Thom came to retrieve me in his car-bomination, and was showing some strange behavior: he was tapping the wheel to the music, he was humming along, and I think I even saw the faint trace of a smile at the edges of his mouth.

“Do my eyes play tricks on me? Are you actually in a good mood?” I asked incredulously.

He paused in his little musical break while he rejoined traffic, but went back to tapping the wheel after a moment. “Yeah, I guess so. My sister and I talked today. It’s hard to reach her; she’s really busy at her job, lots of stress.”

“What does she do?” I prompted. I wouldn’t miss this opportunity to get Thom talking. All the girls in the office were dying to butter him up, in hopes he'd bring us some of those heavenly pastries. I was doing my part, for the team.

“She’s a CFO, you know, a chief financial officer for some big financial company. My mom and I don’t see her often, and Mom asks after her a lot. She’s promised to come visit this next weekend so I can take a break.”

He looked lost in thought for a moment. “Take a break?” I asked gently.

“Yeah, my mom is kind of … not all there. She needs help. She has Alzheimer’s. It’s not too bad yet … she still does some stuff on her own just fine.” He said this last bit defensively.

Wow, I had no idea. No wonder he was always under so much strain.

“I’m sure she does. She’s lucky you are there for her. Still, Thom, that’s rough. So your sister is coming to relieve you? What are you going to do with the downtime?”

He barked a laugh, saying nothing for a moment. I waited, letting the silence stretch.

After a minute of daydreaming again, Thom muttered quietly, “I have something I may finally get to do.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

Thom didn’t respond right away, and after several minutes, I could see that the conversation was closed. He wasn’t going to tell me any more than he already had, and I wasn’t going to push him. But Jesus — two jobs, a sick mom, and an absent sister? That’s a heavy burden. Thom must really love his mom, to care for her personally. Of course, he might have to; in-home nurses are expensive. But with a sister who’s an executive, I thought she would at least pitch in.

While I felt a bit closer to Thom, I certainly couldn’t talk to him further about it, as these conversations seemed to be more of a one-sided-confessional in nature. I didn’t mind, actually. I liked that Thom worked so hard, and he didn’t chase after the girls in the office. Of course, he probably would if he had the energy, but now I could see he was too exhausted.

We pulled up to Polk Street, where I would be starting at Shanghai Kelly's. I was halfway out the door, tray propped and door open to the sidewalk, when Thom stopped me.

“Hey, Pale,” he said tentatively, with a small smile.

His hazard lights were on, cars were honking, and I could feel the tug of a few sales smoking in front of Blue Light, waiting for my act to start. “Yeah?”

“Thanks. You know. For letting me…” he trailed off, looking down and playing with some ripped-up part of the upholstery. This car was such a piece of shit, he had his pick of spots for continued destruction.

“Hey, no problem.”

I gave him a big smile, and he actually grinned back a bit.

The rest of my night was a typical mosaic of good and crappy experiences. One guy followed me out of a bar, screaming, “I’m prettier than you! I’m prettier than YOU!” which I ignored. But later on, I got an amazing neck massage from David, one of the cuter bouncers I’d gotten to know. The tray was pretty heavy, and I’d developed a constant ache in my feet and shoulders from the weight combined with walking and climbing, so this was a little slice of heaven.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

I met a guy everyone called Coach Bill, and had a great talk with him. I also met Lydia Kim, who was famous among Tawny's Tarts because she had been collecting pez dispensers from us for years. She was a big fan of us Tarts, and Susannah had told me that she would always leave a tip, but it would be an especially big one if one of us was carrying a pez she didn’t have. Sadly, I didn’t have anything new for her, but she promised to keep an eye out for me in the future. I was happy to know what she looked like so I could find her again.

When Thom returned to pick me up at the end of the night, he had news for me.

“We're having a little celebration back at the office tonight, by the way. It’s Felix’s birthday.”

“His birthday? I had no idea it was coming up. I can’t believe no one told me!” I gasped. Thom smirked.

“What?” I barked, irritated.

“Actually, it was a week ago, but we wanted to wait until his schedule cleared to drink in style.” Thom was evil, I decided. Simple, plain old-fashioned evil.

