Big Pete leaned all the way back in his booth, the one right by the fire exit. He had his ball cap pulled all the way down like I wouldn’t recognize him. I didn’t know the other guy all the way across at the lunch counter. He had his one boot planted on the floor ready to go. Him and Pete kept making eye contact.
I had my kid with me. He was stacking and unstacking silver dollar pancakes, narrating some kind of conflict between them I tuned out to keep my eye on Pete. They must have had guys outside, too, but they might just let it rip there. I couldn’t reach for my phone or make it to the bathroom.
“More coffee, handsome?” the waitress asked me, this big redhead. She was older, but she still looked good.
“Please,” I said and slid my cup over.
Then she asked the kid, “You need anything else, sweetie?”
“No, he’s good,” I said. “Morning shift must be wrapping up soon.”
“You’re my last table,” she said. “No rush, though.”
“No, it’s fine. You should drop the check.”
She fished it out of the pouch hanging off the undercurve of her hip and put it on the table face down. “Whenever you’re ready.” I dropped my debit card on top and she scooped it all up with a long seafoam fingernail. She’d be right back.
Pete was spacing out up at the ceiling, but the other guy’s boot still pushing down on the floor and his swivel chair turned my way. A week ago, I could have gone to Pete’s table and reasoned with him, maybe work something out.
Red came back with my card, the receipt, and the pen. “Thanks, boys. Come back soon, okay?”
I touched her wrist. “Stay here.” And she did. I took her pen and wrote “500” on the line by TIP. She blinked big and slow when she saw it. I motioned her to lean down towards me. “You said your shift is over?”
She took a second. She couldn’t quite make my angle. “It is, but I–“
“Could you do me a favor?”
“For five hundred dollars?” she said. “I’d do a lot for five hundred dollars right now, but not anything.”
“What about you give the kid a ride?” I asked her. I was still touching her wrist and she was still letting me. “Take him to his mom’s house.”
“Where’s his mom’s house?”
“Lawndale. It’s close by. I’ll write down the address.”
“Why can’t you give him a ride?”
“I might not be able to in a minute.” She saw my eyeballs flick over to Pete and the other one. “Don’t turn around. Don’t look.”
“Okay.”
“‘Okay’ that you won’t turn around or ‘okay’ you’ll give the kid a ride?”
“Both, I think,” she said.
“Hey, pal,” I said, patting on his wrist. I noticed that her waitress dress matched the color of her fingernails. “‘Jessie’ here is going to give you a ride to mom’s house. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” he said. Old hat.
Big Pete saw what I was doing and he was getting impatient with me. Jessie took the receipt and her pen back. “Come on, honey,” she said, and the kid went along with her. Me and Pete watched them go to the register so she could check out. A minute later they left through the front entrance.
“Thanks, Pete,” I said. I didn’t hear what he said back. The other guy was too quick.