“Evelyn,” the man in the wide-brimmed cowboy hat drawled, “that’s a pretty name.” Evelyn looked up from the notepad in her hand to see the man in his late thirties wearing a snarky grin, eyeing her up and down. She sighed and put her notepad back into her apron pocket.

“Thanks, my mama gave it to me. Now, is there anythin’ else you’d like before I head back to the kitchen?” Evelyn put her hands on her hips, looking across the table of men who were either hungry for steak and or underaged girls. She hated serving tables like this, but it paid the bills. After a few more predatory comments, Evelyn headed to the back to give her order to the Will. She dinged the bell and slid the small sheet of paper onto the counter, causing him to look up from his current order.

“How ya doin’ honey? Them men givin’ you too much trouble? I would gladly kick their asses for ya,” Will asked, shooting a glare to the table of men.

“No, no, they’re harmless. I’m just hopin’ for a big tip if I act stupid enough to not notice their stares,” Evelyn sighed.  She glanced back and the man in the wide-brimmed hat gave her a wave, to which she returned with a tight-lipped smile. “This aint for much longer, Will, thank god.” Evelyn was planning on leaving to go to college after she left high school, but her mother grew sick and she had to stay and take care of her. Now that her mother was back on her feet and even working again, she just wanted to save up some money before she left to go to college. There was no way she was getting stuck in this hodunk town for the rest of her life, getting hit on by men 20 years older than her, still serving tables well into her fifties like her mother.

“Well, we sure’ll miss ya, Evie.” Will patted her hand with a warm smile. The two continued to share a moment of peace and warmth just looking into each other’s eyes.

“Enough of whatever this is, get back to work! I ain’t payin’ ya’ll to stand around soul searchin’ - do that on your own time!” Cornelia shouted, passing them with a tray in her hand. Evelyn pulled her hand away and gave a smile saying sorry to Will as she turned away from him, chasing after Cornelia.

“Hey, Cornelia, I wanted to talk to you abo-”

“Well, Evelyn, I’m a little busy right now, so maybe you could talk to me later when I don’t have a tray to deliver to the sheriff’s table.” Cornelia snapped quickly.”

“Cor-” Evelyn reached out to touch Cornelia’s arm, but she pulled away quickly, looking away from Evelyn. She pulled her hand back like she had been burned, holding it against her chest. Cornelia bustled off to the sheriff’s table quickly after that, leaving Evelyn scorned in her path.

Evelyn scrubbed the last piece of muck off of the table, meaning she was free to go. [I’m going to add more here, but I’m stuck, so...later…]

Evelyn headed to the back office where Cornelia was looking over some papers, glasses perched on her slender nose. Evelyn watched her for a while as she grumbled and pressed buttons on her calculator, but eventually cleared her throat to signal Cornelia she was there. She looked up from her papers momentarily to acknowledge Evelyn’s presence, but went back to her wok.

“What do you want?” Cornelia asked, her eyes not leaving the paper in her hands.

“Nice way to greet someone coming in to check up on you,” Evelyn said with a snarky smile. She walked further into the office, stopping in front of the big wooden desk. She put her hands on the edge of the desk and leaned over to glance at the paper Cornelia was reading. “What’s this?” She asked, more trying to get Cornelia to talk to her than anything.

“Somethin’ for manager’s eyes only.” Corelia placed the paper face down on her desk, looking up at Evelyn. “Now, is there somethin’ you want or are you just buggin’ me?” She asked, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest.

“I just wanted to talk.” Evelyn walked around the desk and grabbed the back of Cornelia’s chair, twisting her to face her. She sunk down and sat on Cornelia’s lap, looking down at her with a devilish smile.

“I’m tyin’ to do my work right now, Evie.” Cornelia said coldly, looking back to her papers, trying to avoid eye contact with Evelyn. This confused Evelyn - Cornelia would never give up a chance to talk.

“Is there somethin’ wrong?” Evelyn inquired.

“I need to do my work, thas all,” Cornelia finally looked up with a pained expression, “I think you should go home.” Evelyn knew there was more to Cornelia’s sudden lack of interest, but didn’t want to push it in case it might upset her. She got up and gave Cornelia a last look of inquiry, but she turned to her desk, picking up the piece of paper she was looking at prior. Evelyn exited the office, shutting the door softly behind her. She sighed, pressing her back to the door and standing there for a minute, before leaving the diner to head home.