The Lesson Read Online Free PDF

doing anything that he might misinterpret as interest. Just serve him quickly and get back to her other customers. No small talk. She went to the soda machine to fill his drink order.
    “What happened?”
    Pilar pulled salads from the cooler and waited expectantly for a reply. As she did, Gina enjoyed the sudden breath of frosty air that escaped the cooler. No matter the time of year, Big Bick’s was always too warm at lunch time, or maybe it just seemed that way because the waitresses had to move so fast. No matter, today she felt hotter than usual. She put her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes.
    “I’m an idiot,” said Gina.
    “What?”
    “He’s not an officer, he’s enlisted. Red chevrons. Officers wear yellow. Take a look.” Gina jerked her head toward the table where Kevin was engrossed in his newspaper.
    Pilar put down the salads on the counter and stood on tiptoe to see over the counter divider. “So? He’s still nice looking.”
    “Don’t get excited, Pilar. They all look gorgeous in uniform. You haven’t seen him in street clothes. I have. He’s a completely different person. He’s also the same guy who followed me home from Cupertino two nights ago. I was thrown off by the white hat, too. Enlisted and officers wear a similar hat when they’re all dressed up.”
    “ Ooh. I see.” Pilar picked up a ladle and drizzled bleu cheese dressing on the two salads though her eyes stayed fixed on Kevin. “And he drove seventy-five miles out of his way in the middle of the day just for Big Bick’s corned beef on rye?”
    The girls exchanged a knowing look and then they both burst out in sniggers. When Gina returned to Kevin’s table with his soda, he ordered a cheeseburger and fries.
    “Is it always busy like this on Fridays?” he asked, handing her the menu.
    “Yes, Fridays are always bad. Sometimes they’re worse than this. We’re short one waitress today. That happens a lot.”
    “I see,” said Kevin as he surveyed the busy restaurant. “You must work very hard.”
    “Indeed. One time I worked a dinner shift where it was just me and the owners. Worst night of my life. Usually three of us handle six tables each, and a fourth waitress handles the counter, but one night I had all eighteen tables. The owners worked the counter and tried their best to back me up and make the whole thing run smoothly, refilling sodas and scooping ice cream and all. But that many tables would have been difficult even for an octopus. I wouldn’t blame those customers if they never came back.”
    “Then I won’t get in your way,” said Kevin.
    “Thanks,” said Gina. She smiled at him, grateful and a little surprised that he was so understanding. She walked back to the kitchen and put his lunch order on the wheel . That was easier than I thought it would be.
    While she busied herself with her five other tables, Gina glanced toward Kevin’s table from time to time, curious more than anything. It was hard not to notice him. Rarely did Big Bick’s serve military of any stripe, because the restaurant was far from any base. To have a GI walk in decked in full dress uniform was even more rare. She couldn’t get over the fact that he had actually driven so far on a weekday. He didn’t just casually choose Big Bick’s for lunch today; he wanted to see where she worked. But then again, he had told her that he spent most weekends with his father at their apartment in San Jose, so maybe he had just gotten off early for the weekend and had decided to check out Big Bick’s for lunch. He was single—he probably ate out a lot anyway. The restaurant was near the border between San Jose and Santa Clara. Maybe that’s all there was to it.
    As she mulled over these questions she was also trying to surreptitiously read his face. But every time she glanced in his direction he had his head behind his outspread copy of the San Jose Mercury News.
    Ding! Gina looked toward the kitchen. George, the fiery little short-order