Bill turned to face Marie. He rubbed his head where he’d bumped it.
“Damn girl,” he said.
“Damn nothing. Give me some.”
“Some what?”
“Some of what would make this punch I took worth taking.”
“Ain’t nothing make a punch worth taking. Maybe a million dollars cash up front.”
“Only reason I stay is my kids.”
Bill knew there was nothing to say to that. “Want a cigarette or some rib?” he asked.
“Told you what I want.”
“I got a lot of work and it’s late already. See me tomorrow.”
“Well, give me some bourbon then. And bring some good drugs tomorrow.”
Standing there, on impulse, Bill reached up Marie’s dress and under her panties. Marie spread her legs for him so he could have free access to her. He’d never done this in the kitchen with her before, not at her station, not standing there on the line, not even in the back. Sure, they’d copped feels, but not like this, underneath and in plain sight. He realized he was tired and he was getting somewhat spaced. He knew he needed to lay down, maybe do some Quaaludes and go off to sleep. The other choice was to pop another Black Beauty, enough upper to get him through the night.
Marie closed her eyes and let him feel her. She was happy he was doing this and she’d already decided how she was gonna get even with her husband for punching her. Having had her time with Henry Lee this afternoon was a big part of it, but now she saw opportunity before her eyes.
They both jumped when they were disturbed by the sound of the automatic doors. Bebe, the barmaid, came in. Marie was the one facing the front of the kitchen. She saw Bebe’s face, saw Bebe raise an eyebrow seeing them there together. Not that she actually saw anything, because she really didn’t. At the sound of the doors, Bill quickly withdrew his hand and Marie started to move toward her station. But Bebe was swift. After she left the kitchen, after Marie told Bill about her facial expression, Bill thought she surely surmised what they’d been up to, maybe not precisely, but in general. Having turned in her dinner order and delivered two bottles of beer, Bebe’d told Bill they were getting more tables, that he shouldn’t hurry to clean up.
As it turned out, Bill worked orders until after midnight. As it turned out, Marie had to do all her cleanup all over again and Bill would not start doing the grease until quarter-to-one in the morning. By then, at least, all customers and help had been fed and no new tables were being seated. So Bill could concentrate solely upon the cleanup, which he did, working faster than he could if there were the chance of customers coming in. He shut everything down, broke down the steam table and wrapped all the foods to be put away. He left that food on the counter back by where Mary worked so it was out of his way and he could scrub indiscriminately, meaning if he slopped sudsy water around, it didn’t bother any food stuffs.
He scrubbed quickly up and down the line. As he did so, both Lorraine and Victoria came in. They each brought more beer and stood watching him work, sipping from one of the beers they brought. The other Bill gave over to Marie.
Bill caught a look at Jim when he went to light a cigarette and have some beer, when he stood just an instant by the two waitresses.
“People still sitting there,” Victoria said.
“My dogs are killing me,” Lorraine said. “Damn but that rib was good.”
“Hell yeah,” said Victoria.
“You want more?” Bill asked.
“Nah. We gotta go back out,” Lorraine said. She reached down and rubbed her ankles, first one, then the other. “I could sure use a foot massage,” she said.
