Loving You

II. Exhausted

Thursday, December 3rd, 2015

"Go on home, kiddo," Gran demanded, settling her toughest glare on me. "That baby can barely keep her eyes open." The old woman's scolding was halfhearted as she took the heavy toddler from my arms while I shook my head disobediently.

"I can't just let you run the diner by yourself." I gathered my daughter's toys from the staff room's floor and threw them all into the toybox Hugh and his dad, Gus, built for Bexley as a present for her first birthday.

Gran tried to hide her smile at the sentiment, though her thick eyebrows were still furrowed together as she rocked my sleeping little girl in her arms. "You were supposed to get the night off tonight," she reminded, her voice as steely as she could make it.

I shrugged, pretending I didn't care. "It's alright. I need the money. Besides, it's not Todd's fault his wife gave their whole house food poisoning again."

"Can it, kid." Gran snorted brashly, tossing my coat to me. "I want you to go home and relax. You haven't stopped running around since you moved into the new place." She raised an eyebrow pointedly as I shrugged on my jacket, hoping the next person through the front door was Knox, ready to start his shift.

The truth to Gran's words had my shoulders sagging as I took my daughter from her arms. "I know. But I have to, I'm still in debt up to my ears and-"

"Stop it. I really mean it, Aspen. I want you to take a break and relax. In fact, I'm firing you for the weekend." My gaze snapped to the smug expression on her face.

"You can't do that!" I hissed frantically. "The weekends are when I get the best tips."

Gran rolled her dark brown eyes and shook her head, nudging me toward the side exit. "Call it a paid weekend then." She wouldn't let up as she pushed me out into the chilly December evening. "Oh, and Gus told me to thank you for helping him put up the holiday decorations yesterday." Her voice carried across the parking lot, and I felt her eyes on me as I traipsed carefully over the icy street toward the same beat-up old truck that I'd driven into town that very first day.

"Tell him it was my pleasure! Goodbye. Love you!" I strapped my sleeping toddler in and went around to the driver's side of the truck, jumping inside and slamming the door before Gran could reply. Waving to her through the frost covered window, I finally drove away from the diner, feeling guilty I hadn't spent more time with my little girl.

The winding, icy, drive to the little ranch I'd practically killed myself scrimping and saving to afford, was cold and lonely, weaving down secluded roads until I reached my prized possession. I'd had to beg Mr. Gillman six times to keep it off the market until I could make up the deposit money, and even then, the last time he'd practically had a purple vein sticking out of his head when he finally agreed not to list it again. I'd tried so hard to make up the money on my own, and in the end, I'd still been forced to get a bank loan. If there was one good piece of advice that my father, Sam's, distant wife had ever imparted to me, it was to never take a loan from anyone. It was just too bad I hadn't heeded the warning.

"You're late," Soren grumbled from the couch when I managed to get Bexley out of her car seat and into the fixer upper that I'd practically sold my soul to afford. I shut the door gently behind me, carrying the heavy toddler into the living room, and settling her on the armchair that I reclined across from him.

"I had to help Gran out at the diner. The dinner rush was insane tonight. Full of asshole tourists." I dropped onto the couch beside my best friend and stretched out as much as possible.

Soren glowered, running a hand through his short, messy, dark hair. In almost the same moment, Bexley's golden retriever, Duke, barked happily and jumped into his lap, slobbering all over the place, before bounding over to where my toddler slept, curling up next to her. "That dog's a menace." He wiped the drool from his face and turned his glare back to me. "You were supposed to be having a day off."