I smiled for a good thirty minutes after he left.
The diner was hectic for the next couple of hours. Ma ran to the warehouse store while Roxy and I held down the fort. Traffic finally slowed down by midmorning. When only two customers remained, Roxy bussed tables and I wiped down the counter. I was scrubbing away when my ex-boyfriend, Kevin, walked through the door.
He wore ratty jeans and a blue t-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders. He was tall and cute with dark brown hair that stood up every which way and had ear gauges the size of quarters. Exactly my type. Unfortunately, we had no chemistry. That fact was obvious to me, but to Kevin, not so much.
“Hey, Rose.”
Roxy stepped out of the kitchen with an empty bus tub and leaned against the stainless steel counter beside me. “Hey, Roxy.” Kevin tipped his chin in her direction.
“Rox, I think my stragglers could use some more coffee,” I said.
“Sure.” She set down the tub, grabbed the coffee pot, and walked to the table by the front window.
“What are you doing here, Kevin?” I asked.
“It’s Spaz now. I changed my name to Spaz. Like, legally and everything.”
“So is your last name still Wilkins?” Spaz Wilkins sounded pretty lame to me.
“No, it’s just Spaz. Like Bono or Prince.”
I pressed my lips together to stifle the giggle that wanted to escape. “Well, good for you.”
“Thanks,” he said with a smile. “I tried calling you, but since I hadn’t heard back I thought I’d stop by, see how you were doing.”
“Yeah, I got your message.”
He leaned across the counter. “The thing is, I miss you.” He brushed his knuckles over my cheek.
I sighed and leaned away. “Kevin, we only went out for a few weeks.”
“Those were the best three weeks of my life. Just give me a chance. Whatever I did wrong, I’ll fix it.”
“I’m sorry…Spaz, but I just think of you as a friend.” I hated break-ups. Especially prolonged ones.
“You introduced me to your family. Doesn’t that mean something?”
Actually it didn’t. I took him to my second cousin’s wedding. If I hadn’t been dating Kevin at the time, I would have taken Axton. I never knew Kevin — excuse me, Spaz — would read so much into it.
I stared at his pierced lip because I couldn’t look him in the eye. “I’m really sorry,” I said.
“I’m not giving up that easily.” He reached out and took my hand in his. He kissed the back of it, stroked it. “I’m playing at The Carp this week. Will you come? Please?”
I snatched my hand out of his grasp and opened my mouth to decline, but Roxy chimed in.
“She’ll be there.” She stepped behind the counter and put the coffee pot back on the burner.
“You come too, Roxy.” He stared into my eyes. “I’ll see you soon, Rose.”
After he left, I turned on her. “Why did you do that? I don’t want to hear him play. I broke up with him.”
“He’s sweet. And he’s crazy about you.”
“I’m not interested in him and I don’t want to lead him on.”
“Well, if you go, you could introduce me to TurkeyJerk’s drummer.”
“Oh, now I see. It’s not about poor Kevin at all. It’s about you.”
“Um, I believe his name is Spaz, and yeah, it’s always about me.” With that she flounced back to the kitchen.
Chapter 11
We finally took a break at one when Ma flipped the closed sign. Roxie grabbed a doughnut from the cake stand and tore it in two, giving half to me.
“Boy, I need a cigarette,” she said.
“You’re doing fine, honey. Just keep up the good work.” Ma reached out and patted her back.
“I’m very proud of you. You’ve gone five days this time.” As I devoured my half of the doughnut, I described the hellacious dinner with my parents and Packard’s assholiness. I was soon covered in glaze flakes. I wiped my hands on a towel and pulled out the envelope Dane had left. “And Dane found out that NorthStar Inc. owns a bunch of businesses around town.”
Roxie finished licking the glaze from her fingers. “Let’s have a look.” I handed her the envelope, stood over her shoulder, and perused the list.
“Some of these places are in pretty rough neighborhoods.” She lifted a shoulder. “But I’ve been to a couple.”
“Wow, I’m shocked. Anyway, I’m going to skip my accounting class tonight and hit a few of those places. You in?”
“But you never skip class.”
It was true. No matter how boring the subject — hello, Statistics 101—I always went to class. And even though I had a test coming up, Axton beat spreadsheets, hands down.
My phone vibrated. I glanced at the number then used the phone next to the kitchen door.
“Hey, Jacks, what’s up?”
“Hey there, favorite sister, how would you like to babysit tomorrow night? Our sitter just canceled.”
There’s nothing I’d rather do than spend time with Scotty. But I had this Axton situation on my hands and a list of businesses to check out. “Sorry, Jacks, I’m busy.”
“I already told him you would. He’s going to be just heartbroken if Aunt Rose doesn’t come over.”
Jacks didn’t play fair. “What time?”
“Be here at six and we’ll probably be home before ten.”
“Fine.” I glanced over at Roxy. She had another doughnut — chocolate with sprinkles this time — halfway to her mouth. “I’ll probably bring Roxy. She seems to be in the middle a carb crisis right now.” Plus, I figured we could check out some more NorthStar places on the way home.
“Is her hair still blue?” Jacks whispered, as if Roxy had radar hearing.
“Yeah. And you’re starting to sound like Mom.”
“That’s a low blow, Rosalyn.”
I grinned as I hung up. “Hey Rox, I have to babysit Scotty tomorrow night. You want to come with?”
“They’ll leave you pizza money, right?”
“You’re going to gain four hundred pounds if you keep at it.”
She waved the doughnut at me. “It’s either this or smoke. Pick one,” she said. And by ‘said,’ I mean she growled and her head rotated like that girl in the Exorcist movie.
“Do we have anymore doughnuts in the back, Ma?” Roxie asked.
Behind her back I shook my head at Ma and made the throat cutting gesture with one hand.
Ma looked at me, then Roxy. “Sorry, hon. I think you ate the last of them.”
“Okay, I’m off to the grocery store.”
“No, Rox, you’re coming with me. I’ll even buy you a meatball sub.” I had to keep her away from the baked goods.
She stuck out her lip. “Fine. But I have to go home and get some more gum.”
“We’ll take my car, okay?” I used the same placating tone of voice when Scotty got cranky. “You’re doing great.”
After we cleaned the diner, we drove to Roxy’s apartment. She grabbed a pack of gum off the small dresser and tore into it. “I hate this gum,” she mumbled.
“Are you supposed to be chewing that when you wear a nicotine patch?”
“Are you going to bug me all day or what?”
Smoking Roxy was a lot nicer than nicotine patch Roxy.
We stopped by the sub shop and I picked up three meatball sandwiches. Eric was going to have to suck it on the ham because meatball was the special of the day. I didn’t buy one for myself, mainly because I wanted to keep a roof over my head and couldn’t afford to do both.
We drove to the college and Roxy kept pushing the buttons on the radio. “All this music is shit. And you should get a better stereo.”
“You’re right.”
“You’re just humoring me.”
I shifted my eyes from the road to her and back again, afraid to say much of anything at this point.
“I’m sorry I’ve been so bitchy. I just really, really, really, really want a cigarette.”