The new girl immediately noticed the intrusion and quickly dabbed at her eyes. "Sorry. I'm sorry."

Charlene was pretty sure the new girl had said her name was Gertie. When introducing herself she'd said, "Yes, like Drew Barrymore in E.T.," so if Drew played somebody named Gertie in that movie, that was the new girl's name. Charlene had never seen E.T. and would not have thought to make that reference. An incredibly inappropriate alien comment had popped into her mind, but Charlene a) was at work, and b) had just met Gertie, so she'd used her filter and left the hilariously gross alien comment unsaid.

She was proud of this. Many things made it past her filter on any given day. Many, many things.

Gertie was attractive, though not Charlene's type. She doubted Gertie had even a single tattoo. Charlene liked to be the corrupted and not the corrupter (though by now, at age twenty-six, it was difficult to find scenarios where she could say, "Goodness gracious, I've never done that before!"). Gertie looked wholesome. Not virginal, but not somebody who would let lovers choke her. Average height but extremely thin—not in an anorexic way, but still skinny as shit. She was probably fresh out of college and her tears were from the realization that her four-year degree had earned her a job as a server at a mediocre Italian restaurant.

"Everything okay?" Charlene asked. "I mean, obviously not, dumb question. What I mean is, is there anything I can do?"

"No. I just needed a minute to myself and somebody was already in the restroom."

"You sure?" Charlene didn't know why she'd asked if Gertie was sure. She'd been given a free pass to politely leave—why hadn't she taken it?

Gertie nodded. "A customer was horrible to me. It's no big deal. I'll get used to it."

"Which table?"

"Eight."

"The lady in the blue dress?"

"Yeah."

"She looks like a mega-bitch. Does she know you're new? You would've been shadowing Jason for your first couple of days, right?" Charlene had been off Tuesday and Wednesday. She'd spent all day Tuesday in her pajamas binge-watching television shows, and all day Wednesday helping her parents paint their house.

"Yeah. It wasn't even something I messed up. She's just one of those people who gets off on being mean to people who can't do anything about it. But again, it's no big deal. I've been kind of discombobulated lately and I wasn't ready for that right after I started my shift. It's literally the first table I've done on my own."

"Want me to take care of it?" Charlene asked.

"No, that's fine. You have your own tables."

"That's not what I meant."

"What did you mean?"

"Vengeance."

Gertie gave her a "Surely you're kidding" look, then quickly seemed to realize that Charlene was serious.

"Oh, no, no, no, that's not necessary at all. She wasn't that bad."

"She made you cry."