Chapter 3

Turning away,I push through the swinging doors and find the apron hung on a nail in the back of the kitchen.As I tie it around my waist,Marie raises her voice and I see her hand wave over the top of the pick-up counter.“Bye,James!Don’t let Joe get to you too much!”

Laughing,I say,“I won’t.Bye,Marie.”When Joe pushes through the doors,I look up from the knot my fingers are tying in the apron strings.“She your girl?”

“Yeah,”Joe says,watching me carefully.“She’s a handful.You guys know each other?”

“From State,”I say.“We were in a class together.”

“So she said.”Joe points at a small sink near the walk-in freezer.“Wash your hands.First thing when you get to work.Remember that.My dad will shit if you don’t wash your hands.”

“Okay.”I turn on the spigot and wait until the water runs hot.He had to take Bree to work…Joe’s words echo in my mind.Bree.The girl who called yesterday while I was here,the girl Deon called sugar.And now he’s running late because he had to take her to work.