After Midnight

by Lacy Hart

  Thinking about it more, I couldn’t even remember the last time I had what you could call a boyfriend. I was shy and withdrawn in high school and barely dated at all, and I certainly didn’t see anyone to the length you could say was a boyfriend. Once I got to college and began to open some more, I did socialize and date. I had a boyfriend, Paul, in my junior year, that I really liked. We had dated for a few months and I even allowed myself to give up my virginity to him just a few weeks before the whole mess with the pictures broke. Once all that happened, though, he turned his back on me, telling me he couldn’t deal with all the talk and what it was doing to me. That may have been the final straw for me as I felt crushed and alone. I hadn’t dated anyone since then, though I have had plenty of flirts and offers come in through the diner.

  None of that made a difference right now. I did finally manage to get a little bit of sleep in, and it wasn’t until I heard a gentle rap at my door that startled me out of sleep that I woke up. I looked at the clock and saw it was past three, and I knew it had to be Lizzie knocking at my door. At first, I was reluctant to even acknowledge it and hoped she might leave me be, thinking I was still asleep.

  Through the silence in my room where all you could hear was the light breeze from outside gently brushing the curtains of my window, the light knock came again. I sat up in my bed and let out a “Come in,” trying to clear my voice and keep it from cracking.

  Lizzie timidly pushed the door open, peering in to see me sitting in bed. She quickly closed the door behind her and came over and sat at the foot of the bed.

  “Hi,” she offered shyly, looking down at her feet and not making much eye contact with me.

  “Hi Lizzie,” I said, sitting up straighter in bed. “How was school?” I was trying to make conversation with her as normally as possible.

  “It was fine. Everyone is all excited about tomorrow night.”

  “Great,” I told her. “It should be fun for you and your friends.”

  “Are… are you still okay with me coming to the diner?” she said with hesitation.

  “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “I thought… I thought maybe you were mad at me for everything that happened this morning.”

  “Why would I be mad at you, Lizzie?” I asked her. “You didn’t do anything.”

  “I was the one who brought up seeing you talking to that guy,” Lizzie blurted. Her face quickly turned, and I could see tears running down her cheeks. “If I hadn’t said anything, Mom wouldn’t have exploded like that, there would have been no argument between you and her, you and Dad, her and Dad… it’s all my fault.”

  “None of that is your fault, Lizzie,” I said to her, scooting closer to her on the bed so I could put my arm around her. “Your Mom has issues with me that go back further than that.”

  “I know,” she said to me. “She and Dad were yelling back and forth about something that happened years ago. I... I kept trying to ask questions, but they didn’t even want me in the room anymore. Why would Mom say those things about you?”

  Lizzie’s statement made me wonder just what Denise had to say and what Lizzie heard. I could only imagine that they included words like “slut” and so on, just like I heard from countless other people.

  “I don’t know what your Mom said, but I can tell you that it more than likely is not what is true.”

  “Can I… I ask you what happened?” Lizzie said, almost afraid to ask the question in the first place.

  I took a deep sigh and shook my head.

  “Lizzie, I don’t know if I should get into the whole thing with you.”

  “Sarah, I’m fifteen. I know a lot more than everyone around here gives me credit for.”

  “You’re right, I’m sorry. Back before I moved in here with you guys, there was an incident at college. Someone took some pictures and video of me while I was changing and showering and spread it all over the place – on campus, the Internet, to my friends and family, everywhere. It made life… very difficult for me.”

  I looked at Lizzie’s face to see how she was reacting. I could see that she had questions forming in her mind already.

  “But it’s not like you posed for the pictures or anything, right? They weren’t your fault, so why would people say those things about you and think you had something to do with it?”

  “Because people make judgments without knowing the whole story, or just assume that something like that is your fault, even if you are the victim, unfortunately.”

  “Is that why you don’t see Grandma and Grandpa?”

  That question was one I wasn’t really prepared to answer, but she deserved to know how I felt about it.

  “Yes, that’s a big part of it. But that shouldn’t affect your relationship with Grandma and Grandpa. That’s between them and me, not anyone else. Please don’t bring it up to them when you talk to them. I don’t want you to get involved in all that.”

  “Okay,” Lizzie answered. “Are you going to leave?” she then asked me, turning towards me and showing the worry on her face. “Because I don’t want you to go. I need you here.”

  I put my arms around Lizzie and held her tightly as she cried into my shoulder.

  “I don’t want to leave, Lizzie,” I said to her. “But it may reach a point where that is what is best for me, your Mom and your Dad. Even if I stopped living here, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be there for you. I’m always here for you.”

  Lizzie cried on my shoulder for a few more minutes, and I kept reassuring her that everything would be okay, but in my heart, I didn’t know if they would be or not. Finally, I pulled back a bit and looked at her.

