Sunday Brunch
© cv andrews 2024
I was pissed-off when my manager at the Marriott made me work Sunday brunch. But then completely out of the blue I met this man there. And although he didn't know it, he'd been looking for me. And he's kind, and amazingly thoughtful, and a wonderful lover.
I just never expected that he'd be white.
Yeah, there's some explicit, joyous sex in here. But mainly, this is a romance story...
* * * * *
Stupid Sunday brunch!
I wasn't happy when my assistant manager told me that I had to work Sunday brunch.
Normally I work Mondays and Wednesdays 3 p.m. to 11 and Fridays and Saturdays 4 to 12. Weekend nights are good for tips because they're date nights and the restaurant at the Marriott is a nice place and the food's good. In fact, the past three weeks we've been booked solid from 7:00 to 10:30. But the weeknights are usually pretty good, too, because it's more of a business hotel, so during the week it's generally busy with lots of business people with business expense accounts. Also, the schedule works out okay for my nursing classes at Poly.
But Sunday brunch? The absolute worst - all of us hate it. It's crazy busy, we're constantly clearing tables and setting up for the next group, usually families. And don't get any of us started on the families that come for brunch - the loud-mouthed dads thinking they're big shots because they're taking the family out, the obnoxious kids and the parents who aren't able to control them, or else the parents who don't even try to control their kids. And every week there's always at least one person who gets sick at the table or doesn't make it all the way to the restroom because they over-indulged at the buffet.
Plus, the people who go to Sunday brunch are generally pretty crappy tippers. So you understand why I was pissed when Jeanette, the A-M, told me that this weekend I was working Sunday brunch instead of my usual,
profitable
,
sane
Saturday night gig.
The peak rush was winding down by one o'clock when Jerlyn, the hostess, led a single guy to one of the smaller tables in my section. Like I said, by then I wasn't real busy so I went over immediately with the water pitcher and poured a fresh glass for him.
And he looked up at me, and he smiled. And the thing was, it wasn't the usual polite "Hello, Server" smile. This was like a smile of "recognition" - like he'd just seen something that he'd been looking for. I had no way of interpreting it. I was sure I'd never met him before so I just chalked it up to my imagination.
It was a brunch buffet, and he was by himself - no obnoxious family to deal with - so there wasn't a lot of need for me to serve him. I made sure his water was kept full and I managed to hustle him into ordering a mimosa - hey, it's Sunday brunch, right - what's Sunday brunch without a mimosa!
When I came back with his drink we started talking. Like I said, the brunch crowd was mostly gone and if I hadn't been on the clock I would have sat down with him. As it was I was able to stand and talk, and he was real easy to talk to. Turns out he just checked in this morning and was here in San Luis Obispo on business for the next two weeks.
"First,
no one
calls it 'San Luis Obispo' - it's S-L-O - say it!"
"
S - L - O"
And that smile again. I couldn't figure it out.
And he asked the usual - if I was going to school (I am - Cal Poly), was I from here (no - Murrieta - "that's downstate"), how long have I worked at the hotel restaurant (11 months now)?
And I was thinking - we're kind of hitting it off, and I'm wondering if he's going to do the usual and hit on me.
That happens. Fairly often. A lot of servers, male and female, get a lot of "invitations" from a lot of customers - males
and
females. I get my share, I guess. I'm young and OK-looking - sometimes even cute - and I don't wear a ring and I'm usually pretty outgoing. I have a nice smile and I laugh at the customers' jokes, even if they're not very funny or I don't get them.
Oh, yeah. I'm black.
Not
"African-American." I've never been to Africa and neither have my parents or their parents. I don't identify with Africa and I don't think of anyplace on the African continent as the "motherland." I
am
okay with
Negro.
It's just the old Spanish and Portuguese word for
black.
I figure if it's good enough for the
United Negro College Fund
it's good enough for me.
Actually, that's not strictly objectively true. My complexion isn't black or even chocolate brown. It's more of a "nut brown," I guess you could call it - like walnut or something. Maybe there's some Middle Eastern - maybe Syrian, or Moroccan - on my mom's side. Anyway, I'd never get mistaken for white. Not that I'd ever want to. Like Popeye the Sailor says, "I yam what I yam." My nose is a little wide, maybe a little flat, and my hair isn't black but it's
really
dark brown and it's pretty unruly and I've decided that the easiest thing is just to let it grow out in its long curly self.
