"Robin!" Lacey shouted as she brought me back to reality.
"Sorry," I said as I got the order from the kitchen and took it over to the table. "Sorry guys," I said to the guys that sat at the table staring at me as I put the order down. "Anything else?" I asked with my usual fake smile.
"Your number?" one of the men said.
"Like I haven't heard that before," I said as I shook my head.
I made a round of my other tables before returning to the filling station. "What's wrong with you lately? Lacey asked.
Lacey had come from one of the other closed restaurants; now, she was the shift manager. "Tired, I guess," I shrugged as one of the other waitresses took my order to the table.
The truth was the past four months had been tough on me. Trying to pay the mortgage and other bills on just my paychecks had forced me to work a complete shift at both jobs. Jeff had not taken the deal and was facing a long period of time inside. The good news, as Ray had put it, the gang wouldn't kill him inside. The bad news he was on his own, no back up if any of the other rivals wanted to do something.
Ray said there was a huge possibility that I wouldn't see Jeff again, alive anyway. They still hadn't found Doug. I was sure he ran for the mountains. He was raised way up in the Tennessee mountains and still had family up there. It was a safe bet he was hiding up there where no one could find him.
Then there was Fran, I knew she was alive, but I knew I wouldn't be able to talk to her or see her ever again. How could they all be so stupid?
"Miss!" one of the men said from the table.
"Yes?" I said as I made my way over.
"Long day, huh?" Lacey said as we closed up.
"Yeah," I said as I walked towards my truck. I looked at the time; I had just enough time for a long bath, maybe four or five hours of sleep before I had to get up to do my daily workout before heading to work again.
"Whatever it is ..." Lacey said, staring at me.
"I can manage," I nodded.
"If you need anything," Lacey said as she smiled at me.
Again I nodded before I got into my truck. The ride home was exhausting. I got a new alarm system for the house. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. It felt like everything I did, someone was there, listening, waiting for me to say something out of line. I watched too many movies and television shows were an ordinary family decided to throw in with the likes of this gang just to make more money, whether smuggling, counterfeit, or worse. It never ended well for the family.
Ray had told me repeatedly that they had no interest in me whatsoever, but I still felt eyes on me. Every vehicle that came down the dirt road that led to my house, I watched with caution. I tried not to talk to anyone for long periods.
"Hey guys," I said as I opened the door. "I know, I have to let you out."
Even now, outside my house, I felt scared. I had acres of land behind my house. There could be plenty of people out there just waiting for me to turn around so they could rush my house. The alarm system came with cameras, motion detectors and floodlights, but still, every night as I lay down, I felt someone was already in my house. Damn Jeff for doing this to me.
"Come on guys," I said as I felt the feeling of being watched creeping over me. Sure the dogs would have sensed if someone was out there, but I didn't want them to get hurt.
"No one is out here," Ray said as I called him. "I told you..."
"I know," I said as I crawled into my bed, "but it feels..."
"I will make another pass around," Ray said.
"Thank you," I said as I laid back down. The two dogs jumped onto the bed as I remotely armed the system.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~~
"Come on!" I yelled at my new client. This time it was a man. He had come wanting to lose some weight and get back into his high school shape. Right now, he looked like the stay puffed marshmallow man had a smaller version of himself.
"I can't," the man said as he stopped walking on the treadmill.
"It's on the lowest setting," I said, shaking my head.
"For twenty minutes!" the man said, literally in tears.
This was my life now; I was in charge of getting people who had no motivation to change their lives drastically.
"Can't we go to the machines and..." the man asked, looking over at the other machines on the other side of the gym.
"No," I said, shaking my head. "First we have to do a lot of cardio to burn... you know what, go ahead it's your money," I said as I let him runoff.
"That's not the right way," Trevor said as he walked over to me.
"I know," I said as I looked at the man staring at one of the other women on the fly machine. "I will give him a few minutes then go get him."
"Good call," Trevor nodded. Since I had put Trevor in his place, we had a good work relationship.
The only thing I hated about Trevor was the fact our boss always gave him good clients. The ones that were motivated and determined, even now, he had three clients working their asses off behind him. He had it made.
"Now, would be a good time," Trevor said as he looked back at the man.
"For Christ sakes!" I said, shaking my head. "That is not the way you use that!"
"You yelled at him in front of everybody," Mike said as he had told me to meet him in his office.
"He was.." I stopped. "You're right," I nodded. "I will apologize to him first thing in the morning."
"Thank you," Mike said. "What's going on?" Mike asked as he leaned forward. "You used to take these people and turn them around easily, now you're yelling, calling them names, that's not the type of facility we run here."
"I know," I said, slumping back in the chair. He was right, of course. I used to love the challenge of turning a person's life around seeing them come into the building in the worst shape of their lives and then leaving months later in the best shape they had ever been in; it used to be a thrill for me. Now I dreaded it.
"You don't like it anymore," Mike said as he sat back.
"I don't," I said, shaking my head.
"You know what you have to do," Mike nodded.
"Thank you," I said as I stood up.
It was over. Even though I needed the money, there was no way I could be a trainer and hate training people. It wouldn't be right.
"Leaving huh?" Trevor said as he saw my face as I walked towards my locker.
"Yeah," I nodded.
"It's for the better," Trevor said. "Your heart wasn't in it, not for this place anyway."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I got this buddy, he knows some people that work for a sports training facility downtown," Trevor said. "I am not into that type of thing, sports people and all, but it might be something you might be interested in."
"It's legit?" I asked as I looked at him.
There were plenty of these fly by night facilities that popped up, took people's money and then disappeared.
"Totally, I swear," Trevor said. "Tell you what, take this card look it up, do what you have to do before going in."
I looked at the card. It seemed like something professionally done. "Thanks," I said as we shook hands.
"You're fucking kidding me," I said as Lacey told me the news. Our owner had fired our leading manager and now brought someone else in, even more, great news.
"He seems okay," Lacey said as I waited for the kitchen to finish the order.
