All I Have to Give

Chapter 7

"Shit..." Sarah mumbled to herself as she rushed around the house for her keys.  She frowned deeply as she tossed a pile of fresh laundry across the bed, hastily searching for the purple puff ball keychain; hoping she had accidentally left it on the bed when she brought her laundry into the bedroom. 

Sarah huffed to herself as she pushed the pile of clothes off to the side and lifted her blankets.  She brushed back the strands of hair that lightly tickled her cheeks and sighed of relief as the keys were revealed underneath her soft throw blanket.  Curling her fingers around the keyring, she glanced at the clock beside her bed and scowled.  It was almost 5pm...she was over an hour late for work. 

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply as she ran her fingers through her tangled black hair.  Scooping her hair up into her hands, she scurried across the room to grab a blue scrunchie and curled it into a loose bun on top of her head.  Grabbing her purse and sliding on her sneakers, she quickly went down the hallway, passing by her boyfriend, Keith, who was passed out on the couch with a beer can still in his hand.  Sarah sighed to herself as she turned the doorknob and carefully crept out the door, careful not to wake him.  She didn't feel like dealing with his drunken rage. 

Her day had already taken a rough turn when she woke up late for work.  Her first mistake was taking a nap in the middle of the day, but it was the only way she could get away from Keith for a few hours.  It was his day off and he was picking fights with her over the smallest things.  Today was the day she had planned to be productive before going to her short evening shift, but as usual, Keith ruined her plans.

As she quietly shut the door behind her, she rushed down the driveway to her car and unlocked the door.  Sliding into the driver's seat, she tossed her purse into the passenger seat and slammed the door as she pressed her foot on the brake pedal.  Sarah slid on her seatbelt and shoved her key into the ignition, turning it quickly and frowning as it didn't turn over.

"Ugh!  Come on!" she exclaimed as she gave the ignition another try.  The car whirred slowly as she continued to mess with the ignition, pressing harder on the brake pedal.  "Dammit, Keith...you said you were going to fix this!"  Sarah grunted to herself and tried one more time and the car started effortlessly.  "Thank God," she muttered as she put the car in reverse and backed out the driveway before shifting into drive and speeding in the direction of her work.

When she arrived at the restaurant, she let out a loud sigh as she saw the parking lot was full.  It was nearing the end of the dinner rush, but there were still lots of customers in the lobby.  Frowning to herself, she quickly got out of the car and  rushed inside.  She hastily walked into the break room and threw her purse into her locker.  Sarah muttered to herself as slammed the locker shut, tying on her apron as she made her way behind the service bar.  She caught sight of a judgmental glance from Kyle, the shift manager.  Sarah scowled as she tightened the straps of her apron around her waist.

"You're almost two hours late.  It's about time you showed up," Kyle stated sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, okay!" Sarah replied with a loud sigh.

"If you expect me to give that recommendation of a promotion, your chances aren't looking good at the moment.

Sarah held up her hand in dismissal and shook her head.  "Spare me the lecture, Kyle.  It was a one time thing and it won't happen again," she stated as she pulled on the bottom of her shirt to make it line up with the hemline of her apron.

Kyle shook his head in disbelief and muttered under his breath as he grabbed a bucket full of dirty dishes.  Sarah ignored his grumbling as he tucked the bucket under his arm and handed her an order pad.  Snatching it from his hand, she shoved it into the pocket of her apron and walked away from him before he could say another word.  Running a hand over her face, she stepped over to the drink station and began preparing pitchers of sweet and unsweet tea.  As she filled up the first pitcher, she looked up to see Rachel approaching her with a cart full of empty dish bins.  She set the cart against the wall and smiled at Sarah.