Shadows Rising (Darkness Falls Book 2)

Chapter Twelve

My first shift at the Waffle House ran like clockwork. There'd been a time when I didn't like dealing with people, too afraid that they'd see past my normal façade and into my scarred soul, but I seemed to have shed those fears now. A private smile warmed my lips. I had the feeling Luke was to thank for that. When he'd shown me a different way of life to the one I was accustomed to, he changed a lot of things about me.

I got one or two orders wrong, but the customers seemed to realise it was my first day and they were surprisingly accommodating.

For all her other faults, Georgia proved a very competent teacher. I'd expected her to try and mess with me, maybe show me how to do everything wrong so I'd screw up and get fired, but she didn't. It almost made me feel bad for thinking so little of her. Almost, but not quite. After all, my low opinion was based on all the vile things she'd said to me over the months that we'd shared college.

Once or twice I caught a glimpse of familiar dislike flashing through her eyes, and expected the usual venom to spew from her tongue, but she stayed strangely silent. I'd never known why Georgia had taken such a vehement and unwarranted dislike to me. We'd never even spoken before she formed an opinion of me, and it had only got worse after Luke and I got together. Georgia had fruitlessly pursued Luke in the past and she seemed to blame me for the fact that he wasn't interested, never mind that he hadn't been interested in her long before he met me.

Things had reached a head a few weeks ago. It was just after Sophie's death, and I was strung out on grief over her loss, anger at Caleb for having caused it, and fear that he was going to find Luke and finish what he'd started with that crossbow. Georgia had got in my face once too often, and I responded by slamming her into a wall and threatening her. I wouldn't say I was exactly proud of that moment, but it seemed to have had a lasting effect on my nemesis. She showed me how to work the till, how best to address customers, how everything worked in the kitchen, and dozens of other things I needed to know, but she refrained from slipping in her usual snarky comments, and she made sure never to stand too close to me.

Once Georgia had made me feel like a freak, an outcast. Now I simply didn't care what she thought of me.

The afternoon sped past, and the sky outside the huge window-front opposite the counter darkened to slate-grey dusk. Luke would probably just be waking up. Thinking of him in bed, just starting to stir, or maybe sitting up and stretching, made me tingle all over. I couldn't wait to get home to him.

As I wiped down a sticky patch on the countertop where someone had spilled their milkshake, I couldn't help pondering about the fact that I had college tomorrow. Arthur had already offered me another shift in the morning and I'd accepted it, regardless of my college hours. The two wouldn't overlap, but I'd have to go straight to college after I finished at the Waffle House. The hard work didn't bother me - I was no stranger to that - but I was starting to wonder if it was worth continuing with college. I'd fought tooth and nail to be allowed to go, back when I was living with the team, determined to carve out a tiny slice of normality for myself, but now my life had taken a turn I could never have anticipated. I just couldn't see how college was going to benefit me now. I wouldn't drop out without giving it some serious thought, but I could work more hours and earn more money if my time wasn't taken up with college classes.

Of course I needed to be realistic about the whole situation. Arthur would be paying me above minimum wage, but I still wouldn't earn enough to support myself, let alone Luke. Even once he found his own job and started contributing to our savings, we wouldn't be getting a property any time soon.

I firmly told myself that that was all in the future anyway. I couldn't solve everything at once - one problem at a time.

"Excuse me? Can I get a banana milkshake?" called a pretty blonde woman, leaning half over the counter to get my attention.