Beautiful Mistakes

Glancing over, Julie saw that Leigh was running out of things to do, but she still refused to come over and put the lids on the tartar sauce containers as Julie filled them like she used to do.

Aaron made a stop at the table where Julie was filling the tartar sauce containers and asked, "How are you feeling?"

Offering a little smile, she said, "Fine."

"You know, if you want to you can leave when you get done with those," he said, nodding at the big silver bowl of tartar sauce. "We're not very busy."

Slanting him a look, she said, "Aaron, I have practically no hours as it is. I am not overworking myself."

Giving her a dirty look for not buying his "we're not busy" excuse, he said, "I feel bad that you’re here working. You're pregnant, you should be at home relaxing or doing homework—something that you can do on the couch or something."

"Honey, I'm fine," she assured him, offering a little smile to appease him. "Poppy Seed and I appreciate your concern, but I want to work."

"You have worked," he stated. "I don't mind you working the hours that I schedule you, because I make sure I don't overwork you, but I had you off today."

Laughing a little, she said, "Aaron, it's only a five hour shift."

Walking up beside them, Leigh briskly said, "If you want someone to leave because we're busy, I'd be happy to go."

Looking a little shocked, he said, "You want to leave?"

Nodding, she said, "Absolutely. I have an interview later anyway, it would give me more time to get ready."

If he had looked shocked before, he looked like she had slapped him that time. "An interview?"

Despite her new protective hardness, Julie watched her soften, her eyes lower a little in defeat, and her voice was softer as she said, "I'm not quitting or anything, it's just… a part-time weekend job. That way I don't have to work here as much. I don't want to be full-time anymore. I'll still close whenever you need me to, and when Julie has her baby I'll work as much as you need me to, but… it's time for me to try something new."

Aaron didn't appear to like the news at all, but he said, "Well… what days are you going to need off? Just Saturdays and Sundays?"

"If I get the job, I'll work Saturday and Sunday 10 to 6. If you'd like, I can still come in and open up on Sunday mornings, but someone will have to be here by 9:30 so that I can get to my other job."

He nodded slowly, saying, "Okay." At first it seemed like he wasn't going to say anything, but as Leigh pulled out her singles and started counting them to see what she had made for the day, he said, "Are you sure this is necessary, Leigh?"

Glancing up, she replied, "I'm not quitting, Aaron. We’ll see how it goes in time. But this is what I need to do for right now. Now, am I leaving?"

"I guess," he replied, glancing around at the tables.

Nodding toward the corner, she said, "Those two ladies have been sitting there forever and I'm not waiting, so you can just keep the tip."

Shaking his head, he said, "I can wrap it up for you and leave it in the office."

"All right," she agreed. "I'm going to go change out some of these singles so I don't look like a stripper and then I'll leave."

Julie glanced up at Aaron, but he wasn't looking at her, he was watching after Leigh. Then he scowled and suddenly walked over to the register.

Leigh was untying her apron and shoving some money in her purse when he approached her behind the counter and said, "Leigh, I don't like this."

Giving him a dry look, she said, "Odd, because this is like my dream come true."

"Why are you leaving?"

Not looking at him, she said, "I'm not leaving, Aaron. I'm still going to work here, I just don't want to be here as often as I am now, and I don't want to work with these people and their gossip anymore."

"What gossip?"

Shooting him a rather disgusted

look, she said, "You're not serious."