where I was supposed to meet up with Louise. She had all the info on where I’d be staying while I was in town.
Louise was the VP’s ol’ lady and ran a diner as one of their fronts for the club. Her brother Cyrus was also a member and helped her out by doing all the cooking at the diner. When I pulled up to the address that Cotton had given me, I was a little shocked. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but seeing the name of Daisy Mae’s plastered on the outside wasn’t it. When I walked through the front door, I quickly realized it wasn’t your typical burger joint. Pictures of Elvis, B.B. King, Morgan Freeman, and other famous people from Memphis were plastered all over the walls, and a low blues melody was playing from the jukebox. The few people that were sitting in the booths didn’t look like they were in any rush to leave as they sat there talking and drinking their cups of coffee.
I made my way over to the front counter and sat down on one of the empty stools. I’d barely gotten settled when Louise came out to meet me. She quickly gave me the rundown of the apartment and where it was located, and after she’d given me the key, she brought me out a plate full of fries and a burger big enough for two people. I’d just taken my first bite when I overheard the kids next to me arguing.
“Scoot over. You keep hitting me with your stupid elbow!” the sister grumbled.
“You scoot over. You’re the one that’s all up underneath me, smart one,” the boy told her with sarcasm. He was a big kid, around fifteen or sixteen years old, where she was a bit younger, maybe twelve or so.
She gave her brother an overstated eye-roll, like a typical teenager, and grumbled, “You are such a jerk, and you look like an avocado.”
“An avocado? Really? You’re so stupid it’s not even funny.”
“Well, you’re stupider because you have the brains of an avocado,” she snapped back.
“Would you please just stop talking? Every time you open your mouth, you say something stupid.”
She flipped him the bird and then sassed, “Char-lie. How’s that for saying something stupid?”
“Uhh … give me a break,” he growled under his breath. I smiled, remembering how Molly and I used to argue the same way.
I was reaching for my glass of tea when the boy turned to me and asked, “You got a sister?”
“I do,” I answered.
“You want another one?” he offered.
“Nah, man. One is plenty,” I laughed. “Hang in there. It gets better.”
He glanced back over to his sister, seeing that she was glaring at him with an evil eye, and said, “It better, or I’m gonna lock her in the damn closet.”
“Livie! He’s saying mean stuff about me again,” the sister called out to one of the waitresses. She was saying goodbye to one of her customers in the back of the diner. He looked like he’d seen better times, and I watched as she dug in her apron and pulled money out of her pocket to cover the tab. When she didn’t answer, the sister shouted again, “Livie!”
The waitress’s eyes grew wide as she looked over at the young girl. The brother then jabbed her in the side with his elbow and mumbled something under his breath. The sister’s face flushed red, and then she looked up to him and whispered, “I forgot.”
“You can’t forget,” he told her sternly. “Ever.”
She looked down at her lap. “Okay.”
When the waitress approached the counter, the young girl turned to her and whispered, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
The waitress leaned over her and smiled as she softly said, “It’s okay. I don’t think anyone was paying attention.”
The waitress looked over to me for just a brief moment, but it was long enough for me to wonder what she was doing working at a biker’s diner. It was plain to see that she was no club girl. I glanced over at the tag on her uniform and read the name Hazel and immediately thought she didn’t look like any Hazel I’d ever seen. I stared at her for a moment, trying to figure her out. She was a beauty, even with the fear and pain that lurked behind her eyes. Her uniform was simple, plain white with a dark blue apron tied around her waist, and showed off the perfect curves of her figure. Shades of