  “I should get up and start thinking about what to make for dinner,” I told her. “You want to help me? We can make whatever you want tonight.”

  Lizzie looked at my face, her eyes puffy from crying, and got a sad look again.

  “Oh,” she said to me as if she were searching for words. “Mom sent me a text before, telling me to meet her in the driveway at six, that she and I were meeting Dad at Marino’s for pizza tonight.”

  “Okay,” I said to her. She looked like she was going to start crying again, and I put up a brave front to try to see her through it.

  “It’s not a big deal, Lizzie, really,” I said to her.

  “But I don’t want to have dinner with them without you,” she said. “She’s just doing it to be mean to you.”

  “Lizzie, go to dinner with them and just enjoy a night out. Don’t make it about me, okay? You have to promise me that. I don’t want to be a problem between you and your Mom. Enough is going on there already. Putting you into it will just make it worse for all of us.”

  I looked Lizzie in the eyes and waited for her to answer me. She nodded her head and sniffled, wiping the tears from her face with the back of her hand.

  “You should go do your homework before dinner,” I said to her, trying to restore some order to our lives for the moment. “I know I have homework to do, too. Enjoy your pizza tonight. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Lizzie stood up from the bed and looked at me sitting there.

  “Are you going to be okay?” she asked.

  “I’ll be fine,” I told her, telling her a white lie. I didn’t think I would be fine anytime soon.

  Lizzie left the room, shutting the door behind her, and I breathed out a big breath while letting a few tears stream down my face. I worked to regain my composure, concentrate on doing some of the schoolwork I had to do and hoped it would take my mind off everything else for a bit.

  I threw myself into the schoolwork I needed to accomplish: watching the lectures I needed to watch for the week, tackling reading, and even working on the projects I had to turn in for classes at the end of the semester, so I could stay ahead of everything. I did whatever I could to help keep my mind off the troubles swirling around me, and I didn’t even remember hearing Lizzie go down the stairs or close the front door when it came time for her to leave.

  By the
time I pried myself away from my computer, it was dark outside and was 7:00. I had plowed through over a week’s worth of work, turned in assignments, posted to class bulletin boards, and even contacted professors about assignments. I headed in to take a shower and wash the day away, get myself ready for work and try to push the unpleasantness aside.

  I got myself ready for work in record time and decided to leave early, giving myself a chance to perhaps grab something to eat at the diner before my shift started. I grabbed my purse and a sweater and got out the door to leave the house before there was any chance of James and Denise getting home before I left. I even found myself hurrying up the driveway and down the street so I could get onto Oak Street before they had a chance to see me.

  I hustled to the diner and dashed inside, going right to the back to store my things without even saying hello to Doug, the owner, who was finishing up his day. I pulled my hair into a ponytail, put my apron on, and walked into the kitchen to see what Justin was up to tonight.

  I found him working on searing a salmon fillet in a pan, flipping burgers on the flat top, and stirring a sauce.

  “Hey, Sarah,” he said to me in his husky voice. “Would you mind pulling the fry baskets up for me before I burn them?”

  “Sure, no problem,” I told him as I went over and lifted the baskets carefully, seeing the fries at the perfect golden color they should be. I dumped the fries into the large stainless-steel bowl next to the fryer, sprinkled on some salt, and tossed them lightly to coat all the fries evenly, just as Justin taught me. I brought the bowl over to the plates he had for the burgers, snapped on some gloves, and shared the fries out onto the plates for him while he plated the burgers.

  “Thanks, hon,” Justin said to me with a smile. “What are you doing here so early?”

  “Oh, the family went out for dinner, so I was by myself for the night. I did some homework and thought I would come see if you have anything good for dinner.”

  “Go grab a seat,” he said with a smile. “I’ll whip up something for you in a minute.”

  I went and sat in the breakroom, putting my feet up on the rickety coffee table while I sat on the couch. I gazed at the silent TV that was on, watching some game show without really watching it as I got a chance to give my mind a break for the moment.

  Before I knew it, Justin came walking in with a plate and handed it to me.

  “I had just made a batch of chicken salad,” he said to me as I took the plate. “I tried a new recipe. I hope it’s okay.”

  I looked down at the plate and saw the white toast stuffed with creamy chicken salad. There were celery and bits of grape scattered through the salad.

  “Looks delicious,” I told Justin with a smile. “Thanks, Justin.”

  I reached onto the plate and picked up a slice and took a bite. Justin never walked away until he saw your initial reaction to what he made. The bite was a wonderful combination, and I ate it happily.

  “Is that tarragon in the chicken salad?” I said to him as I wiped my face with a napkin I grabbed off the table.

