Chapter 2

"Don't be rude!" I said. "She's not making any trouble and it's not like we're so busy we need the seat."

Frank harrumphed at that, but I just raised my eyebrow and stared at him until he looked away. I turned my gaze to June, who seemed unmoved by my scolding.

"She's been here four days, Mariah. She doesn't eat a thing, she doesn't talk. I aim to find out what it is she's doing here." June pursed her lips as she thought, ruby lipstick smudging a bit in the corners. "Maybe she's in the wrong place! Why, it's our Christian duty to try and help her. What if this man she's waiting for is waiting for her, but on the other side of town?"

I rolled my eyes. "I still say you should keep your nose out of her business. She can stay there 'till judgment day as far as I'm concerned."

"She can stay 'till judgment day, but you two had best get moving. Coffee don't pour itself." Frank glared at us both from under bushy grey eyebrows.

June laughed and blew him a kiss. She flounced out of the break room, blonde curls bouncing. I followed with a sigh of exasperation.

June was already standing behind the counter by the time I got out front. She had poured a cup of coffee and placed it in front of the girl. I grabbed a couple menus for the party that had just come in and went to seat them at a nearby table.

"What's your name, honey?" June asked, her eyes alight with curiosity. I, along with half the people in the diner, tried to pretend I wasn't eavesdropping.

The girl turned those intense golden eyes on June. She paused a moment, as if deciding whether or not to answer.

"Alice." Her voice had a lilt to it, as if she were asking June instead of telling her.

"Nice to meet'cha. I'm June. You know Mariah over there. I noticed, well we all noticed, that you've been in here a couple days now..." June paused, waiting for a response. Alice just looked at her. June fidgeted, twisting her apron with one hand. "Well, we were worried that you were waiting for this fella who hasn't come in a couple days. Are you sure you've got the right place?"

"I'm quite sure." Alice's voice was even, but I would have bet good money that she was trying to suppress laughter. Her eyes twinkled and one corner of her mouth twitched as if she was holding back a smile.

"Do you want to try and call him? What's his name, honey?" June's face was expectant. She was doomed to disappointment, though, as Alice merely shook her head.

"Are you sure there's nothing we can do?" June added, "Maybe we can find him for you?"

"No, you can't. But, he'll be here," Alice said confidently in her clear, high voice. "Thank you, though."

June wasn't the only one disappointed by Alice's response. More than one of our regular guys had gotten a similarly polite brush off when they'd tried to chat her up or get her to notice them. For a while there was a spree of foolish behavior – boys clowning around trying to get the girl to notice them. But she ignored them completely, as if they weren't even there. Those brave enough to ask her out were all given the same polite dismissal.

It went on like that for a while. Alice'd talk to us a bit, though every so often you could tell her mind was miles from where her body was. Folks were getting used to her and she was no longer the subject of curious stares, at least not from the regulars.

Of course, June hadn't given up on finding more out about Alice. It was actually funny watching June trying to wheedle the information out of her. Whenever Alice didn't want to answer a question she'd just stare at June in silence, and then turn her head away to watch the door once again.

Alice came in nearly every day. Occasionally, she would disappear for a day or two. Once she was gone a whole week. I started to notice that the days she was gone were the ones where the sun shone brightly; most of the days that she ended up perched on her stool – I'd started to think of it as Alice's stool – were dreary or gray. I thought it was odd, but I didn't ask why. Maybe she just liked being outside when the weather was nice. Besides, it was none of my business.

Felipe was still enamored with her. She'd say a few words in that Puerto Rican speak of his and his face would light right up. Even Frank had started saying good morning to her when she was in. Gruffly, of course– as if he knew any other way of speaking to a person. But it made me grin when I heard him grumble, "Morning, Miss Alice".

She would smile her sunny smile at him and then her head would swivel back to look at the door. I tell you, I'd seen German Shepherds with less dedication. I found myself getting angry at this man she was waiting for. Alice had never told us anything more about him, so I still didn't know if it was a lover or a family member she was waiting on. But what sort of man would make a woman wait so long for him? I counted the weeks back in my head. A little over two months since the first day she'd come into the diner.

It was getting on to Halloween. Frank had pulled out the decorations. June and I were putting up paper skeletons and ghosts when I saw Alice watching us, a wistful expression on her face.

"June," I said loudly, "I tell you, my old bones just can't take all this reaching and decorating anymore."

June looked at me in surprise. Decorating for the holidays was one of my favorite things to do. I always said that, since I didn't have family to decorate for at home, at least I got to do it here.

I looked around the diner, my gaze sliding across several customers before landing on Alice. "Young lady, if you're not going to buy anything you should at least make yourself useful."

Alice's expression was one of shock and I had to keep myself from chuckling.

"Are you sure, Mariah?" she asked.

I marched over to her and held out the black and orange streamers I'd been about to hang. She took them gingerly, holding on to the very edge of them. She looked down at the streamers and then up at me. Her topaz eyes sparkled with excitement.

"It will look absolutely lovely," she promised. "Don't worry a bit!"

She went through the box of decorations like a fiend. Before long, she'd enlisted Felipe to help reach the places she wasn't tall enough to get to. Once the two of them were done, the diner looked like an October wonderland. White lights that we usually saved for Christmas were strung along the top of the windows and the wall behind the diner counter, intricately twisted with the orange and black crepe paper streamers. Paper skeletons danced along the front windows and Alice had fashioned little ghosts out of napkins to put on each of the tables.

Alice stood in the middle of the restaurant and turned in a circle, surveying her work.

"Take a bow, Miss Alice," Frank called from behind the order window.

She grabbed Felipe's hand and they both bowed. June, a couple of customers and I all clapped for them. I saw Felipe wince when she let go of him, rubbing his hand with the other like he was cold.

It was wonderful seeing Alice enjoy herself. She had gone for more than an hour without looking at the door once. I decided we'd have to find more holidays to celebrate just so Alice would have something to make her smile like this.