Bill found his way to the staircase shortly after two, later than he’d hoped. The banquet crew was gangbusters, hell-bent on getting out as quickly as possible. They all went into speed gear to clean up, straighten up, put everything away properly. That done, they had a quick holiday drink on the chef and cut out.
Jimmy G didn’t do much to help out. He never did. He did only the least possible that would be accepted. Done a few minutes before everyone else, he went off to sleep. That’s where Bill saw him when he went down to the locker room to wash up before heading over to see Beverly. He did not disturb his partner. They had until three to start setting up for the night.
Beverly was standing looking out the window when Bill got there. She did not turn upon his approach so he walked to her and stood next to her.
He swung his hip and bumped her gently. “Hey girl,” he said.
“Hey boy,” she returned.
“How you doing?”
“I’m actually pretty great.”
“Well that’s good to hear. I’d have thought you’d cut out quick as possible on a day like today, holiday and all.”
“My sister’s on till four. I’m waiting for her. I’m staying with her now for awhile.”
“Really?”
“Yup. So we came in together and will go home together.”
“That why you’re great?”
“Yup. It’s all done. I confronted him. He didn’t deny it, didn’t apologize much for it, didn’t really give me any indication that he was interested in us going on together. So I packed some shit and took off.”
“Why’d you leave?”
“Cause I don’t want to pay the rent. Cause I don’t want to be there in that place. Cause I’m taking this as an opportunity to make some new and fresh choices.”
“I’m proud of you,” Bill said. “I’m sorry it went this way for you. I don’t mean what your choice was. I mean what he did that caused you to make the choice. But I’m proud you made it and now you can move on as you see fit. Big grown up decision you made.”
“I have you to thank, in part. I knew I had to do something, but you kind of pushed it to the front and made it the priority.”
“And now it’s done.”
“New day. New dawn. Christmas with my sister and my family, no him.”
“And how do you feel?”
“Relieved. Happy. Sad. Awkward. Alone. Scared. That enough for you?”
“Sounds about right. Kind of like I felt when they led me off to the workhouse. Only scared was first on my list.”
“How could you be happy when you were heading off to jail?”
“Cause I knew exactly what I was getting and I knew it was gonna be over. That was better than being in limbo. Only surprises left were what I would find at the workhouse.”
“You gonna tell me about it?”
“Not now. Right here and right now we should be talking about you.”
“Nothing much to say. I’m thinking about things. I’m making plans. I have some rules.”
“Can’t wait to hear the rules,” Bill said.”
“Only two so far,” Beverly said. “First, no fooling around with anyone here, present company excepted cause we already been somewhat down that road. I mean no waiters, no one out there, nothing that could come back to me. Second is no dating outside of here for at least six months.”
“Sounds good,” Bill said.
“The third one that’s coming, that isn’t quite formulated yet but kind of underscores everything is me first. Just me.”
“That sounds good too,” Bill said.
“It is good,” Beverly said. “All this, what’s happening, is my Christmas present to myself.” Beverly turned to face Bill now for the first time. “You know what I see out there? Outside this window? I see freshness, a cold, clear day with the potential for anything. And that makes me happy.”
“Good for you,” Bill said.
