“Hmm.” Dex rubs his chin with one hand. “I don’t know. What do you think, Chelsea?”
Sam has a point; Rosie’s isn’t a Starbucks. People don’t come here for the gourmet coffee. I point the mop handle toward Sam and nod at Dex.
“Yes!” Sam exclaims. “Team Milkshake Machine for the win.” He gives me an enthusiastic high five and we both dissolve into laughter.
“Yeah, yeah, we’ll see,” Dex says with a grin. “I’ll have to shop around.” He wanders over to the register and pops it open, counting the money inside.
“That’s not going to make you any richer,” Lou says as she passes by with a pot of coffee.
“It’s not about being rich,” he says. “I just like the feel of it. Besides, I’m rich anyway. Spiritually. After all, I have you, darling.” He says darling with an exaggerated accent, so it sounds more like “dah-link.”
She rolls her eyes. “And that’s not going to get you laid,” she retorts, but when he snatches her around the waist and pecks her on the mouth, she kisses him back before shoving him off.
It’s quiet tonight, so in between dish duty and busing I finish the sweeping, mop the floor and spend a lot of time lingering around the grill, watching Sam and Dex cook. By the end of the shift, my feet ache and my hands are all wrinkled from dirty dishwater.
“Ready to go?” asks Sam after we’ve both punched out.
I nod and collect my things, waving goodbye to Dex and Lou before piling into the Cutlass with Sam and Asha. He drops Asha at home, closer to the suburban east end of town; her house is nice, two stories, all beige paint and stone, with a dark green SUV parked in the driveway. I think she told me once that her dad is a doctor.
Sam doesn’t say anything as he drives me to the student lot and pulls into the space next to my car. We sit with the engine running for a long time. I don’t know what he’s waiting for. I should go, but when I unbuckle and reach for the door handle, I think about Mom at the sink and Dad’s face and it’s suddenly the last thing I want to do.