Runaway

Chapter 26

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~Uploaded July 15th, 2014

"Someone's been seeming happy lately", Nora remarked to me at work two evenings later. She had recovered from her flu remarkably quickly.

"Who?", I asked. "Three Sprites, four Cokes, one Perrier and a glass of orange juice please."

It was always pretty busy on Fridays, but today was just crazy. It's like every baby, young kid, teen, adult and senior suddenly decided to up and go to Minnie's for dinner.

The door was constantly being flooded by incoming customers and Nora had trouble keeping up. Having an actual hostess wouldn't be a bad idea, but there haven't been any job applications since Minnie put an ad out in the paper. I prayed there'd be one soon.

"You know who I mean. Here you go." She slid the drinks tray across the counter to me.

"You're going to have to be a bit more clear on that. Hold that thought." I grabbed the tray and quickly made my way to the corresponding tables, handing out the drinks, picking up dishes, and taking food orders, not to mention finding seats for a family of five, and two groups of six and eight.

Have these people ever heard of reservations? Seriously, it wasn't that hard to pick up the phone and call.

By the time I had returned to the counter, Nora was busy at the cash with a line of paying customers and Clara was pulling drinks out of the fridge. Another cashier wouldn't be a bad thing either. Here, cashiers took orders, prepped drinks and gave paying customers their receipts. Minnie helped out, but she switched between the front and back a lot.

"I mean that you've seemed really happy. Since yesterday at least", Nora continued. "Did something happen while you were babysitting Dylan?" I shook my head immediately.

"Nothing happened. I watched cartoons with him, made him congee and we went on a walk with his dog and Brody. That's it, I swear. But..."

"Yeah?", she asked before turning back to a customer. "That will be $41.85, sir." The older gentleman pulled out fifty and handed it to her.

"The change is for our lovely waitress over here." He smiled at Clara and took his wife's hand.

Clara smiled a million gigawatts. "Thank you so much, Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan. Have a nice evening. Give Sam my regards." Sam?

"We will. He'll be glad to hear it too." The elderly couple waved goodbye and left the restaurant.

"Who's Sam?", I asked Clara. She stopped moving for a second, then continued placing drinks on a tray.

"He's, uh... Well he's-"

"He's Clare's "friend" from school", Nora filled in with a teasing smile. "He's an exchange student from England and is staying with his grandparents, the Buchanans. He's in the same program as her and is her current crush object."

"Thanks a ton, Nore", Clara said sarcastically. Nora smiled innocently. "But we all know that nothing interesting is happening between us. My question is..." The fierce redhead turned to look at me.

"Oh, look at the door! There are so many people. Better go seat them!" I all but ran to the door to seat the next group. I was looking down at my apron to fix it as I arrived at the door.

"Hello, welcome to- Ah!" Strong arms enveloped me in a hug so tight I could barely move.

"Hey, Dani!" I looked up.

"Oh, hey Nolan!" I beamed at the redhead and the smile that stretched across his face. "Now what are you so happy about?"

"Do I really need a reason to be happy?", he asked in turn.