couple girls for the summer, and I likely will. But that leaves me in a hole come August when school starts back up."
"Not to mention all the upcoming maternity leaves." Tracy Alvarez-Kendall placed a tray of cream puffs into the dessert oven, set the timer, then turned and leaned against the counter.
Carrie just shook her head. "I really hope this pregnancy thing isn't contagious!"
"Let me put your mind at ease," Kelsey said. "You can't catch it from taking a drink from my glass of tea. I promise."
"That's a relief." Carrie grabbed one of the waitress aprons that hung, clean and ready to wear, on a hook. It took her only a moment to grab an order pad and a pen. "I better get out there and give Michelle a hand."
Carrie turned to head out to the dining room, but then stopped. Each day she felt more and more as if she'd finally found her place. The friendships she was building here in Lusty felt real. But they could only be as real as she was herself. They could only be as solid as she was willing to let them be.
So she turned back to her boss and Tracy. "I'm sorry, I never answered your question. I do, in fact, have a sister. She's older than me by six years. Her name is Chloe, and she works as an esthetician at a day spa, over in Divine."
"Now that's what we need in town," Kelsey said. "A day spa." Then she grinned. "Being an esthetician is a few steps away from waiting tables."
Carrie mentally sighed in relief. She knew that was the first solid information she'd ever offered about herself in conversation. It pleased her that neither of the two women she'd just confided in had made a big deal out of that fact. To Kelsey, she said, "I don't know that they're all that many steps apart. Both are service occupations, after all."
Kelsey smiled. All hints of hormonal mutiny had vanished from her face. "You're right. They are."
Feeling lighter than she had in some time, Carrie swung through the doors that separated the dining room from the kitchen.
A quick scan of her section showed her she had a few customers waiting for service. Michelle had already given them menus. That was a good thing, because otherwise folks might get a little irate, having to wait so long to be served.
Carrie looked again at her section and blinked. With a bit of a shock, she realized that she recognized every single person sitting there.
So not like the life I used to lead in Dallas.
No, life in Lusty wasn't anything like life in Dallas - or anywhere else for that matter - at all. For one thing, everyone there was likely aware not only that Ginny was on her honeymoon, but that Kelsey's last new hire hadn't worked out. Folks here wouldn't get irate about experiencing any delays in service. They'd just wait.
Maybe it was time for Carrie to fully accept she wasn't in the big city anymore. Maybe it was time for her to become less like the woman she'd been there, the woman she'd become after...well, just after.
Maybe it was time for her to become the woman she truly longed to be.
Carrie knew exactly where to start with this new attitude toward life, too.
Moving in a pattern that would take her last where she wanted to be the most, Carrie began greeting customers, taking orders, and chatting. Everyone seemed to want to say something good about the Commitment Ceremony on Saturday. Carrie listened, and agreed, and understood that Ginny really had become a part of the fabric of this town in less than a year.
Lusty, apparently, had a communal heart as big as all of Texas.
She looked up once and saw Michelle sending her eye signals. Clearly her friend thought she hadn't noticed the brothers Benedict, sitting at a table in the back of the dining room.
She had, of course. So she simply smiled at Michelle, and carried on.
Finally, she got to the table that had been her primary goal. She'd never been one to flirt, and she didn't have any real idea whatsoever how to draw the attention of a man - or two - that she liked.
She kept her fingers crossed that these two hunks in denim would stay true to form today as they had most days they stopped in.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen. My name is Carrie and I'll be your server today." She laughed when they chuckled. Huh,