Page 26 of A Future To Remember

He took a long pull from his Dr Pepper and said, “Told ya.”

Several hours later, I was a physical wreck. My barely healed ribs were absolutely screaming, and the pain was so bad that I was coated in sweat beneath my clothes.

I’d handled most of the dinner crowd while Wanda handled the counter and chatted up the locals. I didn’t mind one bit that I was busting my tail. As much as it hurt, it felt good to earn my keep.

I made twenty-eight dollars in tips, and that felt extra, extra good.

Money was freedom. It was a wisdom that came from some experience or memory I couldn’t pull forward, but it still felt true to me all the same.

At eight o’clock, Wanda moved over to the open sign and flipped it to closed.

We had just a few people in the back, polishing off their late dinners, and I busied myself by rolling silverware and shifting my weight, trying to find a comfortable position that didn’t continue to aggravate my rib cage. I’d taken a couple of ibuprofens earlier, but it didn’t seem to be doing as much as I’d hoped it would.

“How you holding up, Maddy?” Wanda asked, sidling up next to me and looking me over.

“I’m good,” I said, shifting again. A melodic Liar, liar, pants on fire twirled in a loop in my mind, and I grimaced.

“How about you take a break, and I’ll get you something to eat?”

I lifted a fork, knife, and spoon out of the three plastic dispensers Levi had set them in. They were still warm from the dishwasher. “I just have a couple more to go.”

Her hand came to rest on top of my right wrist. “I can finish that. You need a break. You look pale, honey. Take a seat.”

It wasn’t a request, and if I refused, I’d come off as difficult, so I pushed a grateful smile onto my lips and moved around to the other side of the counter and took a seat, which felt wonderful for my aching feet, but my ribs continued to protest. So, I leaned my elbows onto the counter and waited for Wanda to ask for my order.

“What can I have Gus make you, Maddy?”

I thought about my twenty-eight dollars and mentally rolled through the orders I’d written up that day. The cheapest thing on the menu was the chicken noodle soup. It was $4.49 a bowl—which felt steep, especially because I planned to give Levi and Gus a cut of my tips.

If I gave them each six bucks, that’d leave me with $11.50 for several hours of work. “I’ll take a cup of the soup, please.” A cup of soup was only $2.39.

Wanda looked at me like I had to be kidding. “Meals are on the house, hon,” she said softly, like she’d seen my brain calculate the math.

Heat rose to my cheeks. I felt like a charity case, and I didn’t want to. “Make it a bowl then,” I said, grinning like I couldn’t wait for a bowl of soup.

Wanda huffed out a chuckle, but she moved over to where the soup urn was, ladled me out a bowl of the soup, carried it over with a package of crackers, and set it down.

“Thank you,” I said, barely able to hold back from making a display of tucking into the soup. I was famished!

“If you want more than that, and I mean it, you can have anything on the menu, Maddy, then just tell Gus and he’ll prep it for you, okay?”

I smiled at her, beyond grateful for her kindness. I decided to eat the soup and see how hungry I was afterward. “Thank you, Wanda.”

She patted my hand before she headed over to the register to sort through the cashed-out orders and balance the drawer, then she went into the back where Levi was still busting his butt. He came out a minute later and sat at the counter too, eyeing my soup like he hadn’t had half my meal only five hours earlier.

I offered him a couple of my oyster crackers, and he nibbled on them greedily. Wanda hadn’t come back out of the kitchen area yet, so I didn’t know if Levi was also getting his meal for free or if he’d have to pay for it. Taking out my carefully stacked one-dollar bills, I slid six of them to Levi. “Thanks for the busing help.”

He stared at the money on the counter, then back up at me like he didn’t understand.

I pointed to the stack. “Sorry it’s not much, Levi. Tips here are on the small side.”

He shook his head and pushed the money back toward me. “Wanda’s paying me cash,” he said. “I’m good.”

I furrowed my brow. “You guys don’t split tips here?”

“Uh, no. Where’d you work before this?”

I shrugged. “Honestly? No idea.”