After the day shift was gone, Henry Lee too, and when the night shift was settled in and waiting for the dinner rush, Lorraine came to Bill out in the hall. Bill was sitting where he could see inside, in case any orders came. He would have heard the bell, he knew, but he always felt better being able to see. Jimmy was standing by the screen door which he’d opened even though it was cold outside. He was leaning against the wall, one leg bent at the knee, his foot flush against the wall. He was smoking a cigarette, blowing the smoke out the screen door. Bill could see the steam-smoke of his breaths too.
“We never did finish our conversation last night,” Lorraine said.
“We can talk later,” said Bill.
“Good. I want to talk about the serious stuff, the deep stuff. We kind of got off the track. I want to hear about how you ended up here. Well I know that, but I mean the whole story. And if you want to hear it, I’ll tell you mine too.”
“I want to know why you’re afraid to go out with the guy you met. And of course I want to know about you.”
“Good. So we’ll talk later. I gotta go back out.”
While Lorraine was heading out the kitchen door into the front dining room, the first orders started coming in. Norma was working, Victoria too. No one thought it would be a busy night because it was cold and dismal, but the customers came and kept coming so that while there was never a big rush, the service was long and steady. Tommy came in to call orders even though Jimmy and Bill could have handled it without him. He watched everything, especially Lexi, who was also working. He watched her to make sure she was hassle-free and got more than her turns.
Only after Jimmy and Grandma were gone did Bill feed his friends steak. Marie ate a super medium, which was no big deal because Tommy wouldn’t have hassled her or Bill if he’d seen it. Grandma ate a top with two baked potatoes. Lexi and Lorraine shared a Boston medium-rare, and Victoria, the late girl, sat in the hall and quickly ate a piece of Prime Rib that Bill cut ostensibly for himself but of which he only ate one small bite. He didn’t even want that, but he ate it so he wouldn’t have to lie to Tommy if they were found out. As he always did, he trimmed away all the fat and cut it into pieces so Victoria could access it easily. He did the same with the baked potato, cutting it for her and smothering it in butter the way he knew she liked it.
“You know Lorraine has an admirer,” Victoria told Bill.
“She mentioned it.”
“We’re not supposed to go out with customers, are we?”
“That’s what I heard, what I was told.”
“He’s kind of cute. She told me he’s a school teacher. He comes in alone mostly, sometimes with his mother. They like to eat in a booth.”
“Well you seem to know a lot about it.”
“No secret. She told me all about it. I told her go for it and the hell with the rules.”
“She needs the job. No telling what Drenovis would do.”
“That’s not what’s stopping her. She’s insecure. Afraid.”
“I’ll talk to her.”
“Okay, but you can’t say I told you anything.”
“Course not.”
“Thanks for the dinner,” Victoria said.
He and Lorraine did not get to talk, not really. They had a few moments out in the hall, but just as they were starting to get to the things they wanted to talk about, Jim and Mickey got into it inside the kitchen over by the dish machine.
