Page 31 of A Future To Remember

“I’m glad you’re good,” I said, allowing my hand to fall away from his shoulder. “You coming back tomorrow?”

“If Wanda lets me.”

“Is it okay if I put in a good word for you?”

He brightened a fraction. “That’d be awesome. Thanks, Maddy.”

“You got it. And thank you for your help today, busing all those tables and giving me a hand serving the food. The cast gets in the way sometimes.”

“When’s it coming off?”

I looked down at it, now stained with bits food from the dinner rush. “Next week, as long as the X-ray shows the bones have healed.”

“That’ll be good,” he said, still doing his best to avoid eye contact.

I couldn’t tell if he was simply shy, timid, or on the spectrum. Maybe he was all three.

“Headed out soon?” I asked.

He nodded. “Just gotta wipe down everything.”

I glanced at the dish area. It appeared everything had been wiped down. Perhaps even twice. “All right. I’ll leave you to it.”

I gathered up my things again and walked back out to the dining room. Wanda was turning off lights, and I could see Gus strolling down the street, the orange light of a cigarette swirling up and away after he’d held it to his lips for a puff.

“I’m headed upstairs, Wanda.”

“Good thing,” she replied. “Oh, and Maddy, don’t leave any of those space heaters running when you’re not up there, okay?”

“Of course.” I figured she was worried they presented a fire hazard. No way did I want to be responsible for sending this place up in flames. “Oh, and Wanda, I don’t want to speak out of turn, because I don’t know if Levi works here regularly, but he really was a lifesaver tonight. My ribs are still super sore and my cast gets in the way, and had it not been for him carrying those heavy glass racks out from the dish room and busing most of the tables, I don’t know that I would’ve made it through.”

She considered me for a brief moment before her gaze traveled to the hallway leading to the dish room.

“I’ve been on the fence about hiring Levi,” she confessed.

I wanted to ask her why, but I felt like that might be prying, and if she ran through all of her reasons out loud, she might decide not to hire him permanently. So, I waited quietly while she made up her mind.

“I’ll tell him to keep coming back,” she said at last. “The town’s probably gonna give me flak for it, but it ain’t like any of the high school kids have worked out.”

“Super,” I said, feeling relieved that I’d secured Levi both a means for regular meals and ready cash, even if I didn’t know why the town would give Wanda flak over hiring a kid who was clearly desperate.

Offering her a final smile and a wave, I headed to the same hallway she’d been eyeing, which led to the stairs that would take me back to the loft.

After making my way up to the loft, I flipped on the overhead light, which Wanda had turned off after she’d given me a tour of the place. The area glowed with that same harsh, white light, and it made the place look stark and even more uninviting.

After getting two of the space heaters going, I went over to the bathroom door, opened it, and surveyed the interior. It housed a small wall-mounted sink, a pink toilet with a turquoise-colored seat and lid, and a curtain hiding a shower head and drain. There was a bar of soap on the sink but not a separate one for the shower, which was just as well. I’d buy another tomorrow at the grocery store.

I peeled off my clothes, which smelled like grease, and wrapped my cast with the plastic bag, taking care to cinch it tightly to prevent any water from getting in. Then I took a long, hot shower, which felt amazing—like I hadn’t had one in ages.

I realized once I’d turned off the water that I didn’t even have a comb to get the tangles out of my hair, so I used my fingers the best I could, and patted the long damp strands with another towel.

I avoided looking in the mirror too long. Seeing a stranger staring back at me wasn’t a soothing feeling, but one thing I did realize while I was finger-combing out my hair was that, at some point, I’d had highlights. There was at least a half year of growth between my crown and the top of the highlights, which made me wonder why I’d stopped getting them. Had I been down on my luck? Was it that I couldn’t afford them anymore?

I then examined the ends of my hair, noting a lot of split ends. Not only had I not gotten highlights in a long time, but I hadn’t had my hair cut either.

Why? What’d prevented me from getting just the ends cut—or even doing it on my own?

I looked back at the stranger in the mirror, wanting to ask her so many questions, but I knew she couldn’t answer them.