chapter 73

chapter 12. Diner Encounter BELLE The rest of the evening was a blur. That was one nice thing about working at the diner; it kept you busy enough that time moved quickly. There wasn’t a single moment when I didn’t have something to do. I was grateful for it, even if I was exhausted by the end of the day. It kept me distracted from my own thoughts. It was dark now and well past 10 p.m. I groaned as I looked at the clock. I still had two more hours of my shift left. I wouldn’t mind being the only waitress on the floor if I were with Tommy—hardly anyone comes in after eight anyway—but Bert was a different story. He always knew just what to say to make me feel uncomfortable. His favorite thing to talk to me about was my appearance—how I looked in my uniform, that I would look better if I put on some makeup, that I looked just like one of his ex-girlfriends, and so on. Today it had been, “I wish you would smile at me the way you do with the customers. C’mon, give me a smile, b