A Baby of Convenience

“How about the food? Did you enjoy that?”

“Not really.”

Neal took a big bite of his burger and chewed slowly.

“You’re not much of a talker are you?” he said lightly.

Elena closed her eyes with a sigh and collected herself.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m just preoccupied.”

“That call you were just on…?” Neal asked, trailing off.

“Yeah, well,” Elena replied, “every job has its share of problems, I guess.”

“Oh, for sure,” Neal agreed. “I used to wait tables at Casey’s. It was a zoo in there, and the customers. I’ve never met more demanding customers.”

“Was this in high school?” Elena asked.

Her interest in him was growing. She hadn’t imagined that he was the type to wait tables. Her eyes roved over his perfect suit, his expensive coat, his Cartier watch, and she wondered how he had managed to turn things around for himself. She wondered if it would be appropriate to ask.

“This was a couple of years ago,” he said. “I’ve worked in a few different restaurants, but Casey’s was the worst.”

“How many different restaurants?”

“Five,” Neal told her.

He was beginning to relax. He found that she was easy to talk to, and it helped that she was pretty. He couldn’t help thinking that she had sad eyes, though.

“Five?” Elena repeated incredulously.

“It depends on what you’re geared for,” Neal explained. “There are a few department store jobs that were bad, too. I used to work in the shoe department, and trust me – it’s no picnic helping old men and women out of, and then back into, their socks and shoes.”

“Let me guess,” Elena laughed, “it had something to do with odor.”

“I’m telling you,” Neal said, enjoying her laughter, “that smell could be weaponized.”

“Wow,” Elena said amazed, “you’ve been through quite a few jobs.”

“I have,” Neal said, “keeps my life interesting.”

“That’s what you do to keep life interesting,” Elena asked in disbelief, her curiosity piqued. “How often do you switch jobs?”

Neal thought about it. “Every six months – give or take.”

“Wow,” Elena breathed, “sounds chaotic.”

“Not really.”

Elena didn’t know what to make of Neal. He was not like any other guy she had met. She had the feeling that despite his supposed interest in her, if she were to walk away from him now, he wouldn’t mind so much. He would just pick himself up and find another girl to spend the night with. She wasn’t sure if that bothered her or not.

“What’s your story?” Neal asked her, again attempting to bring her out of the thoughtful haze she seemed to be inhabiting.

Elena shrugged, “same as most other twenty something year olds.”

Neal nodded as though he understood, but the truth was, he had no idea what it felt like to scrape together money for anything.

Elena continued unreservedly. “I graduated, moved to the city to try and prove to my family that I could make it without any help, and here I am, three years later, up to my eyeballs in student loans, with rent to make and bills to pay and no way of making a dent in any one of those things.”