“Oh, nothing.” Daphne frowns looking at her phone. “Shoot. My sister’s car won’t start. She’s supposed to pick me up.”
I shrug my shoulders. “I’ll give you a ride.”
“Really? That’d be amazeballs.”
“Sure, why not?”
Brian the cook’s voice cuts in. “Hey, new girl, do you want this re-fired fish or not?”
Daphne whirls around. “Just tell us it’s ready, ass! What’s with the ’tude?”
“Christ, sorry,” he says, holding his palms up.
“Learn some manners,” Daphne says. “Say, ‘Hi, your fish tacos re-fire is ready.’ The new girl has a name. It’s Faith.”
Sheldon flies by again in a hurry. “Yeah, Brian, clean up your act,” he jokes. “Girls have names!”
He sighs. “You gotta get me in trouble like that? Come on, now.”
* * *
We headtoward the west side of town where Daphne lives.
“Thank you so much for the ride,” she says, settling into the passenger seat. “Seriously, you don’t know how much I appreciate it.”
“It’s no big deal.” I shrug.
“Where do you live? Nearby?”
“I’m on the east side of Vansborough.”
“Ohhh, the east side. Fancy.”
I roll my eyes. “It’s not like that.”
“Oh, please. I’m not judging. But let’s be real—the east side is the nice side. I’m out here in the trailer park. If I save enough this summer, I might swing something downtown. Or maybe east side, if I’m feeling bougie.”
I smile. “Smart. Real estate queen in the making.”
“I gotta think about my baby.”
“Oh! You have a little one?”
“Yeah. She’s turning one next weekend.”
“What’s her name?”
“June.”
She pauses. “And before you ask—yeah, everyone wonders where her daddy is.”
“That’s not what I was thinking,” I say quickly. “I’d be the last one to judge you.”
We pull up to a stop sign.
“Thanks. I was engaged last summer. He died two weeks before the wedding.”
I stay at the stop sign a moment too long. My chest clenches. “Oh, Daphne… I’m so sorry.”
