by Helene Laval
“Stop it! Just stop. Nobody is getting rid of anybody. It’s none of your business who I’m with or what I’m doing.”
“The fuck it isn’t. You’re my daughter, O’Dell’s is my bar, and I won’t tolerate you fucking up your life for some two-bit hustler of a pretty boy that walked into town.”
Seriously? Where the fuck was he getting his information? Hustler of a pretty boy?
His words just angered me more. My face grew hot, and my scowl deepened.
“I am twenty-five years old. A grown woman. I can take care of myself and make my own decisions, you made sure of that. O’Dell’s is no longer your bar, it’s mine. Remember, you signed it all over to me. You are not here, he is. So say it again and I will not be answering your calls any more.”
“Annie, don’t—”
“No. Dad, let it go. Steve is a good guy. A really good guy who cares about me. He’s not going to hurt me, or get me in trouble, or do something to the bar.” I heard a grumble from his end, and I knew he was backing off, the bluster leaving. “You’re the reason we were in that accident, anyway.”
“Me?”
“Your little spies didn’t tell you that? We were on our way to see you. To tell you not to send somebody to look after me.” I was getting angrier now. “Because you don’t listen to me; you wouldn’t take my calls. We got caught in the storm and turns out I was too late, anyway.”
“Baker there? He doing what I asked?”
“Justin? Yeah, he’s here. You really fucked up his life, you know that?”
“He owes me. I lost a lot of money because the guy can’t keep his word.”
“You lost a lot of money because you can’t do anything straight and legal. Things like fixing fights. God, Dad, he was just a kid. So it bit you in the ass, so what? I’m calling his debt to you paid and full and sending him home. The guy has a family.”
“Two more weeks and I’ll find another guy.”
“I don’t need another guy. I need you to lay off.” I wasn’t going to tell him Justin planned on staying. He’d manage to make that work in his favor, and never really let Justin go.
“I’m going to look into this Steve guy, whether you like it or not.”
I blew out a breath in defeat. I knew I wasn’t going to talk him out of this.
“If anything happens to him, you will never hear from me again. You will have no bar to come home to, no home, and no family. I’ll make sure of it.” And I hung up the phone.
I slammed the front door, still shaking in rage when Steve looked up at me, feet kicked up on the coffee table and watching the football game.
“Hey, Tinker Bell.”
His bright smile fell when he saw the state I was in.
“What happened?”
I plopped myself on the sofa next to him and he wrapped me in his strong arms.
“My dad happened,” I said leaning my head onto his shoulder.
“That bad, huh?”
“You have no idea.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Nope.” No I didn’t. I didn’t want to tell him anything about that conversation. I wanted to stay here and curl up with my man. He looked sexy as hell in a white long-sleeved t-shirt and dark jeans. He had a faint stubble on his cheeks that reminded me of all the sensitive places that stubble could rub against.
I laid my head on his chest and he squeezed me tighter.
Steve kissed the top of my head, released me from his arms and said, “Get dressed. I’m taking you on a date.”
23
Steve
There were limited places to take a girl on a date in Song. Not that I’d taken a girl on a date since moving here, but I’ve eaten at all of the establishments within ten miles, and besides O’Dells, there wasn’t much to go on.
“So where are you taking me?” Annie asked on our way headed west.
“The Diner.” I tried to suppress a smirk.
“Fuck no. That place’ll kill you,” she said, a deep scowl on her face. “I think I’d rather starve. Take me home.”
The Diner should be condemned. Honest to God, the place was shit. I bet they sent people to the hospital all the time. I had no idea how they stayed in business.
“Just kidding, we’re going over to Resistance.” I smirked over at her. Resistance was one of the many small towns in the area and approximately twenty miles down the road.
“Mama’s?” she asked, hopeful.
“Mama’s,” I answered.
“Yes!” she exclaimed her excitement toward the sky. “I haven’t been there in years!”
“I’ve never been there at all. Jesse just told me about it,” I admitted.
“You’re kidding!”
“True story.”
“You’re in for a treat. Best barbecue in three states.” Annie leaned back into the headrest.
“So everybody says, but I’ll be the judge of that. I am from Texas, you know.” I was holding high hopes.
Jesse said Mama’s was the best and most fun place for miles. He said it was a local secret and something along the lines of, “Dude, you got to take her there.” So that’s where we were headed.
Mama’s was at first glance, a rundown barn. A large gabled barn, with rustic cedar shake siding. It looked like a place you’d host a square dance.
I pulled us into the small parking lot surrounded by split-rail fencing, and the smell of fresh barbecue smoke filled the air. I’d heard that three hundred and sixty-five days a year, rain, snow or shine, Mama’s had the barbecue going. In addition to supposedly having fantastic food, they always had live music, plus outrageous entertainment, whatever that meant. Jesse didn’t tell me much, just that I had to experience it for myself.
Annie and I were seated in a small two-seater table between the window and the stage on the first floor. A catwalk wrapped around a second story with additional tables that gave a prime view of the stage area, somewhat like a theater.
A plus sized middle-aged waitress wearing a tag that said, “Mama’s cousin April” sidled up to our table. She had big hair and a bigger smile and greeted us with raised eyebrows as we sat.
