Both of them got off their stools and headed for the slider. Before she stepped out on the deck, Divi turned and defiantly said, “I’ll be back.” She slammed the door shut behind her.
A half hour later, I parked at the restaurant and went inside. The place was packed. I was usually there later in the morning after the rush hour, I guess. Donna was frazzled as she hurried around from customer to customer taking orders and delivering meals. She grinned at me when I came in and motioned toward my usual table that happened to be vacant at the moment. Donna returned to the kitchen with another order as I sat down facing away from the window behind me. I had no sooner got my ass in the booth when Donna’s sister Sylvia slid down the bench seat across from me. She immediately leaned across the table and said, “What are your intentions with my baby sister?”
I was stunned by her question and my mouth opened and closed like a goldfish in a fish tank a few times. She just stared at me waiting for my answer. She had a stern look on her face and I knew she wasn’t just fucking with me. She was serious. I gathered myself and said, “I have no ill intentions. I just asked her out on a date. We had a wonderful evening and she stayed the night.” I knew that she knew all that already. I offered nothing more and waited for her next question. I knew where she was going with her interrogation.
Donna came out of the kitchen brushing back stray hairs from her face and then she stopped short as she looked over at me. She practically threw the plates at a couple across the room and then hurried over to my table. Sylvia looked at her as she pushed her way into the booth beside her sister and seethed out, “Sylvi! God damn it. What are you doing?”
Sylvia looked across the table at me and without looking back at her sister, casually said, “I’m looking out for our interests.”
Tears burst from Donna’s eyes and she turned to me and said, “I’m so sorry about this Jack.” She looked around the room and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She looked back at her sister with disdain in her eyes and whispered, “Sylvi. You’ve fucked up your life. Stop trying to fuck up mine.” She wiped her eyes again and looked across the table at me and said, “Jack. Maybe you should go. I’ll come over to your house after my shift ends and explain all this to you. There are obviously some things you need to know.”
I hesitated for a moment, deciding whether to comply or not and then reached for my wallet, pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and set it on the table as I pushed out of the booth to my feet. Other customers were motioning for Donna’s attention and she pushed out of the booth too. She whispered, “I’ll see you around two,” as she turned back to her customers. I went out the door and when I looked back through the big window, Sylvia was still sitting in the booth watching me go. I was glad she wasn’t chasing me back to my car. I had some idea about what that was all about and I was already starting to process how I felt about it.