Working Girl

The next 2 weeks flew by and I couldn’t believe we were quickly approaching Halloween. The days felt so rushed, likely due to the heavier volume of school work at this time of year. Also, with working at the bar, seeing Matt, and keeping up with track, everything felt as if it was passing by at the speed of light.

One of our girls at work quit so we were short staffed and it was starting to take its toll on me. I went into work the Monday before Halloween and felt like I was a walking zombie.

Sam looked at me with sympathy when I walked by, “Rough night?” he asked (sincerely). Not like when people say it as code for “You’re obviously hung over and look like shit.”

I forced a weak smile, “Just been a busy few weeks, can’t wait for midterms to be over” I groaned.

Sam chuckled, “Yeah, been there I don’t blame you.”

I didn’t know Sam had ever gone to school, but I reminded myself that I didn’t really know all that much about him.

“You went to U of N?” I asked as I tied my bar apron.

“Nah I went to school in Texas, I didn’t finish though. I was in my last semester of my electrical engineering degree but had to move…” he trailed off.

I assumed that the move had something to do with his late wife that Brian had mentioned but I didn’t want to seem pushy (even though I was curious).

“Wow engineering, so you probably had double the stress that my program has” I said with a smile, “So are you from Texas then?”

I had moved onto the inside of the bar and Sam was sitting doing his cash out.

“Yeah, had to move back here when Aleesha, my wife got sick.” He said, while still concentrating on sorting his receipts.

“I’m so sorry, what happened?” I wasn’t just being nosy, but was getting caught up in Sam’s energy when he mentioned her name.

He sighed as if he’d told the story many times, “We met when we were both in university, first year. We were inseparable and spent all of our time together. She wanted to get out of Nebraska so she went to school in Texas, she was taking pre med, wanted to be a paediatrician.” He paused and looked like he was counting up some totals.

I was baffled that he could multi task when telling such a personal story, but he had obviously had to repeat it on a few occasions.

He continued, “She found out she had stage 3 cervical cancer. It was too progressed to explore treatment so she wanted to spend the rest of her time here, where she grew up, so she could be with her family.”

“When did she finally-“ I started.

“She died October 2, 2012. Just over 2 years ago.” He looked up with a sad smile, “She stayed the light in my life up until the day she died. You know the whole time she was sick, she was still such a fighter and always concerned about everyone else.”

I touched his hand, “Sam, I’m so sorry, no one should have to go through that when they’re so young”

“Thanks Sarah. Sorry I unloaded that all on you,” he let out a nervous half-laugh, “sometimes it just comes flowing out when I start talking about Leesh”

“Don’t apologize, I asked…and I really am sorry that you went through that. If you ever need to talk, I’m here” I said as I squeezed his hand and let go.

“Thanks again, Sarah. Better get going, have a good shift, hopefully you do better than I did today” He said with a light laugh and rolled his eyes. I felt bad, the shitty thing about working the day shifts is little to no tips. Thankfully, Tom knew this and increased the hourly wage whenever we worked a weekday day shift.

Just after Sam left, Brian walked through the door with a familiar jingle of a collar trailing behind him. I immediately felt my mood lift when they came in.

I walked around to where they were, “Hey Bri!” I said as I gave him a hug.

“Hi honey, where have you been? We’ve missed ya!” He said while petting Bella on the head.

I bent down to greet Bella and she gently nuzzled into me, it made me giggle.

“Just crazy busy lately, I’ve been here but just not my regular shifts so I haven’t been able to catch up with my favourites” I said as I started to scratch Bella on the tummy when she rolled on her side.

“Well, we sure are glad to see Miss Sarah, aren’t we Bell?” He asked with a bright smile.

The rest of the shift went by fairly quick, we were pretty steady due to the hockey being on and it happened to be wing night so that usually guaranteed a busy night.

Tom told me I was good to cash out at about 9 so I started making sure everything was closed out when I noticed I had forgotten to close Brian’s tab.

I looked over and saw him still sitting at the bar, nursing his drink. He never stayed this long, it wasn’t like him, but I told him I was cashing out.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, sorry. My mind must be elsewhere tonight” He said with a slight chuckle and grabbed his wallet.

“No worries, you can stay as long as ya like but I’m heading out, I can transfer you to someone else if you want to stay a bit longer, I don’t wanna rush you, I just know you usually don’t stay too late.”

“Nope, I’m ready to go, bring the tab please hon” He said.

After he paid up, I moved to the “customer” side of the bar and started doing my cash out.

Brian was still sitting at this stool, fumbling with his hands and looking anxious.

I looked over at this as I started counting out my change.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

He looked a little surprised when I asked.

“Oh yeah, all good…”

I wasn’t buying it. “Brian, what’s up?” I asked with a smile.

His cheeks turned a slight shade of red as he shook his head and looked down at his empty glass, “It’s just, I’ve kinda met a lady friend. We met at a seniors game night a few months back and…I have really enjoyed her time” He explained.

He looked like a giddy school girl when he talked about her, and it made me happy to think he found a love interest, knowing a lot of widows aren’t open to it.

I raised an eyebrow at him and he continued, “Anyways, jeez I don’t know how to ask this…but you’ve mentioned you would watch Bella if I needed?” He asked shyly.

I clapped my hands, “Yes! I can watch her anytime! But I’m not following, how do these 2 relate?” I asked with a laugh.

“Well, I would like to take Catherine for an overnight stay up in a bed and breakfast, and obviously can’t bring Bella along…”

I couldn’t help but internally squeal. I mean, how cute was this? He was courting her! Men didn’t do that anymore, it was so sweet to see his romantic side. Also, getting to have Bella for a few days?! That made me ecstatic.

“Brian, I would love to! You let me know when and I will gladly take her off your hands!” I beamed to him.

He laughed and looked relieved “Thanks so much Sarah, I really appreciate it. I didn’t know what else to do, I couldn’t imagine putting her in a kennel. I was hoping to go next weekend… you are more than welcome to stay at my house with her while I’m gone or take her to your place, whatever you’re comfortable with.” He said.

I didn’t know if we were allowed pets in the building since none of us had ever asked, so I would check that out first. “I’ll let you know if we can have pets, if not I’ll watch her at your place. Either way, I’m in! I want you to have a fantastic weekend and I am so excited to have Bella!”

Brian thanked me about 5 times before he left and I told him I would call him as soon as I found out about the following weekend.

I texted Matt, telling him about my shift and how Brian asked me to watch Bella. I hoped  he didn’t think I was a huge loser for being so excited to babysit a dog.

M: That’s awesome, I’m jealous I love dogs. Why don’t you bring her here for the weekend so your apartment isn’t too crowded?

I read his text and instantly smiled – that made me even more excited. The whole weekend of spending the weekend at Matt’s and having Bella there?! 

It sounded perfect.