Sid was out on the sidewalk in front of Grazie. It was Saturday. For the last two years, she'd enjoyed working Saturdays because every so often the restaurant would host an event and she'd get to supervise. She would float from the kitchen, making sure the proper appetizers and entrees were prepped to the clients specifications. She'd watch vendors deliver balloons for birthday parties, huge white wicker chairs adorned with pink or blue bows for a baby shower. Or her favorite-- weddings. The rough exposed brick, scuffed wood floors, and wobbly tables would be transformed into an enchanted space. The floral arrangements, hung taffeta, and white aisle runners made it a venue for love. She resented the place less when it looked so beautiful. When it was the backdrop for the beginning of a couple's life. Instead of what it was every day and especially now. Hell.
She hoisted a tote bag full of the contents of her desk onto her shoulder and looked both ways down the sidewalk. Where does one go when they no longer have a job? What are Saturday mornings for? The extra weight pulling down on her shoulder let her know that they weren't for sleeping in with a stranger and skidding into work a massive hangover just as Quinn's Uber pulled up outside the restaurant doors. She knew it was bad news if the boss was on the scene before noon.
This Saturday was one of those beautiful ones that Sid loved so much. A wedding day. A bride was set to walk down a crisp white aisle toward the endearing little garden patio tucked behind the restaurant at 1PM. As luck would have it, the bride was also set to have an absolute fit when she began to receive calls from her vendors informing her that no one was at the restaurant to grant them entry to decorate. Doesn't matter that someone was there --Raymond chose to ignore the knocking on the front doors and called Quinn instead, shouting that it wasn't his job and he didn't train for years at the Culinary Institute of America (lies) to sign for flowers and 'girly' things -- it just matters that she, Sidney Berry, was late again. Quinn had to cut her avocado toast brunch short and come in to deal with a bridal freak-out. That put the permanent ink on Sid's pink slip.
A mom clad in stylish workout clothes breezed by her with her chubby infant in a torpedo-shaped stroller. She thought of AJ, cute and chubby somewhere with Aiden and not with her. For once she was relieved. She didn't want to face the kid. He'd somehow know that his mom had fucked up. Again. She could picture him scrunching up his little nose. First no cookies and now this! Sidney let her head go limp on her shoulder as the gravity of unemployment hit her. It was just another thing on top of all the other things. Sid felt like the universe was perpetually taking the top off the blender of her life while it was still an angry churning tornado of mess. Throwing the contents of what could've been a stable adult life all over the walls. She needed to call her clean up crew. She took one last look at the Grazie and shuffled in the same direction as jogger mom. Tomi's voice came on the line a moment later.
"I was just thinking about you," Tomi said.
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, I'm getting waxed."
Sid laughed but stopped. Remembering that she was supposed to be sad about losing her job. And she was, but there was also relief in there simmering along with the panic. She kind of despised the place.
"Thinking about that bald spot --" Sid started but Tomi had already launched into the story.
"The bald spot you had after your first time! You should've just let them finish." Tomi cackled. Strong cackles at Sid's expense.
"That shit hurt. There was no way I was letting her finish." Sid thought back fondly on the experience. Tomi and her as college sophomores venturing into the city to get their first waxes. The pain? Not so fond. She'd been a member of the shave crew since.
"Is your vag hair uneven now?"Tomi inquired.
"I got fired."
"When?"
"Just now."
"You were late again?"
"Yeah."
"But why? Was it the train? You really should ask for an accommodation. They have to provide it to you by law."
"I don't want an accommodation and it wasn't the train. I was hanging out with this guy and there was Henny and brother cups."
"Brother what's? There's a guy? Meet me at my place. I'll send a car."
It was a long car ride to the hipster streets of Williamsburg for Sid. She tried to not be the girl who cried in rideshare vehicles but by the time she pulled up in front of Tomi's condo a few blocks from East River she was definitely that girl. Something that had been damaged for years completely broke on the ride over. Her resolve, maybe? Her driver had even peeked at the rearview mirror and reminded her that tissues were in the middle console. She thanked him and wondered why she couldn't stop the tears from coming so heavily. She was a silent crier, so there were no sobs, but her ribs hurt from all the shoulder quaking and the collar of her soft pink trendy blouse with muted floral print was soaked dark with her tears. And now this blouse would always be the blouse she got fired in. She'd never wear it again which was bullshit. It was one of her favorite blouses.
