Page 27 of Good For Me

“You don’t work for me anymore, kid,” he says.

“You guys were slammed this morning,” I say defensively. “You can ask Brie.”

He studies me for a moment. “You need money? You know you’re supposed to come to me when you need money.”

I roll my eyes. “Or I could work for it, like every other productive member of society.”

“You do work for it,” he grunts. “Last I checked you have a job at that bank and you do the books for your uncle. Two jobs are more than enough for someone taking a full load of classes.”

“Maybe I like it here.”

His gruff old face softens slightly. “You know you’re always welcome here. That’s not the issue.”

“Me working a shift or two shouldn’t be much of an issue either,” I say, fixing him with my sternest stare. Lou, my grandfather’s former business partner and the current sole owner of June’s Diner, has known me since I was born. I’m sure he can read the warning note in my voice—drop it.

“Okay, kid,” he finally says, sighing as he pulls an empty chair from their table. “Just don’t overdo it.”

“Then tell your buddies here to be easy customers,” I say, taking out my order pad.

“What do you need money for?” Carl presses, apparently missing the memo about being an easy customer. “That idiot boyfriend of yours not taking good care of you?”

Lou glares at him. “Jas doesn’t need a man to provide for her.”

“Of course she doesn’t,” Carl argues back. “But that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t take care of her anyhow. Our Jassy is a queen and she deserves to be spoiled sometimes. She works too hard.”

“Oh, Jesus,” Brie mutters as she passes to greet another table. “What did I tell you?”

“Is that it, Jas?” Mark asks. “The boyfriend isn’t spoiling you?”

“Uh, no. Definitely not.” I don’t think screwing his secretary counts as spoiling. “We broke up, actually.”

Brie freezes in her tracks a few feet away then turns to face me. “Youwhat?”

I regret my words immediately. Not that she’s any fan of Kurt’s, but she’s going to be pissed that I didn’t tell her. “Yeah. I ended things Friday.”

Her eyes blaze. “Did he fuck up your birthday again?” she growls, ignoring the scandalized mother in the booth behind her glaring daggers while covering her kid’s ears.

“Can we talk about this later?” I ask, jerking my head towards the guys. She narrows her eyes as she studies my face before nodding curtly and returning to her task. I turn back to my table. “Anyone ready to order yet?”

“You’re just going to slide right over that?” Carl asks. “I want to hear about this boyfriend drama.”

I point at him. “What did I say about your gossiping?”

They all ignore me. “Good for you, honey,” Mark says.

“Always said you were too good for that guy.”

“You can do much better.”

“How about I give you my grandson’s number?”

As is almost always the case with my grandpa’s friends, I don’t know whether to feel amused or exasperated.

“You have three minutes to figure out what you want to eat,” I tell them as I walk back to the counter, pointedly ignoring their nonsense.

“You want me to go get them in line?” Jerry, the cook, asks from the kitchen when I pass in front of the order window.

“I can handle them. God knows I have enough experience.”