“Well look at this,” she said with her hands on her hips. “How’d you get stuck with the schmuck, honey?” she asked Annie, while cracking her gum.
“Oh, you know, needed a date tonight,” Annie replied like they knew each other.
“That so? Pretty girl like you could do better.” And she winked at me.
“Annnnd, it happens to be Steve here’s birthday.” Annie grinned at April.
“It’s…” I felt a kick under the table. I guess that was my cue to shut the fuck up. I pressed my lips together firmly. It was not my birthday, and I was pretty sure Annie had no idea when it was.
“Well, how about that?” April said, gaze swinging back to me. “Let’s get your birthday dinner started with a couple of drinks, eh?”
We ordered beers because you couldn’t have good barbecue without a good beer.
“So people come here to get insulted?” I asked Annie when April left.
“They do. It’s part of the atmosphere, and don’t forget about the barbecue. Best in three states.”
“I’ll let you know about that real soon. After my birthday dinner,” I teased.
April walked by, slapped our drinks on the table without even looking at us, said “I’ll be back,” and left again.
Annie shook her head and grinned at the confused look on my face. “You’ll get used to it.”
I raised my eyebrow at her. What the hell was up with this place? The people were nice, the people were rude. I didn’t know what to think.
“We haven’t had much time to talk the past couple days, and I want to know more about you,” Annie asked leaning forward and taking a sip of her beer. “I don’t know anything about where you came from or who you were before you landed in Song.”
“There isn’t a whole lot to tell, Annie. I’m from El Paso, and my family is from Ecuador.”
&nb
sp; “Is your family here?” she asked.
“Not anymore. They moved back when I was sixteen with my younger brother and sister to take care of my grandparents.”
“They left you alone at sixteen!” she exclaimed, clearly shocked.
“They didn’t leave me alone. We had family friends. They never had any children, but they treated me like their own son. They offered to let me stay with them until I graduated high school. It worked out. They were good people.”
“Were? Did they go back to Ecuador too?”
“No.” I really didn’t want to talk about this part. Carina and Matias were good people that didn’t deserve what happened to them.
“Um, they died a few years back. Car accident,” I amended. I left it at that and didn’t want to go into detail. It hurt too much to remember them, and the guilt and responsibility I felt over their deaths. “Anyway, they were the ones that made sure I finished high school. They wanted me to go to college, but I had really learned to love working on cars. I enjoyed fixing things that were broken. I took a car repair class in high school, and that’s how I got interested. They encouraged me to pursue that. To go beyond just oil changes and brake jobs and learn body work and painting. Matias would always say, ‘Make it your art.’ And that’s what I did.”
“Do you still talk to your parents?”
“Not as often as I like. My family is from a rural area. There’s very little phone access and forget about the Internet. They have to drive quite a distance to get services. My sister is in university though. She calls about once a month to keep in touch and gives me updates. She makes it out to them regularly. She’s seven years younger than me, and it was hard to maintain a relationship, but now that we are both older, we make sure to keep in touch.”
“It sounds like you miss them.”
Annie wasn’t wrong. My parents were the best. I wanted to visit these past few years, but I had gotten in with the wrong family, and I wasn’t about to put them at risk. It was best for them to stay in the rural area where they lived, oblivious to the danger they may possibly have been in when I left Luciana.
“I do. I’d like to visit them someday.”
“Any other family here?”
I wasn’t about to talk about my in-laws, so I just shook my head.
April came back to the table and slapped her notebook down in front of us. “Write down what you want, I’ll be back.” And she left, again.
We both busted out laughing. I grabbed my menu and took a look. There were only four options on the menu: Full rack of ribs, half rack of ribs, half barbecue chicken, barbecue pork sandwich. Each came with fries, coleslaw and Texas toast, plus “sides.”
“I’m getting a full rack.”
“I’m getting half.” Annie checked off our selections on the pre-printed tablet including the ominous box that simply said, “Sides?” and put the notepad at the end of the table. We grinned back at each other.
“I like this place, as quirky as it is,” I said craning my neck to get a good look around. The decor was a purposeful sort of shabby. Worn barn signs, old gas station signs and anything of the antique farm variety littered the walls. There were several different sets of table styles, from picnic to butcher block to country classic. There were even a few straw bales stacked on the side of the stage. It was something different all right.
“I used to come here with my mom. She died when I was fifteen,” Annie confessed. I noted the sadness in her voice and the memories surfacing behind her eyes.
“I’m sorry. That must’ve been difficult.”
“It was, but I don’t really want to talk about the dead, not tonight. Just know that my mom was the best, and I’ll miss her forever.” She took a deep breath indicating we were changing the subject.
I reached across the table and grabbed her hand. My parents were still alive, and I missed them terribly, but I knew the awful sting of loss and feeling all alone in the world. Carina and Matias? They were like parents to me. The official police report said it was a car accident, but I know it was more than that.