The doorman greeted her and she shuffled by with an exaggerated hand over the collar of her shirt and kept her eyes averted until she was in the safety of the elevator. Before she knew it she was sprawled out on the sofa, completely ignoring the beautiful view of Manhattan from Tomi's twenty-third-floor apartment. An apartment she had moved into because the one she originally purchased was too big. Yeah. That's what Tomi said--it was too big. So she secretly got out of the lease on the larger apartment, moved to a smaller one, and used the rest of the rent allotment from her parents to grab a studio space a few blocks away where she could work on her passion of designing truly beautiful pieces of furniture on the sly. Tomi was a professional at skirting her parent's expectations. Either way, she was right. This place did feel cozier.
"Here," Tomi said. She collapsed down on the couch next to Sid after handing her a dark drink in a glass.
"What is it?" Sid asked. She took a sip and eyed the singular sprig of mint in the glass.
"A Mint Julep."
"This is straight bourbon."
"Yeah. I took out the Julepy stuff." Tomi waved her hands like the other ingredients were a bother, "They didn't give you a chance to explain?"
Sid furrowed her brow, confused, and then remembered--she got fired.
"No, she was on a warpath. She hates to work and today I was the one who made her have to work." Sid slid deep down in the couch and knocked back half of the drink.
"Why didn't you just tell them that AJ was sick or something? Kids are the perfect alibi."
Sid shook her head and sipped some more before responding.
"Because he actually was sick last week. If he's sick again that quickly ACS will be at my door."
"Well, my offer still stands. Maybe now is the time to take me up on it." Tomi said while clicking on her phone and shooting an eye at Sid.
Tomi had been trying to get Sid to accept a position in one of her family's hotels since graduation. Sidney refused. She didn't like nepotism and was not going to take part in getting a role simply because of who she knew. She wanted to earn it. She had to earn it. That was how her father did it. Paid his own way through culinary school and worked his way up until he was Sous Chef at a five-star restaurant in Midtown and next line for the Executive Chef role once it opened up. She wanted to prove to herself that she could do the same thing. Get a position on her own merit and skill and not because her best friend pitied her then pregnant, and now jobless, friend.
Aiden on the other hand begged and pleaded for Tomi to get him an interview with her Dad. Tomi was not a fan of Aiden but with her best friend's womb full of his offspring she relented and put in a good word for him. He accepted a job as a Night Auditor, and in Aiden's patented workhorse fashion, he worked his way up to Regional Director in the same two years that it took Sid to be promoted from tending to leaky sinks to full-blown bread interventions. Sid's head hurt.
"Let me shake a few trees first."
"Does Aiden know?"
"Nope. You and you only. And Phil."
The leather couch squeaked against Tomi's jeans as she pivoted to fully face Sid. She was all ears for whatever would come of out Sid's mouth next.
"Phil. Tell." Tomi steepled her hands and rested her elbows on her knees.
"He lives in my building. He's a little corner boy or whatever. But he's good looking and I needed to unwind. That's it."
"Are you feeling him?"
"I don't know him. He's nice. A bit of a talker."
"Does he have a gun?"
"What?" Sid coughed on her julep-less drink.
"You said he's a corner boy. Is he packing heat?" Tomi tucked her straight jet black hair behind her ear and leaned in close. Her excitement causing her pale cheeks to redden.
"Stop watching 'Power'."
Tomi's phone rang and she answered. Sid continued to sip and contemplate her life as Tomi spoke into the phone with flawless Japanese. Definitely her Mom. She knew that Tomi only spoke the language to her mother who drilled the importance of staying connected to their heritage. That and the relentless eye-rolling and huffing that was following each statement gave her a hint. With one last huff and eye roll, Tomi jammed her finger against her phone screen and tossed it onto the couch.
"I've got to go to this thing tonight. Influencer shit. Wanna go?" Tomi hated all aspects of her family business. Particularly her role as head of the Marketing and Content strategy team and especially the ones that made her be social.
"Is Matt going to be there?"
"Of course. He's the marketing director."
"I'll pass."
"You should've never fucked him in that Honda Pilot." Tomi yelled before she ducked into her bedroom to get ready.
Sid nodded. Just another thing to add to the messy pile of things she regretted.
Sid's get the short end of a LOT of sticks huh? What do you think of things going on between her and Phil?
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