Page 40 of The Playboy and the Waitress
I jump out of the bed practically running to the window. Horrified at the sight in front of me. “Your car won’t go in that Dage, there has to be at least five or six inches on the ground.”
“It’s ok, we will just stay again tonight. It’s normal for us to get these freak storms. I promise, they will have the roads cleared by this evening. So we will just leave in the morning instead. We must have slept in, throw one of the robes on, and come down to the dining room. I'm sure mother had a huge breakfast prepared for us.”
“You go on, I’ll be there in a few minutes. My stomach is a little upset this morning.”
“Do you want me to get you anything?”
“No, go on. I’ll find ya…hopefully.”
He leaves the room and I have to bite my lip to keep from screaming when I look back out the window again. There is no way I will survive another day in this place. After a slight panic attack, I finally decide to just bite the bullet and head towards the dining room. Since there isn’t one thing I can do to change the weather. After two wrong turns, I manage to find it from the servant's entrance and the sound of my name on that woman’s lips stops me before I enter the room.
“Dage, I understand you have feelings for this Jenna, but you know she is unacceptable. Honestly, I was slightly ashamed of you for even bringing her to my birthday party. If someone would have realized she was more to you than a well-dressed piece of eye candy, it could have caused a horrific chain of events for your future. You can play with your whores at home, but you should know better than bring them home to your mother. When you retired to bed for the evening, I had her investigated and when I got the report this morning. Well, let’s just say I'm very upset that you have set your standards so low. She is a waitress for heaven's sake, that lives in the middle of nowhere in a…well you know what I think of her living arrangements. I will be cordial to her for the rest of this visit, but you are never to bring her or anyone else of her caliber here ever again, do I make myself clear?
“You are such a handsome young man, why would you throw all the opportunities I have provided for you away for a piece of a tail like her? You will be lucky if you haven’t caught something.”
I don’t wait around to see what Dage says. I simply turn back the way I come, a plan forming in my head as I go. I walk into the bedroom wiping a single tear off my face. Damn that woman. She really should be the cover model in a dictionary… as the face of a true bitch. I sling the clothes Dage bought me onto the bed since I have no further use for them.
Grabbing my phone, I search cab companies near me and then the local Greyhound's address. What I wouldn’t do to be able to call Mom right now. She would have sent Dad for me immediately. I call the cab company and they tell me that they can be here in fifteen minutes even with the snow.
I grab my comb and a few things I had set on the counter and toss them in the bag. I start to walk out the door when I realize I still have this robe on and no shoes. “Get your head out of your ass, Jenna, and get out of here,” I say to no one.
The moment I'm dressed. I head towards the front door praying I won’t meet anyone on the way. My phone dings and I look down seeing that a large deposit has just cleared my bank. At least that’s one less thing to worry about, maybe this is Dad's way of looking out for me from afar, making sure I have the funds to get home.
Just as he cab pulls up and I start to open the door, I hear Dage yell out my name. I have to make myself stop and look back at him.
“Jenna, where are you going? When you didn’t show up for breakfast? I got worried, only to come to our room to find your stuff gone. Well… everything, but the stuff I bought you that is.”
“It’s all about money toyou people,ain't it? I don’t want the damn clothes or anything that would come from the evil in this house. You know, the whole time we have been together you have mentioned how many firsts you have experienced with me. Well, let me tell you a few of my first with you. NEVER have I been made to feel such humiliation as I have between your friends or your family. NEVER have I been ashamed of who I am, how I talk, or where I live. These are all first for me and they are ones I will NEVER go through again.” I make sure that I scream out the word never, hoping the whole damn house and even the neighbors hear.
“Jenna, please, don’t leave, let me explain.”
“Explain what, Dage? That your mother thinks I'm a whore and trailer trash. And you want me to stay here under her roof knowing what she thinks of me. Ever since we have gotten here even you have turned into a complete stranger. The really sad part is, when I first saw this house all I could think of… is that it should be in a fairytale. But if this is how rich people live their false happy-ever-after, then you can take it and shove it up your ass. I would rather have a good old country boy who is poor, but content with who he is… A man who all he needs is my arms around him to make him complete than all of this… nothingness… you have…I want no part of. Have a nice life, Dage, and forget my number. We always knew this was going to fail, I just wish my heart wasn’t torn out in the process.”
“Where are you going?”
“Oh, don’t worry about me, Playboy. I know my way home.”
I turn around, walk out the door and quickly down the sidewalk to the awaiting cab. When I get in the guy asks me where I'm headed. “The local Greyhound Bus Station please.”
He starts to pull off when I feel my door being jerked on, and I can hear Dage calling out my name. I refuse to let him know how much he hurt me.
“Do you want me to stop, Miss?”
“No, I'm finished here.” I open my phone up, turn the locator off, and block his number. When I'm done, I’m done.
I reach the station. I step out of the cab and immediately decide I hate this place. The weather is simply a reflection of the people’s hearts around here. The wind is so sharp and cold it feels like it will cut you to pieces. Of course, I only have a t-shirt on.
I run into the Greyhound office, once again, luck seems to be on my side as the last bus headed my way is leaving in ten minutes. I ask the lady behind the counter if there is any place in the terminal to buy a sweatshirt or blanket. But, unfortunately, it looks like my luck has finally run out when she says no.
I rub my arms, as I wait on the bus to pull up. My whole body is wracked with shivers by the time I step aboard. I glance around looking for a seat, glad the bus isn’t full. I grab a seat next to the window and sit my bag on my chest trying to use anything to get warm.
The whole time they are loading the bus, I am praying for them to hurry up. My heart aches for Dage to be my knight in shining armor. For him to charge in here, declaring his love in front of everyone. But my brain tells me that there is six inches of snow on the road. That even the cab had a hard time getting through in places.
We are about twenty minutes into the trip when I finally let the tears flow. I will allow myself this time to grieve thewhat if’sthat could have been, while I’m on this bus. But when I get home, I’m going to make sure I’m so busy that I don’t have time to miss him. Because now my main focus has to be on how to get the farm back up and running. A couple of years from now, Dage will just be someone I used to know.
We are about an hour away from the house when the bus must have hit a pothole and my head bouncing off the window wakes me up. I instinctively pull the blanket laying on me up, then jerk wide awake when I remember I didn’t have a blanket.
Someone patting my knee almost makes me scream. An elderly woman had sat down beside me at some point, and she had spread her blanket out across us both. “You’re ok, deary, don’t be startled. You have simply awoken in a strange place. You didn’t even stir when I sat down. Bless your heart, you were shivering so bad that your little lips were even blue. I don’t think there is any heat on this old bus and it’s freezing in here. I'm not one to pry, but I'm assuming by the way you're dressed and those tears on your face that you left somewhere in a hurry.”