Broken Bells • Bishop Losa

Chapter 12: Mayan's Coffee Run

Annabelle tapped her fingers against the warm steering wheel of her new car as she waited for the high school kids to finish crossing the street. It was her first day back to work in months and even though her job had never been terribly hard as she had a knack for being able to talk any disgruntled customer to a solution, she still found herself nervous.

She parked her car next to Rosa's familiar red Toyota, she had owned the car until Rosa's last one kicked the bucket then she had sold it to her friend at a low price knowing that the young mother would need it much more than she did- which was the reason she had been walking to and from work in the first place.

The smell of fresh coffee overwhelmed Annabelle's senses and brought a sense of calm over her body like a wave. She took note that only two of the tables in the diner were currently occupied before her attention turned to the lone waitress behind the counter.

"It's good to have you back." Rosa sent her friend a bright smile before nodding toward the kitchen entrance. "Denis is here, waiting for you in his office."

Annabelle felt her nerves return as she pushed through the swinging door that led to the kitchen.

"Oh no, I'm stuck with you two again?" She groaned playfully as she came face to face with the two college students that she had worked with on many of her shifts. The wind was briefly knocked out of her lungs as the two boys rushed forward to hug her as a welcome back. "You really miss me that much?"

"We're really sorry, Annabelle."

She was quick to wave off their guilt-fueled apologies for not being there the night she was attacked. "You were sick- you do not need to apologize for that." She assured Bruce before turning her attention toward Eddie, "And if you think for one minute that I was ever going to keep you here past 11:00 then you are sorely mistaken."

Landing a solid pat on each boy's shoulders, she slipped past them into the tiny office space that her boss had set up, she was sure that at one point it had been a broom closet.

"Hey, Boss." She greeted the gray-haired man with nearly too much enthusiasm as she hung her purse and sweater on the hook behind the door. Denis looked up from the papers in front of him, reaching up to slip his sliding glasses back up his nose. Denis Navarro and his wife, Beatrice had opened the quaint diner nearly 10 years ago- owning her own business had been something on his dying wife's bucket list and he would be damned if he had not made every last one of her wishes come true before she passed. Annabelle had not gotten the pleasure of meeting the woman but knew that Beatrice had been an amazing woman according to the stories Denis had shared. He had kept the restaurant open, running it from in-house until about 4 years ago when he had passed down the reins of management onto Annabelle.

"Glad to have you back, Annie." Denis closed the finance book he had been logging the previous evening's sale information into before he stood from his seat. He hobbled around the tiny desk and pulled Annabelle into a tight hug.

"You're only happy I'm back so you can go home and not miss another episode of The Price is Right." She teased as they both pulled away from the embrace.

"I have definitely missed my peaceful days of having my ass parked in my recliner and not this god awful chair... I ordered you a new one, it should be here within a couple of days." The senior rubbed at his sore back to further express his distaste for the chair.

Annabelle stepped onto the floor in her fresh new uniform since hers had been too stained with blood and dirt to be saved and it seemed that Denis had gotten a lot done when he was forced to leave his retirement as he had chosen new uniforms for his employees. The old-school yellow diner dresses had been replaced with black blouses that had yellow stitching of 'Navarros' on the breast pocket, the staff having the choice of wearing a similarly styled skirt or a pair of black pants- Annabelle felt much more comfortable being able to finally wear pants while she worked. The heels of her shoes clicked against the white tiled floor as she glided from table to table, feeling as if she had never left in the first place. The rush had seemed to hold off until about 10:00 pm, soon all of the tables had been filled by night owls and kids wanting a quiet place to hang out. It seemed as though Rosa had passed on the message that Annabelle was supposed to be taking it as easy as she possibly could because Katarina- the other waitress on shift had insisted that Annabelle merely act as a hostess and fill drink orders for the evening.