Fate's Cruel Hand

Chapter 7

Lise

I stood at the front counter of Courtney's restaurant watching the clock. The second hand was ticking away at the last minutes of my shift. A glance around the restaurant showed Olivia cleaning up the last few tables. All the customers had already left as it was three minutes to closing time, and I was exhausted.

Olivia finished wiping down the last table and started towards me, a stack of plates balanced in one hand a few cups in the other. She walked past me and into the back, probably to start the dishes. I sighed and looked at the clock again, it had only been 30 seconds! How could time possibly be moving this slowly? A tap at my shoulder startled me and I whipped around, suddenly possessing a burst of energy.

"Olivia!" I protested when I saw that it was her standing behind me.

"Sorry, Lise I didn't mean to scare you." I waved her apology off,

"I know, did you need help?"

"No, I've got it." She paused, "In fact, go home Lise. You're obviously exhausted and you need your rest before your shift tomorrow"

I started to protest but she slapped her hand over my mouth and glared at me,

"As the responsible one in this relationship, I am ordering you to go home and spend time with your son and cousin and then go to bed and sleep." I raised an eyebrow and attempted to pull her hand off me, but she was stronger than I was at the moment so I did the completely mature thing and just licked her hand. She jumped back and shrieked wiping it on her apron,

"Lise! That's so gross!" I started to laugh and she glared at me again, "You're so childish" she muttered. I shrugged,

"You love me anyway"

"Sometimes I question my sanity when I made that decision" I laughed at her antics. She looked back up at me and suddenly things were serious again,

"But seriously Lise, go home. I'll close up here" I wanted to do as she said so badly but I couldn't leave her to close by herself, she would be here for another hour at the least.

"But-" she raised an eyebrow in a way that silently communicated to me. Do you really want to argue with me? Because even if you try I will kick your butt out of here and lock the door. I sighed, "Alright, but only if you let me close for you sometime this week" Olivia shook her head making a shooing motion at me with her hands.

"Go on, get out of here. We can discuss that later," I smiled at her,

"Thank you." She just shooed me away faster. I chuckled, "I'm going, I'm going."

I bent down to reach the lockers that were stored under the counter and quickly put the combination in and opened mine. I removed my apron and folded it gently setting it into the locker. I took the envelope out and held it gently. I still couldn't believe Courtney had just handed me so much money like it was nothing. I would have to pay her back when I could. I stood and looked to Olivia who hadn't moved.

"Thanks again"

"Your welcome, now get your butt out that door and onto the bus." I did as she said and walked back to the bus stop a few streets over. A quick glance at my phone showed that there were 10 minutes until Laurie got here. I also had several text messages from Asher.

Hey, just got off work, headed to pick Zak up now

Just got Zak... He's so cute! This message had a picture attached to it. I clicked on the file to open it and laughed out loud. It was a photo taken from the side of Asher with Zak on his shoulders, but Zak had leaned down over his head and was making silly faces at him.