For Saturday they were in at ten. Bill’s wife was home when he left. They both slept in, sort of, meaning they were both up by eight. Both home, both up, one thing led to another in a good way so that Bill went off to work happy and at ease. All good, so to speak. The last thing he told her was that he wouldn’t be home until about two in the morning and tomorrow, Sunday, he was working and he’d be working for about three weeks straight. Then he said that at least they’d pay the rent with no problem.
In retrospect, after many years of being married, Bill would recall that his wife never complained about his working, never complained about him working all the time, never seemed to miss it. It was just a thought. Maybe, and this was just a thought too, maybe their marriage lasted as long as it did because they didn’t see each other that much.
They had coffee and a shower together, and then he went off to work, gone all day and all night just like he’d always been since Bailey, his probation officer, had gotten him the job with Robert at Suburban. He would, as it worked out, work like this for the first ten years of their marriage.
Millie was waiting for him, expecting him. She had his uniform ready and wasted no time getting it for him. She already knew how busy the kitchen was going to be. She knew this by the number of tuxedos that had come in ready to go out to the banquet wait staff.
“You got your work today don’t you?” she said to Bill.
“So the banquet chef says,” Bill said.
“Well I have all the waiter uniforms. From what I see, you have multiple banquets going off at lunch and dinner.”
“I have The Falstaff Room too.”
“Yup. You sure do. And my guess is you break the record tonight.”
“Why you say that?”
“Look at the week you’ve had so far. And last night was very good.”
“How do you know this?”
“My boss told me. She gets the count because she needs to know the amount of linens needed. It’s all connected in all different ways.”
“Yeah,” Bill said. “So I see.”
“That means we’re connected. The more you get, the more we get. And sometimes when you’re really busy, I get overtime. That’s good for me, sometimes, because I don’t like to work all the time.”
“We don’t always get a choice as I see it.”
“You have a choice. If you didn’t work, someone else would.”
“Yeah. But I think Jimmy is counting on me.”
“He definitely is,” Millie said. “But they got along fine without you all this time. He’s gonna use you because he can count on you. If you want to work, then it’s good for both of you.”
“I need the money,” Bill said.
“Don’t we all? But there’s a limit, you know? I mean what are you willing to give up?”
“That’s always a good question. The answer is that it depends upon your needs.”
“I suppose it does,” Millie said. She smiled at Bill. He was still in his civvies when he’d come over. Now he held the uniform Millie handed him. “Don’t forget to bring me the dirty one,” she said. “Gonna have a break in between?”
“I won’t forget. And honestly, I don’t know. I’ll know when Jimmy tells me.”
“Maybe we’ll get a moment,” Millie said. “Maybe not.”
“It is what it is,” Bill said. He started to walk away, then he turned back. “I almost forgot,” he said. “That thing with Caesar yesterday, Chef told me to tell you he handled it. He told me to tell you he spoke to Caesar about it and if Caesar bothers you again, he wants to know.”
“Thanks,” Millie said. “Did you intervene?”
“I just let him know what Caesar did and I let him know he was doing it because of me.”
“Watch your back around Caesar,” Millie said.
