DYSFUNCTIONAL LOVE

Chapter 2

Black dress, black shoes, black sunglasses. The general uniform everyone wears to a funeral.
It's been almost a week since Jessie died and I still can't process that fact.
Jessie is dead. She's really dead....and it happened less than three feet away from me.

Who would want to kill her? Someone so sweet and thoughtful. The only person who actually remembered my birthday. How could someone just take her life?

I wiped the tears from my face when I heard my moms footsteps

"Hey Heaven.... How was the funeral?"

I shrugged without looking at her.
"It was okay I guess.

"How's Megan doing?"

I couldn't even answer that question. Jessie's sister didn't even show her face at the funeral.
How can she live with this without even saying goodbye?

"Did you need anything mama?"

"I just wanted to know if you were going to go to work today. I'm sure Miss April would give you some more time off"

Miss April, the owner at the little hole in the wall diner, "Little Miss Steaks" had been cutting me some slack ever since the shooting. As much as I would like to stay home in bed all day, we need the money. Five days in a row without working was definitely going to set us back.

"I already talked to her. Told her I would be in later today." I said as I started getting my uniform together for work.

My mom stood in the doorway of my bedroom "Well your father and I wanted to talk to you"

I rolled my eyes. "What do you and Greg want to talk about?"

"Heaven don't do that. He's still your father"

I whipped my head towards her. "Oh really? Since when?"

She snapped off at me. "That's enough! I'm tired of this grudge you have with your father. He's done nothing to you."

I laughed a little. "That's the point. He's done NOTHING. You're working two jobs and I'm balancing high school and a job of my own. What does he do?"

She looked at me without saying anything.

I shook my head. "I have to go." I started walking towards the door.

"Heaven! I need to talk to you!"

By the time she got her last word out I was already out the door. I couldn't listen to another word.
How can she seriously defend Greg in all of this? What makes him so great? Is it the bottle of brown liquor he chugs, or the lines of cocaine he snorts on a daily?

I walked over to Little Miss Steaks. Not even caring that I was two hours early for my shift.

"Hey Diamond! What are you doing here so early?" Miss April greeted me with her big voice and big smile just like always.

She started calling me Diamond the second day I started working here.
Said I was her "Diamond in a rough", whatever that means.

"Hey Miss April. Sorry, I didn't even realize what time it was." Miss April always knew when I was lying. She knew what my home life was like.

But she didn't question me any further.
"Well, since your here, grab an apron and get to work."

I loved working at Little Miss Steaks. It was my only escape from this hell hole called reality.
The only place I was guaranteed a loving environment and a hot meal everyday.

Manny, our cook, broke my train of thought.
"You got somebody that just sat down in your section"

I looked over at the man sitting in the corner booth, and for a minute my feet were glued to the floor.

Tall, dark, and handsome.
That's the easiest way to describe him.
He stood out for other reasons too.
His teeth were pearl white. Not filled with gold and silver like most of the other guys around our way.
He didn't wear saggy jeans, and fresh Jordan's.
His suit and tie with his crisp white collar shirt looked like it was fresh from the cleaners.
No big oversized chain. Just a small cross piece that laid neatly against his chest.
His earring studs reflected off light and sparkled.
Real diamonds.
His hair was freshly cut.

I smoothed my clothes out before walking over to his table.
"Welcome to Little Miss Steaks. I'll be your server. Can I get you started with something to drink?"

"Just coffee, black please."
He didn't even look up from his newspaper as he spoke to me.
Who the hell still reads the newspaper anyway?

"Okay. Do you need another minute to look over the menu?"
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. A little annoyed that he still hadn't even glanced up from his paper.

"Chicken fried steak. Extra gravy. Two slices of honey ham."
His cell phone went off at that point and he started sending a text.

I took a better look at his face. He was handsome, but mature looking. Definitely a bit older than me.
He must have been married or something.
I took a look at his left hand, no wedding band.
As I'm skimming over him looking for some sort of indication of a wife or a girlfriend I didn't even realize that he had finally looked up at me.

"Was there something else you needed....Diamond???"

I forgot that Miss April had made my name tag with her nickname for me on it. I was too nervous to give him my real name so I just went with it.
"Ummm no. Sorry. I'll be right back with your coffee."

What the hell was wrong with me? I stumbled over my words like some shy Junior High school girl who was talking to her crush for the first time.

I was so nervous that I tripped over my own feet and stumbled a little.
I prayed to God that by some miracle he didn't see it.
But the smirk I saw on his face as I glanced back told me otherwise.

Great, he thinks I'm stupid and clumsy.

You would think that would have been enough for me to call it quits and just accept that he was out of my league.
But there was just something about him.
I needed to know more.

He couldn't be from around here. I definitely would have noticed him.
Is he here on business? That would explain the suit.
Is he married?
If not, why?
All of these questions ran through my head as I looked at his mature, yet handsome face.

I guess a good place to start would be his name.

I turned to walk back towards the kitchen.
Not even realizing that the mystery man was staring at me the whole way.