Finally, he made the mistake that ended whatever sympathy anyone might still have had for him.
“She’s replaceable,” he said, pointing at me.
“That’s what nobody here seems to understand.”
Nathan’s expression went flat.
“No,” he said.
“People like her are the reason customers come back.”
Rick laughed once.
“You don’t know anything about running this place.”
“Maybe not,” Nathan said.
“But I know something about people who confuse authority with value.”
My phone vibrated in my apron.
I ignored it.
A minute later, the diner’s office phone rang.
Rick looked toward the back room.
Nobody moved to answer it.
It rang again.
Dany glanced at her screen.
“The owner got the video,” she said.
Rick disappeared into the office.
The door shut.
For the first time in twenty-four hours, I could breathe normally.
Nathan walked toward the corner booth where his daughter usually sat.
The unfinished breakfast from yesterday was long gone, but I could still picture her there.
“She asked if she could come inside with me this morning,” he said.
I looked toward the SUV.
“Why didn’t she?”
“She was afraid you’d be angry with her.”
That hurt more than anything Rick had said.
“At her? Never.”
Nathan nodded toward the window.
A moment later, the rear door of the SUV opened.
The yellow jacket appeared first.
She walked into the diner slowly, backpack against her chest.
Everyone tried not to stare.
She came directly toward me.
Her eyes stayed on the floor until she was only a few feet away.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
I crouched so we were closer to the same height.
“For what?”
“You got in trouble because of me.”
“No,” I said.
“I got in trouble because an adult made a bad decision.
That’s not yours to carry.”
She finally looked at me.
“I ran away before eating.”
“I noticed.”
For the first time in two weeks, she smiled.
It was tiny.
But it was there.
“Egg sandwich?” I asked.
She nodded.
“And milk,” Nathan added.
She rolled her eyes at him with the exhausted patience only a ten-year-old could manage.
“I know.
Growing bones.”
I laughed before I could stop myself.