  “You’re getting good, Miss Sarah,” Justin said with a smile as he walked back into the kitchen.

  I finished eating my sandwich, putting the last morsel in my mouth before Doug walked into the back room. He stood over me as I licked my lips and murmured out a “hello” in between chewing and swallowing.

  “You’re early tonight,” Doug said to me. “I don’t usually get to see you except on the weekends. How’s everything going?”

  “Fine,” I lied, putting my plate down on the table and standing up. “Anything I need to know about for tonight?” I figured if I started talking about work Doug wouldn’t pry too much into my personal life.

  Doug was a good, honest man that had worked hard to build up a great business here at the Moonlight. He wasn’t really prying when he asked you questions about your personal life. He was genuinely concerned about his employees, and took good care of everyone, no matter what your job was, how many hours you worked, or how long you had worked at the diner.

  “Nah, it’s been a pretty normal Thursday,” he told me. “Just keep an eye on the soda machine behind the counter,” he told me. “It’s been a little temperamental today. I put a call into the repair company, but they won’t have someone out here until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Hopefully, they get it fixed before tomorrow night when we get busy.”

  “No problem, Boss,” I said to him, giving him a salute.

  Doug smiled down at me, showing off his perfectly white teeth and giving the hearty laugh he had. He glanced down at his watch and then looked back at me.

  “Since you’re here, I am going to head out early and leave the place in your capable hands. Is that okay? It will be nice to get home and relax and maybe watch some baseball before I fall asleep.”

  “Go home, Doug, I got this,” I told him confidently.

  “I know you do,” he said to me. “Have a good night. Call me if you need anything.”

  He always said that before he left, but I never had anything come up that I couldn’t handle, either by myself or with a little help from the other staff.

  I walked out into the diner and saw that there were still some tables filled with people from the late dinner crowd. The day shift crew was still on, so I positioned myself at the register to handle hostess duties and ring up guests until ten rolled around.

  I did whatever I could to occupy my time, refilling the mint jar at the register, putting a new tape in, and even dusting some of the liquor bottles in the small bar area that rarely gets used. I was determined to keep the negative thoughts out, work through this, and maybe, just maybe, turn the bad day into a good night.

  9

  Caleb

  I had more fun staying up and playing cards with Linda than I had in a very long time. She was right – she kicked my ass at rummy that night as I tried to fumble through, remembering the rules of the game and how to play. It certainly brought back some good memories for me, like the nights we spent as kids playing cards into the late hours, or the times where I would play cards with the other guys in the battalion to pass the slow times we had when we were stationed somewhere.

  Linda and I played, laughed, and talked like we had not done in many years. I was able to forget about the things that had been troubling me lately and get back to some semblance of a normal life for a change. Before we knew it, it was well after 1 AM. Linda looked at the clock on the wall and was horrified by what she saw.

  “Shit, Caleb, it’s 1 AM,” Linda said, scrambling to get out of her chair.

  “So what? “I said to her.

  “I have a meeting scheduled at 8:30. I need to get some sleep.”

  “Linda, it’s your practice, you’re the boss,” I said to her. “Is it something really important? A life or death meeting?”

  “Well, no,” she admitted. “It’s just Jack Collins. He wants to talk about some stuff for his business, but nothing critical.”

  “Why don’t you give yourself a break?” I told her. “You have been in fifth gear moving along for years now. It’s okay to take things slower, go in late now and then, or even take a day off if you think you need one.”

  “A day off?” she laughed. “What’s that? It’s been so long since I have had one. Getting the practice going and keeping it moving took a long time, and then everything with Ella…” Linda stopped herself short as she was talking and looked at me.

  “Caleb, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way, you know that,” she said apologetically.

  “Linda, it’s okay,” I said to her as I sat back in my chair. “You took on a lot for Adam and for me. I don’t know how I could have done anything without your help. I know it meant your time and big sacrifices for you.”

  Linda looked at me and smiled. “You would have done the same thing for me if things were reversed. I just did what was right and what needed to be done.”

  Linda got up from her chair, stretched and yawned, and came over and gave m
e a kiss on the head.

  “You’re getting some gray up here, little brother,” she said teasingly.

  I ran my hand through my hair. “Gee, thanks.”

  “It’s okay, she said to me. “It happens to the best of us. I just color mine to hide it better. Good night, Caleb. Thanks for the fun night. I needed it.”

  “I did, too. Good night,” I told her.

  Linda retired upstairs to her bedroom while I cleaned up the glasses and other items we had left out in the kitchen. I picked up my sweatshirt and walked outside into the cool night air. The sky was very clear tonight, and it seemed like there were more stars than ever dotting the night sky. Between the stars and the moon shining brightly, you didn’t need any kind of artificial light at all to guide your way.