I sat at the bar and after a moment or two of being ignored she placed a beer in front of me. I wasn't going to say anything because the whole building was tense. I looked her in the eye and before I could ask the question that I already knew the answer to she said "Not good." I could have told her that and usually I would have cracked wise but things were actually worse off then 'not good' so I kept my mouth shut.

The guy sitting next to me started talking. I think he would have been talking even if I wasn't there but I was so he directed his words at me. His talking was mostly about whatever was showing on the TV but then it was like he received some grand revelation.

"Don't you usually sit down there?" he asked as he pointed to my usual seat.

"Yup." I wasn't very talkative, not that I'm ever very talkative, I was busy trying to figure out if there was a way I could brighten someone's day. I figured I could at least keep this guy talking to me because every time he stopped talking to me he started talking to the bartender. She wasn't enjoying the situation. Unfortunately I'm not a talker.

During one of the guy's talking episodes with the bartender, I could feel her looking at me so I looked up from wiping the condensation off my beer glass.

"I quit" she softly told me over the guy's conversation and she said it not as if she was giving up on the situation at hand but like she had just quit her job.

"Did you give your two weeks notice?" I asked not knowing if she was serious or not but I usually play everything straight so she didn't know if my question was serious or not.

"I just gave it to you."

"Don't you work here?" the guy asked me.

"No. I don't work here." I said with a laugh, but if you watch me I do act like the bartenders when they're off duty but are still hanging out at the bar. I'll stack glasses, keep my section of the bar dry, tell people where the rest rooms are, bus my own dishes.

I was sitting in front of the dishwasher and every time the bartender came out from hiding to clean glasses she would ask how I was doing. I think she felt a little quilty that she was leaving me by myself but she wasn't ready to talk to me so she just asked how I was doing and walk away. I always said "Fantastic." After about an hour her attitude changed but by then I had to leave.

"Now you're leaving? Now that I'm in a good mood? You should have left before."

"I figured before it was important for me to 'be there' for you and now you don't need me. There are times I have to behave."

"Why did someone say something?"

"No"

"Dave's coming in." I was drinking Tequila shots with Dave the day before.

"I really gotta go. Tuesday's aren't good for me. And if I see Dave nothing good is going to come from that."

"Why not?"

"Because I have to work the two jobs on Tuesday."

"Thanks for the truffles. They were good. We opened them Saturday."

"I'm glad you liked them." I was a little surprised she mentioned them because usually she doesn't mention things like that, she'll say 'Thank you' at the time but not after the fact. She has trust issues; she usually keeps her true deep feelings walled up even if there is little harm in showing them. Her genuine thoughts, she usually keeps secret and she just gave me a peek.

"We would have opened them Friday but *she* was here and she would have eaten them all. Are you coming back later?"

"Ahh yeah, I don't think so. I'll see you later."