Following My Toes (16 page)

“How long have they been going out?”

“A few months. They met here, actually. He owns a shop rather close by, so he comes in a lot. Anyway, they started dating, and Ethan swept her off her feet. Things were going great, until Glenn got pregnant.”

“What? Glenn’s pregnant?”

“Not anymore.” Sally struggled to get her next words out, as I silently cursed myself for feeling relieved. “She had a miscarriage. But when Ethan found out she was going to have a baby, he broke up with her.”

“No way.”

“It was awful,” continued Sally. “Glenn was heartbroken. Then, when she had the miscarriage, she was even worse. I thought my poor girl was going to fall apart. It was all I could do not to shake the life out of that boy myself. The final straw, however, was when Ethan wanted to get back together once he heard she was no longer pregnant.”

“Oh my God!” My head was reeling—Ethan was the evil one and Glenn was to be pitied.

“And what really blows my mind, Faith, is that she took him back! I’m not sure exactly what the status of their relationship is. They don’t seem to be as close as they used to. But they meet here every morning. I told Glenn he was no longer welcome, but she raised such a fi t that I caved in. I’ll be polite to him, but that’s it. And if you’re smart, you’ll stay away from him. I’m telling you, Faith; he’s bad news. If you want a boyfriend, go after Bill. He’s nice, stable, and has a good job. I keep hoping Glenn will find him attractive.”

I nodded my head in agreement and left it at that. There was no point in complicating the situation even more by telling Sally about my date with Ethan. I vowed to myself to put all thoughts of Ethan out of my mind, once and for all.

But on that morning of my fourth day, he came in a couple of minutes early, without Glenn. Sally had left, having decided I was doing well enough on my own to handle the place. Ethan walked up to the counter, and handed me his stainless steel cup. Without a word I filled it with French Roast and handed it back to him.

“Have you found a teaching job yet?” He asked as he gave me a dollar for the coffee.

“No.” I replied.

“Well, I hope you don’t mind, but I gave my aunt your number. She’ll probably be calling you. She runs a charter school in
South Minneapolis
, and she’s looking for an English teacher. I told her about you, and she said she wants to do an interview.”

It isn’t easy to give someone the silent treatment when that person is trying to give you exactly what you want. I gave up with little fight.

“What did you say about me?”

“That you seem smart, and honest, and you’re eager to find something. Oh, and that you love teaching. That’s important to her. She wants people who are passionate about the profession.”

“Wow. Well, thanks.” In spite of myself I was flattered. “I appreciate you thinking of me.”

“Let me know if anything comes of it.”

The door opened and in walked Glenn. “Hey babe!” She sauntered up to him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and aiming for his lips, gave him a big kiss. But Ethan quickly moved his head so the kiss wound up on his cheek. If what Sally had said was true, why wasn’t Ethan more eager for her affections? Glenn didn’t seem like a desperate person, but then, didn’t I have evidence of how deceptive appearances can be?

“Honey, can you go grab us a table? The place is kind of crowded this morning.”

“Sure thing.” Ethan grabbed his coffee and released himself from Glenn’s arms. “Good luck,” he said to me. “I hope it works out.”

“Yeah, I’ll let you know if it does.” He had walked away, and I said to Glenn, “Do you want your usual this morning?”

“Yes, and I need you to listen to me.” Glenn leaned into the counter, and spoke in a waspy female Godfather voice only I could hear. Tapping her bright red nails against the counter, she said, “I don’t know what the deal is between you and Ethan, but stay away from him. If you don’t, I guarantee you will regret it.”

And here I was almost feeling sorry for her. “Is that a threat? Did you just threaten me?”

Glenn pushed the sunglasses she had been wearing up to the top of her head. Her eyes bore into me. “Take what I said however you want. But keep in mind, if you go near him again you will be sorry.”

