Can't Save Me

Grant

"You sure you got this?"

"Man, I'm not an idiot. I think I can handle interviewing a hostess."

"I know, but you usually prefer to be the silent type of partner," Snyder sighed from the other end of the line. He and my sister were still on their honeymoon on some island in the Caribbean. Mike was usually the one who worried about staffing, but he was occupied going through the building inspection for our third location, so I had been summoned.

"I'll be fine," I assured with a chuckle, climbing out of my truck, and locking it with the key fob. I hit the lock button again and got a couple beeps. Better to be safe than sorry. "It's not like I don't know how to talk to people, Snyder. I did command like... entire battalions, ya know?"

"Sending men into war is a bit different than hiring a hostess."

"I imagine it'll be easier."

"Okay, fine. Handle it, just... make sure she's got a good... look, okay? She's gonna be the first-person people see when they come into the place. We don't need some kind of homeless looking hipster. We want people to stay."

"This your way of telling me to make sure she's hot?"

"Wouldn't hurt."

"You're a fucking prick, you know that?" I scoffed as I headed toward the front door of Jack's.

Jack's Pourhouse was the chosen name of our steakhouse/bar. Jack was a friend that Snyder and I had lost overseas and... it was kind of our way of honoring him. Sometimes the name and the memories made it hard for me to even step through the front doors, but I was feeling pretty good that day. Mike and I had been friends long before I enlisted, and when Snyder and I returned, he was looking for a couple of investors for his next business venture. I didn't know shit about booze or steak, other than I liked them both, but it was something to do, and I trusted Mike not to lead Snyder and I to bankruptcy, so we bought in.

I usually did tend to stay more on the silent partner side of things. I wasn't there every day, I didn't usually have much to do with the hiring and firing. I just kind of came to business meetings and helped make major decisions. I spent the rest of my time volunteering at the VA and running support groups for returning veterans. Sometimes I think the groups helped me more than the members. My retirement pension, plus all I'd made over my thirty-year career was more than enough to keep food on the table and the lights on, but I didn't do well with boredom. And after that night with Madeline, I was struggling with boredom more than ever.

It'd been two months since I'd met the brunette still occupying most of my waking thoughts. We'd spent hours at that diner. Laughing, talking about anything and everything under the sun. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been that enthralled with a woman. Maybe I never had been. And at the end of the night, I walked her back to her car, exchanged a brief hug for her phone number, and I went home. Alone.

And then I... never called.

I felt like a dick about it, but at the same time, I couldn't make myself reach out. There was part of me that wanted to, a huge part of me. She was vibrant and fun and incredible in so many ways but, she... she was basically young enough to be my kid. I knew it just by looking at her, but at the diner, when she'd revealed that she'd just recently celebrated her thirtieth birthday, I knew I couldn't let it go any further. No matter how much the little voice inside my head (or perhaps somewhere lower) wanted me to.

"Alright, man. I'm walking in. I'll let you know."

"Remember: pretty face and cute smile, or no job."

"Last I checked, you're not my boss," I stated, pushing open the door. "Bye Snyder."

"Bye. I'm gonna go fuck your sister again."