His Secret Baby

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Millie

“How long do you think that thing is?” Rachel asked, as we all looked through the large window of the diner where we’d all worked for forever.

“I’m not that good a judge of things like that, but I think it’s like twenty feet or so,” Laurie said.

“It’s longer than that,” I said as I watched the huge RV cruise slowly down the main street. “And you know that thing must have cost the owner tons of money.”

“It’s brand new, I bet,” Rachel said as she wiped a table down while looking out the window.

“It sure looks like it,” Laurie said. She leaned on the handle of the broom she’d been using to clean up after the lunch rush. “Who do you think that is anyway? A country singing star?”

“They have their names on the things they ride in,” I said. “And they ride in busses, not RVs. It has to be someone with money, though. But, other than someone in the music biz, who would come here?”

“We got beer and polka dancing, but not much else,” Rachel mused. “Maybe it’s a polka band coming to play at Benny’s tonight.”

“Not in that,” I said. “It’s got to be someone big. Way bigger than any polka band.” I laughed as I thought about something. “We don’t even know if that thing is gonna stop here. I doubt it will. Why would it? What does Shiner have to offer whoever is in that gorgeous mansion on wheels?”

Laurie laughed too. “Yeah, like whoever is in there is gonna come here. What would their reason be? Come to see if our chicken fried steak is better than the last tiny town’s?”

“Well, it is better than anything else you can get around here. Yoakum ain’t got s**t on us where chicken fried steak is concerned,” Rachel said with a smirk.

“It’s a bigger town than ours, Rachel,” I reminded her. “So, it does have s**t on us.”

“This town is famous,” Laurie said. “Yoakum ain’t famous.”

They were getting way off topic, as usual. So, I brought the conversation back to where it had been before they threw it off track. “I haven’t even ever been inside something that nice. Have any of y’all?”

“Hell, no,” Laurie said. “Ain’t none of us been inside anything that nice. Never will either. Things like that—well, we ain’t supposed to know about any of it.”

“Why not?” I asked. “Why not us?”

“Cause we’re small-town people, Millie,” Rachel stated. “People like us don’t get to even see the inside of something like that.”

“Hey, it’s turning toward the high school,” Laurie said.

The cook, Freddie, came out from the kitchen. “What are y’all gawking out the window at?” He wiped his hands on his greasy white apron as he came to find out what we were doing. “Ain’t y’all got a mess to clean up after that lunch rush? You gals shouldn’t have time to stare out the window.” Suddenly, his eyes caught what had taken our attention. “Oh s**t! Would you look at that? What a beauty she is.”

“Why do men call all things mechanical she?” I asked. “I don’t get it.”

“Girls ain’t meant to get it,” he said with a grin, revealing his missing front tooth.

“You ever seen anything like that in Shiner before, Freddie?” Laurie asked, her eyes glued to the majestic thing.

“Hell, no. s**t like that doesn’t come around these parts, girl. It looks like it’s headed to the school, though. Maybe the governor is in there. Maybe he’s gonna speak at the school.”

“You’re an i***t,” Rachel said with a smirk. “If the governor was coming here, then there would be reporters everywhere. Haven’t you ever watched the news? That’s how things like that work. He doesn’t miss a chance to get the media to record whatever he does. It’s got to be someone else.”

The RV did not stop. Instead, it drove past the school, giving us an excellent view of its back. Which was still pretty amazing. “It’s leaving town.” I looked away and walked toward the back, where I still had things to do. “We might as well get back to work.”

“What would a life like that be like?” Laurie asked as she moved the broom to sweep up the crumbs left by our guests.

“Who the hell out of us would know, Laurie?” Freddie asked as he opened the door and stepped outside. “Hey, it’s turning into the RV park over there. I can barely see it from here, but it sure looks like that to me.”

Going back to the front, I walked outside with the rest of them, craning my neck and squinting my eyes to see if what Freddie had said was actually true. “No way. There’s no way anyone who has a thing like that would stay here.”

