Dawn looked at me with a pout. “Got it.”
“Good. Now, Tony is going to get that underway. You go on out to the table and tell them that you will have the replacement in just a couple of minutes, then check on the other table,” I said.
“Okay,” she said and stomped out of the kitchen.
I let out a sigh and looked at Tony, shaking my head.
“Thanks,” I said.
He nodded, focused on making the burger again. Things were back to normal.
“Carrie was here earlier,” he said as I was walking out.
I turned around to look at him. His position hadn’t changed, almost like he hadn’t said anything.
“What did she say?” I asked.
Tony shrugged, and I got the impression the conversation was over. I left the kitchen feeling anxious. Carrie was Dina’s daughter and infamous among those who worked at the diner. A stark contrast to her warm, friendly mother, Carrie was stoic, cold, and unpleasant. She was also well-known for thinking her mother was old and incapable of continuing to run the diner like she should.
For the last couple of years, she had been trying to get Dina to hand the diner over to her so that she could “get it into shape” as she put it. All of us had heard her lecturing Dina when they were walking through the diner, pointing out all the ways she believed her mother was wasting money and not running the restaurant to its full potential.
Too much whipped cream on too-large slices of pie.
Food made from scratch with fresh ingredients rather than throwing in shortcuts and premade versions.
Takeout servings that were too big.
Specials that were too cheap.
Letting customers stay and sip through endless free refills of coffee while they just talked.
Essentially, the things that people loved about the diner and what made it so successful for the last fifty years since even before Dina took it over from her own father were all the things Carrie wanted to wipe out.
We all hoped that was never going to happen. Or at least that it wouldn’t happen anytime soon. Dina never really showed any indications that she was thinking about making that change, but in the last few months, there were more murmurs that Carrie was being pushier and more insistent than ever, and Carrie might actually win this time.
The thought of her coming in and taking over left me tense and anxious. Dealing with the new hires and customers who were getting the short end of the stick when it came to customer service was making things worse.
The one thing that kept me sane during the week was texting Deacon throughout the day. The messages were never anything major or particularly meaningful, but it was nice to be able to just send him a thought or a picture of a new sketch. Sometimes a funny thing I heard or asking him to tell me about what was going on in his life, so I had something else to think about.
Even with talking to him, by Thursday, I was ready to break. I couldn’t face another whole day at the diner. Instead, I called up one of the other servers and offered him the second half of my shift. As soon as he showed up, I left and headed to the tattoo shop to see Gus. He looked up at me with surprise when I came through the door.
“Hey, Becky,” he said. “I didn’t think I was going to see you today. Did I schedule you?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m here to see you in your official capacity.”
He thought about this for a second before his eyes lit up.
“You’re ready for your first tattoo.”
I nodded. “I finally came up with the perfect idea for it.”
“Tell me about it,” he said.
“I can do you one better. I have a drawing.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the folded piece of paper I’d stuffed there that morning. Gus unfolded it and looked over the design.
“I love it. Where do you want it?” he asked.
“On the back of my calf,” I said.
“Alright. Let’s do this thing.”
We went into the back, and I stretched out across the table, readying myself for my first experience getting tattooed. Gus gleefully recreated the image on my skin, and I was grateful for him talking me through each step of it.
Finally, the process was over, and I breathed a sigh of relief as he turned off the needle. He held up a mirror for me, and I got my first look at the sunflower bursting out of the earth. It was exactly as I wanted it.
That evening after getting home, I peeled the gauze away to do the aftercare as Gus instructed me. It would need to be covered for a couple of days, so this was my only chance to show it off. I snapped a picture and sent it to Deacon.