And that was why the human side of her was in charge, Nina supposed. Joel was turning away, and she kept her mouth shut—and her claws in—and watched him go.
He headed for the door, though, not the table with his friends. Nina frowned after him as he pushed out into the night, wondering what on earth his problem was.
Well, she was one to talk. Hopefully now that he was gone, everything would calm down. She shook herself, got out her pad and pen, and went to greet the table that had just been seated in her section.
The rest of the night was, fortunately, much less eventful.
The most awkward thing that happened was when she returned to Joel's table with all of their orders—including Joel's medium-well burger, which she had to set at an empty place, because he hadn't come back.
"Um," said Tall and Friendly as she set the plate down. Nina looked up. "Listen, I hope Joel didn't bother you at all."
"Bother me?" she repeated stupidly, because her brain was caught up in the sudden whirl of anxiety that always came from being noticed.
It wasn't safe if people noticed her behaving strangely. And something strange had certainly been happening earlier.
"Just, I saw that he went over to you before he left. He can be a little abrupt sometimes, and I wanted to make sure he wasn't rude to you or anything." Tall and Friendly smiled tentatively.
"Oh—oh, no, nothing like that," Nina stumbled to assure him. "It was fine. He was just—concerned."
"Concerned," Tall and Friendly's short blonde fiancée said thoughtfully.
"It was nothing!" Nina insisted, probably too strongly. "Enjoy your meal!" She tripped away, banging her hip on a chair in
her hurry.
Great, she thought, on her way back to pick up table seven's order. Now, in addition to everything else, Ms. Stylish—Alethia—was going to think she was a complete idiot.
She was never going to be your friend, Nina reminded herself. You can't have friends.
She repeated that to herself as she went on with her shift. When Alethia and her friends finished eating, Nina dropped off the check with as little eye contact as she could manage.
But then when the table was getting up to leave, and Nina was avoiding looking at them or coming near them, a soft hand landed on her arm. Nina started and spun around.
Alethia held up her hands. "Sorry."
"No—uh—no problem, I was just—" Just what? Just anxious and paranoid for no reason that she could explain? Just fizzing and on-edge from the first man she'd ever really been attracted to?
"I just wanted to say thanks for the great service and sorry about Joel," Alethia said with her usual warm smile. "I was a waitress for—well, a lot of years, and I know it can suck." Her eyes flicked over to the table of rowdy men, who were still in their booth, getting steadily drunker. "Don't let it get you down."
Nina nodded quickly. “Thanks.” She tried to keep herself from saying anything else, like, “Where were you a waitress? Was it here?” or the extra-pathetic “Will you be my friend?”
“See you soon, okay, Nina?" Alethia flashed her bright smile again, and then glanced over her shoulder, where her husband was waiting patiently by the door. "I should get going. Have a good night."
"You too," Nina said automatically, and watched her leave.
She finished up her shift mechanically, without paying much attention to what she was doing. Fortunately there was nothing complicated for her to screw up, and the drunk guys didn’t bother her any further.
She wasn’t sure if that was thanks to Joel’s intervention. She forced herself not to think too hard about it.
Nina closed up alongside Ethel, and ended up the last one there when Ethel had to run home to bring her daughter some things for her latest grandkid.
She stood in the office at eleven-thirty, looking at the desk. She glanced around as though there might be someone lurking in the shadows to see her, but she was totally alone.
Slowly, she pulled out Ethel’s chair and sat down at the desk. There was paper in one of the drawers. She tugged out a piece and picked up a pencil.
Dear Mom, she wrote.
I moved again. I live right near Glacier National Park now. The mountains here are very beautiful. I have a job at a diner. It’s called Oliver’s, but I don’t know if there ever was an Oliver because the owner now is named Ethel.