More to Life ✔

Chapter 2 Torn

In the kitchen of the Filipino restaurant she'd worked in since she was a teen, Maria's boss, Felipe, muttered under his breath as he got off the phone in his office. She furrowed her brow as his sunshine demeanour was usually infallible.

He sighed and wiped his hands on his cook's jacket. "Sherry can't come in tonight."

Maria's heart clenched. While she couldn't miss Adrian's show, without Sherry there wouldn't be enough servers to cover the Saturday night crowd. "Amado?"

"He's at his lolo's eightieth birthday."

Maria's parents were probably there tonight too. She inhaled the kitchen's comforting fish sauce, shrimp paste, vinegar, and onion scent.

"Dalisay?"

"Her daughter is sick."

Felipe scratched his brow and frowned at Maria. "How about your sister? She's sixteen, isn't she?"

Maria's jaw dropped. He had to be out of options if he suggested Tina, forgetting how snarky she was. "You do not want her talking to your food blogger. She'll ruin this place."

"I'll call my mom. The girls can watch videos on my phone in the office."

The girls were six and didn't need to be awake until ten or whenever the restaurant cleared out, which wasn't early on weekends with the new karaoke stage. Maria tapped her hand against the red apron on her hip, change rattling. He was practically family, and she couldn't stand letting him down since his family had been so supportive of hers when she was younger. He needed this restaurant and good business to raise his girls after his wife passed. The extra tips would get her that much closer to making rent and having money for food. It would only be a little longer, and if she left by nine with the ride from Kelsey, there'd still be an hour to make it Adrian's show. As long as she was there when he took the stage, he'd be okay.

"I can stay until nine. Maybe it'll die down by then." 

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. The relief on his face overshadowed Adrian's potentially harsh reactions.

"You're a lifesaver, Ria."

She texted Kelsey the new time then hustled back to the dining area with two steaming bowls of sinigang soup, bobbing with bright greens, silver fish, a vibrant purple eggplant.

By eight, the restaurant bustled and customers ordered heaps of food and drinks. Maria and the other server glided around the restaurant, hands never empty and feet never stopping. The food blogger and her friends kept ordering more appetizers and beer, smiling and laughing. It would improve Felipe's business, but wasn't great for Maria's odds of leaving at nine.

An hour later, Kelsey stood in the doorway in a tight blue dress and waved. Maria placed a plate of fried Lechon Kawali, a crispy deep-fried pork belly dish, in front of a group of rowdy Filipino guys cheering on the women singing karaoke. They ordered more beers before Maria could sneak away. She held her hand up to Kelsey to indicate five more minutes. The next twenty minutes went the same way as Kelsey checked her phone and fidgeted with the hem of her dress.

Maria stole a minute from her serving and stood beside Kelsey. "My boss has been calling people all night. No one can cover my coworker's shift and I thought it'd be dead by now. I might be a little longer."

"Ria, you'll crush Adrian if you miss this. Forget about your job for once."

Supporting Adrian was the obvious choice, but a voice hissed, 'Evicted,' in her mind. It brought back the yelling of her childhood, her parents standing on the apartment stoop with boxes and suitcases, waiting in the rain for her uncle to pick them up. Maria's baby sister had wailed in her arms for ten minutes before their parents had calmed down enough to hold Tina again.