Alpha 1 by Abby Weeks Page A

looking, tough with well-built, muscular arms and scruffy stubble on their faces. Lucy was twenty-one and she reckoned Holden and Jimmy were about thirty. She knew nothing more about them and yet she felt as if she knew everything. The black grease on their hands, their scruffy hair and battered overalls, their easy smiles, even the fact that they wore name tags seemed to Lucy to say everything she needed to know about them. They were the kind of guys that made her feel as if they’d been her friends her entire life. They treated her like someone they cared about.
    She was almost certain they were bachelors. Neither wore a ring, neither ever came in with a woman, and the way they acted around her gave her the distinct impression they were single. Jimmy was the flirt, Holden was friendly but something about him made him seem more distant.
    She brought them their food and they thanked her again. “Enjoy,” she said.
    As she walked away she put a little extra swagger in her step. It wasn’t like her to try and impress her customers but when Holden and Jimmy were around she held herself taller and straighter than usual. She knew they were watching and she wanted to look good.
    As she worked she watched them eat from the corner of her eye. She couldn’t help be aware of them while they were in the diner, no matter how busy it got. They talked together and laughed a lot. They made eye-contact with each other and other customers. They teased each other mercilessly. And they always fought over the bill. It seemed they were the only two customers in all of Manhattan who actually took pleasure in picking up the tab for lunch.
    “It’s my turn today, buddy,” Holden said when she brought the bill.
    “You paid yesterday,” Jimmy said.
    Holden looked up at her, shaking his head in mock disbelief. “Would you believe this guy?” he said. “Every single time!” Jimmy shook his head but Holden was having none of it. He put a ten and a twenty on the table.
    Lucy smiled as she took the money. “I’ll get your change.”
    “No change,” Holden said. “I wouldn’t dream of taking change from the girl who fixed my hand.”
    She watched them leave and then tallied up their bill. They’d left her over twelve dollars on a bill of $17.59.

II
    L UCY WAS EXHAUSTED BY THE time her shift was over. She’d taken on extra hours and it meant she’d been working since eleven in the morning. It was almost eleven at night now. The place had been empty for the last hour or so but even just being there was tiring. She cleared off all the tables and then filled the bucket to mop the floor. Christopher, the cook and owner of Angel’s Diner, was cleaning down the grill.
    “You can flip the sign,” he said to Lucy. They were technically open till midnight but there was no point waiting around when it was this slow.
    “Thank God,” Lucy said. She poured soap in the bucket and mopped the floor. She did a good job even though she was exhausted.
    Christopher came out of the kitchen and sat at the counter. He was tired and sweaty. He lit a cigarette. There was no smoking in the restaurant but after a late shift he didn’t care. It was his place. Lucy respected him because he was a hard worker. His father had left him the diner and he worked seventy hours a week to keep it afloat. “You want to get a drink or something?” Christopher said.
    “I’m pretty beat,” Lucy said. “Next time.”
    “Yeah,” he said as he took a long draw from the cigarette. “Me too.”
    “Besides, you have that lovely wife waiting for you at home.”
    “I wish,” Christopher said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “She went back to her mother’s. Said I was never home.”
    “You never are,” Lucy said.
    “I guess,” Christopher said.
    Lucy could tell he was exhausted. He was slouched over the counter, the cigarette dangling loosely from his mouth. She finished the floor and sat next to him.
    “I’m bone tired,” he said.
    “You look tired,” Lucy said.