raucous voice through the window. He was laughing when he pushed through the door.

“Fayette, honey, come here and give your daddy a big ol' kiss.”

Fayette's smile didn't change when he grabbed her around the waist, but her eyes flashed as she pulled away. “Now, Chet, just sit down and behave yourself.”

“Aw, you're getting too fat anyway.” Chet grabbed a menu from her hand and slid into the nearest booth. “What you got that's not pure-D slop?”

Lainie could see that Fayette was struggling to keep her tone light. “You sure come in here often enough if all you can find is slop.”

The other men in the group looked uncomfortable as they studied their menus. One sitting across the table from Chet looked up and muttered, “Give it a rest, Chet.”

“Aw, she knows I'm just kidding around, don't you, Fayette? We go way back.” He swatted at Fayette's backside with the flat of his hand, but she skipped out of reach.

“Chet, that's enough out of you.” Fayette's smile and her bantering tone never faltered. “Now, can I bring you something, or did you just stop by to torment me?”

Chet chuckled and went back to his menu, not looking up again until Lainie appeared with glasses of water.

“Well, hello, darlin'! Where'd you come from?” He slapped his menu down on the table and looked up in pleased surprise. Lainie didn't bother to hide her contempt and set his water in front of him with such force that it slopped over the rim.

“Wait a minute. What's your hurry, darlin'?” He grabbed her wrist. “Fayette, you hire more little bits like this and you might actually get some customers in here.”

Lainie jerked her wrist away. “If you want to keep that hand at all, keep it to yourself.”

Chet recoiled in mock fear. “Ooooh, this one's tough. I'm all a-scared now.” He laughed, and when Lainie turned to go, he ran his hand down her hip.

Before he could react, Lainie reached behind her and grabbed his thumb, bending it back to nearly touch his wrist. Chet's eyes flew wide open and his mouth was a frozen
O
of shock and pain. Giving his thumb an extra twist that caused his mouth and eyes to open even further, Lainie pushed her face within inches of his.

“Listen, Jack, if you ever,
ever
touch me again, I'll break your thumb right off.” She shoved Chet's wrist into his chest and let go of his thumb.

The diner was silent. The men who had come in with Chet looked from him to Lainie and back. Fayette had come back into the room and stood frozen. Only Lainie acted as if nothing had happened. She put glasses of water in front of the other men.

Chet's silence lasted only a few seconds. “I'm outta here. You got so many customers you can let the help talk like that, Fayette, you don't need me.” He stood and strode toward the door. “And unless you guys want to walk back to the site, you better beat me to the truck.”

One of the men muttered “Sorry, ma'am” while the other dug through his wallet and placed a ten-dollar bill on the table before they followed Chet into the parking lot.

“What a jerk.” Lainie picked up the untouched water glasses. “Who needs customers like him, anyway?”

“I do.”

Lainie looked up and for the first time noticed that Fayette had not moved from her spot in the middle of the diner.

“Oh, come on, Fayette. He's a loser. Good riddance. Do you like being treated like that?”

“Of course I don't, Lainie. How can you even ask such a thing?” Fayette's voice was near enough to tears to break.

“Well, then I did you a favor. You're welcome.”

“You don't understand, do you? You can just waltz off anytime you want to, but this diner is all I've got, and I've got a boy to take care of and hopefully send to college one day. You think I don't want to haul off and slap Chet's head off his shoulders? Of course I do. But that's a luxury I just don't have.”

“I still think you're making a big deal out of nothing. He's just one guy.”

“Just one guy.” Fayette brushed her hair off her forehead with the back of her hand and crossed her arms across her chest. The lines etched around her eyes and mouth seemed deeper. “You know, Lainie, every month when I sit down to do my accounts, I pray that I'll have enough to pay my bills. And sometimes I don't. So I pray that the next month will be better. God has always met my needs, and I thank him every day for that. But I need to do my part, and that means seeing to it that every single customer who walks in that door walks out happy and ready to come back.”

“Yeah, well, if you think God wants you to keep getting pawed by creeps like that, then go for it. But it's not for me.”

Fayette closed her eyes and rubbed the vertical lines between them with two fingers. “You know, Lainie, it's been a long day. Why don't you go on home now? I can handle it from here.”

“Whatever.” Lainie untied her apron. “You want me to come in tomorrow?”

“I'll call you later. We can talk then.”