“I just… Sammie, I don’t want my parents to have to spend their money putting me through school, when I don’t even know what I want todowith my life!” I admitted finally, hanging my head. “They have enough to worry about, what with Lee and the twins’ store and everything!”
“Oh, baby boy… You are a good son and an amazing brother. I see how hard you’re working. Do your parents have any idea how many hours you’ve been putting in?” she asked.
I shook my head again. There was no way my parents would have let me work so many hours between the bar and the dojo if they’d known. I’d deliberately downplayed the time I spent at the club, letting them assume that I was there to hang out with friends, not just work. Which was true, from a certain point of view… I considered Sammie and Josie and the other staff members at The Belt to be friends.
“I don’t want to worry them, Sammie,” I finally said. “There are so many kids in my family, and Mama D and Mama K have already done so much for me… I don’t want them to have to pay for my school, too.”
“You know it’s in the job description, right?” She asked. “Parents worry. Parents help. It’s right under ‘change diapers’ and right before ‘provide bail money’.”
I laughed. My parents had done all that for the fam at some time or another.
“I know. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to do as much as possible by myself. Besides, you need me. Especially with Josie off for a few days,” I insisted.
“About that…” she began.
Uh oh, I thought.Here it comes.An unreasoning panic tightened in my chest. Shit. She was going to fire me. That’s what this was all about. She was going to fire me. Or they were going to close the bar. Maybe there had been a health code violation I didn’t know about. Maybe someone had been dealing drugs in the bathroom. Maybe—
“Stop, Kaine! I can see you working yourself into a panic attack right in front of me! This isn’t a not a bad thing,” she reassured me. “I posted an ad online and I’ve hired a new bartender. She’s going to be picking up some of the weeknight shifts for you, so we should be getting you back to forty hours or under, starting this week.”
I stared at her in amazement.
“What—how—” I began.
“She’s a student at Case Western and she just moved to the area. I told her I couldn’t guarantee her more than twenty hours, because I don’t want you losing your benefits, but she seemed more than pleased with that,” Sammie said.
“Oh my god, Sammie! I could kiss you right now!” I exclaimed. This position was one of the few jobs that I knew of that provided health insurance even to hourly employees. Sammie had experienced some major health problems in her early thirties and she had insisted the bar carry decent and affordable coverage for all of its employees, even though I knew it had to be financially tough for her.
I didn’t have anything going on with me health-wise, but my parents had ingrained in me the importance of planning for all eventualities. I leaned over and hugged her.
“No kissing! You kiss me, my husband would have to kill you, so let’s not go there, okay?” she teased. “The new girl, Vivian, she’s starting training on Monday with Aaron. I need you to work Wednesday night, but other than that, I don’t want to see your ass in here again until next weekend.”
I was speechless. A wholeweekoff work? I could sleep in! For days! I didn’t think I’d taken that much time off since high school.
Sammie laughed at me.
“Now this! This is priceless! Kaine Devereaux, speechless!” she laughed.
“You are a rotten old woman who will end up a crazy cat lady,” I said.
“Yeah, yeah, I love you, too, kiddo,” she said, hugging me a final time. “Remember what I said. Unless you are here to drink and dance, I don’t want to see you again for at least a week. Now get out of here. My eyes hurt just looking at how tired you are right now!”
I quickly finished up my tasks and headed home. By the time I made it to my bedroom, it was almost 6 a.m. and the sun was starting to lighten the sky. I closed the curtains on my windows, thankful again for the blackout curtains Mama D had insisted we purchase when we redecorated my room a few years ago.
I was snoring before my head hit the pillow.
7
Nicki
I pulledinto a campus parking spot and turned off the engine, waiting for Vivian to come out of the building.
The days and weeks that followed our midnight run had passed in a blur. We got the apartment set up the way we wanted it. Vivian purchased a new car, since the cost for shipping her old one would have been exorbitant. We found a Walmart, set up utilities, and did all the things you did when you started out on your own. We never really felt alone, though. Almost daily we had boxes and boxes showing up at the apartment door from Vivian’s parents. I felt bad for the mailman.
Dr. and Mrs. Dunwoody had included quite a few surprises in the boxes they had shipped to our apartment for us. Primary among them was a brand-new laptop, addressed to me. I’d hated leaving behind the clunky old laptop that had been my Mom’s. It had held a lot of photos that I hadn’t been able to duplicate elsewhere. The notes that Mrs. Dunwoody had included indicated that it was “an early Christmas present” and that she knew I would make good use of it.
I certainly intended to. I set up accounts online, including a bank account and started job hunting. Vivian cashed out the account that included the money that she had been holding for me. Out of that, I insisted on paying her two months’ worth of rent, and my share of the utilities. We’d fought about it for a while, but eventually I wore her down. She did make me promise to at least wait until I had gotten a full-time job before I gave her the money.
So, intent on not being a freeloader as well as mindful of the fact I had a limited amount of funds in my bank account, I found a job as a server at a Wally Waffle restaurant in a nearby town, which I would be starting the following week. The hours allowed me to work mornings, and possibly take classes in the afternoon or evening once my financial aid came through. I had applied to the University of Akron, but it was too late in the summer to be admitted for fall semester. I figured it was just as well, as it would give me the chance to save up some money, apply for student loans, and the rest of the things that went with being a part-time student. I’d contacted the college I’d been taking online classes through. I’d at least be able to continue them from my new home.