So, yeah, I get hit on a lot in a place like this. Men who've had one - or three - too many cocktails at the bar, men who are away from home and feeling "frisky." Or maybe just boors, or worse, pigs, who think they're God's gift to women.
Anyhow, I'm wondering if this guy's going to hit on me, maybe with some corny line like "I'll bet you get hit on a lot," when he says that he needs to go up to his room for a call with his boss. I thought, "Well, okay - that was kinda nice, but..."
But then he surprises me. "Look... Carinne -" and I realize that he's looking at my name tag and that we never exchanged names, "I really like talking with you, and I'd really like it if we had more chance to talk. Maybe, when you get off work, we could go somewhere - any place you like - then maybe get something to eat afterward." Then he got this little crooked smile. "Maybe some place where someone else brings
you
the food?" He ended it like a question.
Almost any other time I would have gracefully but firmly blown off the invitation. But I enjoyed talking with this guy during the lulls in the service. Plus - and I don't know any better way to say this - he gave off good "vibes." I know that sounds like a lame non-explanation, but I somehow got the sense that this guy was - lame again - a "good person."
I thought about it, but only for a few seconds.
"Sure. That'd give me a chance to flush brunch service out of my brain. How would you feel about the beach? It's a nice day and it'll still be warm when we get there. Sure. Meet me at the restaurant entrance about 3:15?
He smiled. "Sounds good - see you at 3:15," and it may have just been my imagination but he sounded like he was really pleased I said yes.
"By the way - I'm Tim."
So I went back to work - by now, mostly clearing tables and setting up for dinner - but it felt like I was gaining energy as the dining room gradually emptied and the end of my shift got closer.
As 3:15 got closer.
By the time I closed-out my POS terminal and got my backpack out of my locker "Tim" was waiting for me at the hostess's podium. And he was holding something.
"I thought t might be cool and windy at the beach so I brought this for you," and held out a bulky lavender-colored cotton knit pullover. But then he got this little look of panic, like he was afraid he'd overstepped. "But only if you want it."
No, he hadn't overstepped.
It's just a short 25-minute drive up Highway 1 to Morro Rock Beach. Amazingly, we found a parking spot right away - I guess a lot of people had already wound up their weekends and headed home. We stuffed my backpack out of sight and locked up his rental car and headed for the beach.
We walked on the beach for maybe 40 minutes, looking at "The Rock," at the surfers and at kids playing tag in the sand, occasionally catching sight of seals or a pair of sea otters, and once we thought we saw a humpback whale farther out, but we were just guessing at that.
We walked beside each other, close but not touching. It would have been very natural for us to hold hands, but we didn't. It wasn't really that cool but I still put on the cotton pullover he brought for me.
And we learned a lot about each other, on the drive and then while we walked on the beach. I learned that he's 33, has an apartment in a suburb near O'Hare Airport in Chicago, and works for a company that plans marketing programs for companies in the consumer products field. And that includes wine, and that's why he's here in the Central Valley right now.
I also learned that he's not married, never has been.
"I was engaged once but it didn't work out. There've been a couple times since then when I thought I was close, but those didn't work out, either. So I've kind of given up on the idea."
And he learned some about me. How I grew up with my family in Murrieta, in the southern part of California but well inland from the coast. And how since junior high school I've wanted to be a nurse, like my mom, but I wanted to go to school away from home - but not
too far
away - you understand, right?
And that's how I ended up in S-L-O, taking nursing classes at Poly - and waiting tables at the Marriott.
And he learned that I don't have a boyfriend right now. I don't know why I offered that - he hadn't asked. I broke up with a guy two months ago - he seems to think that we'll get back together again, but we won't. Again, I don't know why I told Tim that, either.
It was starting to get cool on the beach and he asked if I'd like to get some dinner, and also if I knew of a nice restaurant nearby. I thought I could find a place I knew of called