This is what my life had degenerated to. Now, the intelligent thing to say would have been, “Don’t worry, I’m not even interested in him.” But for some reason, I opened my mouth, and these words flew out: “I’ll go near him if I want. And I might. He is a pretty good kisser after all.”

Smoke blew out of her ears. Well, not really. But had she been a cartoon character it would have. However, after an instant’s worth of transparency she regained her composed veneer.

“I see,” she said, as if I simply told her the day’s weather forecast. “Make my drink and bring it to me when you’re done.”

Perhaps what I said pissed her off, but if so, oh well. I couldn’t take it back now. I made her drink, and even though there were a couple of people waiting at the counter, I took it over to her.

I should have seen it coming from a mile away. Just as I was approaching their table, Glenn reached out her foot and tripped me. I lurched forward, then in an effort to regain my balance, I lurched back, which caused me to fall flat on my behind, spilling coffee and foamed milk all over my chest and stomach. The worst part was I landed on my tailbone, which not only hurt like a cow in labor, but momentarily knocked the wind out of me as well.

“Oh my God, I am so sorry! Are you okay?” Glenn’s words dripped out of her like saltwater taffy, but nobody noticed how insincere she sounded.

I coughed and hacked before I could speak, and my words came out in a jumbled burst. “You tripped me!”

“I didn’t mean to! God, I am so sorry! Let me help you up!” She stood and reached her hand out to me. I swatted it away and got up on my own.

Coffee trickled down my front, and tears of pain stung in my eyes. “Don’t lie, Glenn!” I turned to Ethan. “She threatened me!”

Glenn hiccupped, widened her eyes and batted her lashes. “Faith, believe me. It was an accident. I am so sorry. I don’t know what you mean, but I would never threaten you.” She started to cry. “Now you probably think I’m some sort of terrible person!”

Did somebody say Tony Award? Everyone, including Ethan, was buying this performance. Ethan walked to the counter to grab a towel, and then helped me clean up. But he kept his head down, making eye contact with no one. “You believe me, don’t you Ethan?” Glenn whimpered.

He nodded his head, still not looking at her, and handed me the towel. “Are you actually okay?”

I wasn’t going to tell him my rear end was screaming in agony. At the very least my tailbone was badly bruised, and I could not have asked for a less dignified injury.

Why couldn’t I have sprained my ankle? Then he would have had to carry me, or something. “I’m fine.” I hobbled towards the counter. Ethan followed me.

“Go easy on Glenn, okay? She’s a little fragile right now.” Glenn was the fragile one? Had he noticed I could no longer stand up straight? My throbbing bottom brought back my clarity, and I laid into him.

“Oh, and whose fault is it that Glenn is fragile?”

“What exactly are you implying?”

“I think you know.”

“Um, actually, I don’t.”

Now was not the time to get into this. Customers were waiting, I was in pain, and somehow I would have to get through the rest of the morning. I didn’t have time for any more drama. I shook my head at him, and turned toward the man who was first in line. Before I could wait on him, Ethan interrupted.

“Uh, Faith? Could I talk to you for a minute?”

“Ethan, there are people waiting.”

“I know, but you’re upset, and I don’t want to leave things this way.”

“I’m not upset, I’m in pain, and I have a lot to do. So please, just go.”

Glenn had walked up to the counter. “Come on Ethan, let’s go somewhere else for coffee. I’ve already ruined her day. I don’t want to make things any worse.”

She tugged on his arm and led him away. He looked once over his shoulder at me, but I broke his gaze by focusing my attention on the customer who had been waiting. I was surprised to find it was Bill. I hadn’t even noticed him come in.

“Bill, I am so sorry. Did you want your usual?”

He grabbed a paper napkin from the dispenser and handed it to me. “Here.”

“Thanks.” I wiped away the tears still in my eyes.

“You really hurt yourself, didn’t you?”

“I think I bruised my tailbone.”

“That’s happened to me before. You’ll want to ice it. And you’ll need a donut pillow.”