“Hey, what about the people who own the brewery?” Laurie asked. “Maybe it’s them. They got loads of money.”

“They also have a home here. So, it’s not them,” I pointed out. “But who the heck could it be?”

“They’ve stopped,” Freddie said. “In front of the office. I bet they’re just asking for directions, is all.”

“You know that thing must have GPS,” I said. “But there’s no way they’re gonna stay there. That place is a shithole.”

“It’s the best this town has to offer,” Rachel said, moving up to her tiptoes. “I can barely see it. What’s going on? Are they parking it or pulling back out of there? Like, what could they be doing over there?”

“It’s still parked,” I said. But I knew they wouldn’t be staying. No one driving a thing that nice would have anything to do here.”

“I still think it’s a country singer. Maybe not someone from Nashville, but someone from here in Texas,” Laurie said. “You know, one of Texas’ own.”

“We would know if anyone worth a hoot was playing at the bar tonight,” Rachel said.

Freddie nodded in agreement. “Tonight, my cousin Louie is the DJ down there. Which reminds me that we all should go down there tonight.”

“I’m off tomorrow,” I said, looking at Rachel, who was also off the following day. “Wanna go together?”

“Who’s gonna watch my kids, Millie?” She had two of them, and they were as rowdy as a box full of puppies.

“Maybe I can talk my little sister into watching them,” I offered. “What you gonna pay?”

“All I’ve got is a twenty for that.” Shaking her head, she said, “I doubt she’ll do it for that. Momma’s had them all day, so I know she won’t watch them. And you know how we get, girl. We’ll be out all night. There’s no way your sister will take twenty to watch them all night long.”

“Who knows?” I said. “She might. I’ll ask her if you want.”

“If she agrees, then sure,” she said. “I’ll be your date, Millie.”

“I’ll let you know later about what she says. I don’t wanna go alone.”

“I’ll be there,” Freddie said, then winked. “I’ll be your date, Millie.”

There was no way that was going to happen. “Um, thanks, Freddie, but I don’t want anyone in this town to get the wrong idea. Rumors could spread like wildfire.”

“That’s okay with me,” he said, then blew me a kiss.

And that’s exactly why I can’t go with you.

“Anyway,” Rachel said to break the awkwardness. “If she says she’ll do it, I’ll come by and pick her up and take her to my place to watch them, then I’ll bring her back home in the morning.”

“I’ll let her know and see if she’ll do it.” The RV began moving, and I found my mouth hanging open. “No way.”

“Are they pulling in?” Laurie asked. “Are they gonna stay the night here in Shiner?”

“I think they must be staying,” I whispered. “Who knows? They might even come over here to eat. They were sure going slow when they went past here.”

“You girls better get this place spic-and-span then,” Freddie said. “And the manager is gonna be here soon too. All this lollygagging around needs to stop.”

“You too, Freddie,” I said as I walked back inside, feeling butterflies moving around in my stomach with the excitement of what might happen if the people who were in that fancy RV did come to our diner. “That kitchen is a greasy mess. Get it cleaned up. I can smell the old grease you’ve been using. Go pour it out and put some new oil in the fryers. We need to make this place sparkle if they’re gonna show up here. What if they’re famous or something, and they talk about our place being a filthy dump?”

“We might all lose our jobs!” Laurie shouted as she got to work sweeping the floor. “I’ve got the floors.”

“I’ve got the tables,” Rachel said. “And I’ll make sure the checkout counter is clean too.”

“I’ll tackle the bathrooms,” I said. “Let’s make this place shine. It ain’t often that we have guests of their stature in here. It might even be some bloggers, for all we know. This could be something! This could land our little diner and the town of Shiner on the map if we all work hard to make their experience a great one.”

“We are already on the map, Millie,” Rachel said. “The brewery, remember?”

“Yeah.” I did remember the brewery. But the town could use more. The lunch rush had consisted of two older couples who always ate lunch here on Tuesdays and Fridays. There had been quite a few workers from the brewery too. All locals. No out-of-towners come to see our famous brewery. Only the locals kept the diner open.

