Rachel Brown

Closing Time

Nancy walked out of Harry’s office, an expression of resolve written across her face. She hadn’t needed the job, but she had loved the job. Why else would she have stayed for seventeen years? No one stayed that long in food service. It had started off as just a waitressing gig, something to help pay the bills while she made her way through law school, but when she found she enjoyed serving food more than she enjoyed law, it had become much more permanent than she’d ever intended. She could still remember that night – the night she and Harry had gotten sloshed as she told him about her complete lack of desire to pass the bar. He had offered her the job as his manager then and there, and without batting an eyelash she had taken it. Nothing had felt so right in a long time, and it had felt right for the last seventeen years.