“Thanks. Now, what I can get you?”

“Are you sure you’re okay to work?”

I had to be. I wasn’t going to call Sally. She would be hearing Glenn’s version of the story anyway. It was probably better to downplay my side by not making a big deal of it. Sally was going to believe her daughter no matter what anyway.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Before I could turn around to make Bill his hot chocolate, he stopped me.

“Actually, I don’t need anything today.” He leaned his hands against the counter, then hoisted himself behind it. With a smile, he said, “Don’t want to set a bad example, eating and drinking on the job.” He gently nudged me over, taking my place at the cash register, and spoke to the next customer. “Hi, what can I get you?”

“Bill, what are you doing?”

“I’m helping you out. Don’t worry; I know what I’m doing, sort of. You can give me direction if I need it. But this way you won’t have to move around as much.”

My rear end was smarting. I looked at the clock: four more hours of agony. Time was sure to go faster if I accepted Bill’s help.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, holding back tears once again.

Why is it that kindness is so apt to make us cry? Perhaps for the same reason love often does: strong emotions often become inter-mixed, like the roots of weeds and flowers, impossible to separate, feeding off each other.

Chapter 12

When I got home, Margaret was on the couch, like I thought she would be. She was watching Missy strip. I scuffled in, carrying the donut pillow Bill retrieved from his apartment before finally leaving me at the coffee shop. He wanted to stay and help longer, but had an 11:00 appointment downtown. “You’re going to need this,” he assured me. “Just give it back when it doesn’t hurt to sit down anymore.”

Neither Missy nor Margaret noticed my entrance, for they were both preoccupied. Missy was dressed in a pair of jeweled thong underwear, a huge beaded triangular necklace that covered most of her chest, and a tiara. She was gyrating to something by Mariah Carey, and Margaret was a captivated audience member. Neither of them acknowledged me until after the song was over.

“Faith! Hey, what do you think? I was showing Margaret my new routine. I’ve been working on it really hard.”

Margaret answered before I could. “I think it’s fantastic! You look so hot! Don’t you agree, Faith?”

“Sure.” I walked to the kitchen to get some ice.

“Honestly? Because you didn’t get the full effect, since I don’t have a pole to work with.”

“No Missy, it was great!” said Margaret. “I especially liked that bendy thing you did. And your outfit is awesome.” Margaret was laying it on awful thick with Missy. She already had a place to stay, so enough already.

“You like the outfit? I was going for a Vegas showgirl look.”

“Oh, it totally works.”

“And you want to know the best part?” Missy glowed. “It’s all tax deductible. Everything beauty-related for me is now: Facials, manicures, lingerie, you name it. Since it’s all connected to my job, all I have to do is save the receipts and I can write it off.”

I walked into my bedroom, and laid stomach down upon my bed. I was unsuccessfully trying to balance a bag of ice on my sore spot when Margaret walked in.

“Faith, are you okay?”

“Do I look okay?

“What’s wrong?”

“I fell on my tailbone, and it hurts.” I knew how silly I looked, but I was not in the mood to be teased. “Don’t laugh, okay?”

“Why would I laugh?” Margaret approached my bed, and sat gently down by my side. She took the bag of ice from me, and placed it on the spot I had been reaching for.

“Is that where you want it?”

“Yes. Thanks.” Having her hold it there did actually help. I let out a grateful sigh.

“What happened?”

“I was at work. This mean awful girl who happens to be the boss’s daughter and the girlfriend of this guy I went out on one date with threatened me. And stupidly, I talked back to her, so she tripped me and made it look like an accident.”

“Why did she threaten you?”

“She wants me to stay away from her man.”

“Wow, Faith, your life is like a soap opera.”

“No. If my life were a soap opera, I would have hurt something else—definitely not my ass. And the worst part is it happened several hours ago, so I had to work like this through the end of my shift. And the pain has only gotten worse.”

“Maybe I should take you to the emergency room.”