Ten.Eight Hundred & Eighty-Seven

1. Oh no. The amount of her invoice is more than my daily limit. Maybe she will let me partially pay. I’ll give her a few bottles of wine for the inconvenience.

2. This corner. The soft yellow-orange of light trying to push through. Everything looks wet and alive.

3. They help me carry the bags through the back door of the kitchen. “I think I saw her making choux dough!”

4. Of course our tables are right next to each other. I laugh to myself.

5. But aren’t we both adults? Are we really going to act as if we don’t notice on another? I formally introduce myself to get break the invisible silence. Now that we’ve got that out of the way…

6. Bubbles and popcorn and sticky fingers.

7. Stress sweat.

8. I grab a tray and carry glass back to the kitchen. He touches my shoulder and asks me what I’m doing. I’m just helping. “I can clean a table. I used to work in a restaurant, it’s really no big deal.” In fact, as I’m doing it I remember how much fun I used to have, the conversations I would have with guests. It’s a dance.

9. My feet, my feet. I wore these shoes for a very specific reason but man, my feet.

10. Maybe the word for 2020 is Confidence.