“Oh, well, that’s just great. It was a week ago. I had no idea, I didn’t even get a chance to say Happy Birthday, and now I have no gift.” I stewed, frustrated and embarrassed. This was not going to help my chances.

I tried to think of something special to do for Felix on the way back to the office, and Thom kept up his cheery attitude.

At the office, I could feel the whole energy of the night had shifted. Everyone was pulling out glasses for champagne, lighting joints, and the girls were teasing and flirting with Felix more outrageously than usual.

I hung back, unloading my tray and setting it aside, while I checked my makeup in the mirror. The only one not celebrating was Ransom, who was sitting and pounding on the keyboard, looking disinterested. Selene was even there; it was strange to see her up so late at night. She looked like she just woke up, yet still managed to look completely composed and fresh. She came over to me and gave me a hug.

“Hello, darling! How were the sales tonight?”

“They were fine. Nothing special,” I said, absent-mindedly. Selene laughed angelically, and I turned back to her from staring at Felix.

“I’m sorry. Long night. Thom told me about his mom, and I feel embarrassed I didn’t get to wish Felix happy birthday. You know, on the day.” The party was in full swing then. A couple of girls were dancing, and shoving Felix around like a croquet ball. He seemed to be fully enjoying himself, getting lit and basking in being King of the Party.

“Well, you could go say happy birthday now,” Selene said slyly.

“Yeah, I guess I should.” I casually walked over to the makeshift dance area, and Felix finally spotted me. He pulled himself out from the girls and came over, laughing and sweaty. His eyes were bright and happy, and my heart contracted with jealousy and desire. God, he was just so gorgeous. It was maddening!

“Hey. So, I didn’t know… but I guess the word is out. So happy birthday!” I said, faltering.

“Oh, Miss Daisy. Aren’t you cute!” He laughed, giving me a punch on the arm. “Getting all flutter-bugged over little ol’ me. Don’t you know I’m an old man now? I’m no good to anyone.”

He laughed again, leaning down close to my face. I could smell a trace of musk and alcohol as he brushed a kiss against my cheek. I held still, astonished.

“Hahahahaa! Oh, priceless. I just love keeping you guessing, Miss Daisy. Don’t go thinking too hard now — just enjoy yourself.” He gave me a wink and wandered away.

I knew he meant it in a friendly way, but my face was burning. Meredith came over and shook her head at my expression, wordlessly handing me a joint, which I gladly drew from, coughing a bit. I caught Selene giving me a look from across the room.

“Felix has asked me to sing him a song. You okay?” She was looking happy. I could see she’d already cashed out with Ransom, and had a respectable bulge in her hand.

“Yeah, I’m fine. That just threw me. Looks like you did alright, yeah?” I asked, gesturing to the money.

“Yeah! It was a great night. Really fun. And I’m adding another night of singing to my week at the coffee shop, so that’s going well.”

“Hey, would you mind if I came to hear you sing sometime? I’m really interested in what you do, and would love to show my support,” I said shyly.

“Sure, that would be great. I will email you the address and the new night I’m performing on. I better get to Felix.” She nodded in his direction.

“Sure. Can’t wait to hear you!” I said.

Meredith walked over to Felix, and got his attention by giving him a playful slap on the arm. They shared a private joke for a minute, then Felix asked everyone to quiet down so Meredith could sing. This took a bit of effort, as quite a few girls had gotten rowdy in the corner and weren’t paying any attention.

Meredith broke into a sultry version of "Happy Birthday, Mr. President," slinking around Felix, her voice a ribbon of velvet, mesmerizing the whole, drunken, stoned lot of us. Felix was frozen, captivated by this curvy, silky, sexy display. At the end of her song, she finished by tipping up on her toes, pulling his face down to her, and giving him a big smack right on the cheek, which left a huge kiss-shaped mark.

I glanced around the room, and while everyone was amazed at the show, Thom looked completely star-struck.

We all broke into thunderous applause, drowning out her “Thank you" by stomping and yelling. Meredith truly had a gift, and it was wonderful to finally hear it.

Eventually, I staggered home and dropped into bed, my head spinning, grinning over the night’s events.