I’d worked at the diner since I was sixteen. It had been around for years before that too. We were a mainstay for the locals. But they gave lousy tips, and us waitresses only made a few dollars an hour. There was no way any of us girls were going to get rich or even close to being in the middle class with the job. But it was our home—our town. And we didn’t want to leave it behind. So, we made it work.

“They probably won’t come here,” Laurie said as she looked at all of us. “But if they do, who will get to wait on them?”

Rachel and I exchanged glances as Laurie bit her lower lip. Whoever waited on their table was sure to get a good tip. Maybe even a great one.

“Hey,” I said as an idea came to me. “How about we all help out with them? One of us can be the main waitress, but the other two can help in other ways too. I can help Freddie in the back to make sure the plates not only taste great but look great too.”

Rachel looked at me with discriminating eyes. “Yeah, your hair is a mess right now. Plus, you’ve got a gravy stain on the front of your shirt.”

I looked down and found a brown patch right in the middle of my white shirt. “Dang it! I didn’t even see that there.” Running my hands through my hair, I felt the tangles. “Out of you two, I’m going to have to say that Laurie looks the best. So, she should wait on them. Rachel, you can help out by making their drinks and getting their appetizers ready so that they won’t have to wait long at all.”

“They’ll give me the tip,” Laurie said. “And then I’ll split it three ways, between all of us.”

Through the kitchen window, Freddie shouted, “What about me? What do I get out of this?”

“You get paid more than we do, is what you get,” I shouted right back at him. “We don’t even get minimum wage.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. I’ll shut up.”

“So, let’s get busy,” I said, then went to clean the restrooms.

We all busted a*s for the next half hour. Luckily, no other customers came in while we were working so hard. Just as I came out of the women’s bathroom, cleaners in both hands and sweat dripping off my forehead, I saw a tall figure walking down the sidewalk. “Someone’s coming!”

Freddie looked out of the kitchen window. “I saw someone walking out of the entrance to the RV park. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want you girls to freak out.”

“Damn it, Freddie!” Rachel shouted as she pulled the rubber band from her disarrayed ponytail and redid it. “You should’ve warned us.”

Laurie looked into the mirror behind the counter, fixing her hair and practicing her best smile. “Welcome to the Shiner Diner, y’all.”

“It’s just the one guy,” Freddie called out from the kitchen.

“Oh, okay then,” Laurie said. “Welcome to the Shiner Diner, you.”

“Just say the first part and leave the other out,” Rachel said.

I ran around the corner to the kitchen, the door swinging shut behind me. Just then, the bell rang as the door opened. The silence stunned me as Laurie didn’t say a thing, and neither did Rachel.

What the f**k, guys?

“You work here?” the deep voice of a man asked.

I ran my hand over my face with agitation spreading through me. “She’s gonna mess this whole thing up,” I whispered.

“Um, huh?” Laurie asked.

“You have on a uniform of sorts,” the man said. “So, do you work here?”

“Um, sure,” she said.

The sound of something crashing to the floor made me flinch as Rachel screamed, “God damn it!”

“You okay back there?” the man asked.

“Um, yes,” Rachel said. “Laurie, seat him.”

“Oh, yeah,” she said as if she’d forgotten what her job was. “You want to, you know, sit?”

Holy s**t! What’s going on out there?

“I was going to want to sit down and eat, but I’m not sure now. This place is clean and all, but you got a s**t show going on here. Is the cook as dingy as you girls are?”

Laurie didn’t say a thing. Neither did Rachel. I couldn’t believe what was happening. But then Laurie finally spoke, “You from that fancy RV we saw come into town?”

“Do you always ask your customers personal questions?” he asked. “What’s wrong with you? Who the hell is in charge here? Anyone at all? Look, I wanted to try your chicken fried steak, but you and your little dish-breaking cohort back there don’t seem to be very good at anything so far. Think you can pull yourselves out of whatever stupor you two are in so that I can have some f*****g food? Or do I need to go elsewhere?”

There’s no need to be rude!