I needed to tell Annie about this part of my life and soon. Thinking of how my actions got two very important people to me killed, I was struck with the realization that Annie may be in trouble next. A deep panic formed in my chest, and I was just about to tumble into it further when April flew by again, and without stopping, swiped our notepad. It was enough to snap me out of that dark place, and I chuckled at the ludicrousness of Mama’s Restaurant.
“So how the heck did you end up in Pennsylvania?” Annie asked, her beautiful bright blue eyes warm and expressive in the low lighting. God she was pretty. And strong. She was so strong. I had the sudden urge to grab her, place her on my lap, and lick her top to bottom.
I didn’t want to be dishonest, but at the same time I didn’t want to discuss this now. I settled on vague. “I got into some trouble in El Paso.” I watched her expression darken. “Don’t look at me like that, I’m not a bad guy and I didn’t do anything wrong, I just had to get away. I started driving, and it occurred to me that I had never even been out of Texas. You’d think most people would’ve headed west, but I headed east. I drove all the way to Maine, exploring the New England states for six months or so. Eventually, I ran out of money. I was in Poughkeepsie of all places when I found an ad for a mechanic with body repair skills. I drove over here and met Jesse. We hit it off right away and I’ve been there ever since.”
“Do you think you’ll stay in Song?”
“That depends.” I reached across the table grasping her hand. “On you.”
“Alright you two lovebirds,” April interrupted appearing out of nowhere. “Yeah, you two. I’ve been watching, don’t think I haven’t. You can’t wait to get your food down and get out of here so you can hanky-panky in the parking lot. We have cameras out there, so I wouldn’t do that,” April announced as she started unloading our food onto the table.
I sat stunned, and Annie grinned at her, unfazed. I guess working behind a bar hardened you against all kinds of blush-worthy comments. I’d never seen Annie blush.
April unloaded plate after plate. My ribs looked and smelled amazing, and my mouth watered. In addition to our order, we got a bowl of green beans, mac and cheese, baked beans, and pasta salad. It was enough food to feed a village.
“Holy mother, that’s a lot of food,” I said to April as she placed the last bowl down.
“It’s holy Mama to you. Quit your bitching boy and start eating.” April scoffed at me. She looked over at Annie, smiled, and asked sweetly, “You good, hon?”
“Yes, I am, April. Yes I am.”
“Oh my god, I’m going to explode.” Annie groaned across the table rubbing her belly. A dab of barbecue sauce was stuck to the corner of her mouth, and I indicated so to her. Instead of grabbing a napkin, she poked her little pink tongue and licked it off. Then she licked all around her lips searching for more. She was adorable, and I’m pretty sure she was teasing me. My dick stirred in response.
The food was amazing, and I was now convinced there was good barbecue outside of Texas. Falling off the bone, the right tang of smoke, spicy and sweet. This may have been the best damn barbecue I’ve ever eaten. There was so much food though, and although I was raised to eat anything and everything put in front of me, I just couldn’t do it. One lone piece of Texas style toast sat between us. Annie put a finger on the plate and nudged it toward me.
“No, I’m going to die if I eat that.” I pushed the plate back.
“Awww… be a hero, eat the toast,” Annie said.
“No can do, Tinker Bell, sorry.”
We both stared at the piece of toast. Neither one of us was going to relent.
A loud screeching sound came from the stage area as feedback looped through the speakers, and a large spotlight illuminated April, our waitress, on the stage.
“Good evening!” boomed April, holding a microphone at center stage.
“Good evening!” roared the restaurant back.
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br /> “As you may know, or not know, if it’s your first time at Mama’s, we loooooove birthdays.” This was met with a roar of applause. “And it just so happens we are celebrating one tonight!” The restaurant cheered and clapped even louder.
I glanced at Annie with what had to be a look of horror on my face, because when she saw me her smile grew wide, and she laughed out loud. It was the first time I heard her laugh like that. It was loud, raucous, and so incredibly sexy, and I wanted to hear it every day for the rest of my life.
“This pretty boy right over here.” April lifted her arm and pointed directly at me, and the spotlight followed. “His name is Steve. Steve doesn’t know it yet, but he’s about to join me on the stage so we can all sing Happy Birthday to him. Ya’ll with me?” Roars of agreement, applauses and whistles echoed throughout the restaurant. Guests stood up and lined along the catwalk to get a better view.
“Come on up here, Steve.” April beckoned me, once again the spotlight following her outstretched arm to me.
“I’m going to kill you,” I said to Annie who was still smiling.
“You’re going to love it,” she said back. “Now get up there pretty boy and let us sing for you.”
I rose and walked up the creaky wooden steps onto the small stage. I raised my arms in the air in greeting. The audience cheered.
April nodded at me and brought the mic to her lips. “Everybody! Happy Birthday to you…” And the crowd started singing. It was loud and out of tune. People were laughing and swaying. I’d never seen a restaurant get so excited to sing Happy Birthday before. I’ve been in places where servers sang to guests, and it always seemed like it was the most awful part of their job, as if the poor server was in the kitchen selling their soul to wrangle singers to join them.
In mid-song, another employee walked on stage carrying a pie with a whipped topping and handed it to April. A lone candle flickered in the middle. April wrapped one arm around my shoulder and held the pie in the other. The song ended with a “to you” long and lingering.
