Alfredo's - Pretentious Volume 1

Chapter 5

Danny ran a comb through his hair. The door flew open, and he almost crashed into Mama on his way into Alfredo's for the lunch shift. Her eyes were red, and she wiped at her nose with a tissue, but she was wearing the same smile she always wore, as if he wouldn't notice. Apologizing, he cleared his throat and worked to control his features. She wouldn't tell him what was wrong if he asked her.

She ran her hands down the folds of her dress. "You're off tonight, what are you going to do?" she asked.

Danny smiled despite the misgivings of the moment and kissed her on the cheek.

"I have a date."

"Ah, with Aryn?"

Danny looked at her, surprised. "How did you know?"

Mama chuckled. "I think everyone knows, son. The way you two fawn over each other. It's about time."

Danny laughed. "I didn't realize I was that obvious; I'll try to be more subtle from now on."

Mama shrugged. "It's alright. As long as you remember the rules. You're not the only one that's fawning, Aryn does it too." She smoothed his hair, "I don't blame her. I could never resist your father either."

Danny's cheeks warmed.

"I need to get going," Mama said. "Have fun on your date if I don't see you before you leave."

Danny kissed her again, and she rushed across the street.

Danny unlocked the office, turned on the light, and looked around. If Mama was running to the bank, she wouldn't be back for a while. He sat at the desk and pulled out the ledger of their accounts. Mama hadn't done payroll, and she wasn't going to make the mortgage. He sighed, he wasn't going to be paid for the last two weeks and hadn't been for the last month. He didn't mind really; it was just a little disheartening sometimes.

The restaurant was finally pulling a profit, and they still weren't ahead. He scanned through the most recent pages. Mama had taken an advance from the restaurant. He sat there staring into space seeing nothing for a few minutes; there were no flowers in the house this week. He should have known something was wrong. But the advance shouldn't have caused this big of a problem.

He looked through the pages again. The ice machine had broken and had to be fixed, and he found a past due tax bill. Geez, Mama. Well, he had been saving, and he could take care of this problem. He knew what the advance was for, Mama had spent a tremendous amount of money getting Becky set up in Ithaca. An apartment in a neighborhood she approved of, furniture, clothes, tuition, groceries, books, the list was extensive. When Becky escaped, she did it in style.

Locking the office, Danny went upstairs, opened his dresser drawer and pulled out an envelope. Except for school clothes, he hadn't had the time to spend much money lately and hadn't made it to the bank in a few months. He pulled out the money Mama needed and stuffed the envelope away. It didn't leave him with much for his date, maybe enough for the taxi if he was lucky. He looked at his watch, he wouldn't make the bank before they closed, and he had given his debit card to Becky in case of an emergency. He waited tables; he didn't need access to much cash. The theatre was paid for, but he wouldn't have money for dinner.

Returning to the office, he grabbed the ledger and placed the cash inside as Garrett came through the door. Danny slammed the book shut and stopped breathing.

"Hey Danny, we're going to need--.

Garret stopped.

Realizing it was only Garrett, Danny finished what he was doing and put things back the way he had found them.