The House That Built Me

Chapter 1

The Parkway Diner, a cozy cafe nestled in the corner of downtown Elmdale, was a popular place on any given day of the week. It had an old-school set-up, with an open stainless-steel kitchen behind a long bar, leather swivel stools all in a line, small tables with long benches set against windows, even an old jukebox machine by the entrance. The brick walls and open ceiling gave the diner a modern touch. Teenagers and college students saw the Parkway as a late-night destination for homework meetings and after-party meals. Young couples with kids and senior citizens felt like the diner had a family-friendly appeal for daytime outings–it was a place to just be, and everyone was like family.

Usually slowed down around mid-afternoon, Willa was still bustling around the diner, giving one table their check, doing a quick check-in with another table, before coming back behind the bar to see if her other orders were ready. Despite the chaos of trying to handle this many customers with a short-handed staff, Willa smiled at everyone, greeting the regulars by name.

"Willa, go take a break for a bit!"

Willa barely heard her best friend/coworker shout across the diner bar, too busy serving up late lunches and refilling coffee cups. "Alright Jenna, I'll be just a minute," she said as she began to take a debit card from one of the regulars at the bar.

"Babe, I got you. Go, relax for a few. The busyness will still be here for you in 20 minutes, I promise." Jenna walked over and took the debit card out of Willa's hands, nodding her head towards the break room. Her teal-blue hair, tattoo-covered arms, and nose-and-eyebrow piercings gave Jenna the appearance of having a tough exterior, but she really was the sweetest human being and one of Willa's favorite people in the world.

"Thanks, Jen." Willa gave a deep sigh, relenting to Jenna's determinedness that she take a break. She had to admit, her feet were pretty achy after a busier than usual lunch rush.

On days the diner gets unexpectedly busy and they are short-staffed, Willa and Jenna give each other turns to take short breaks. Willa, having waitressed at other restaurants in the past, knew how unusual and rare it was for the staff to look out for each other like that. Waiting tables can be a dog-eat-dog world, but she got lucky when she was hired at the Parkway a couple of years ago. They actually cared about each other, enough to cover each other's sections to let each other take a moment to breathe before diving back into the craziness.

Willa wiped her hands on her apron, smoothing her long bangs back behind her ears, the rest of her light brown hair thrown up haphazardly in a bun. She walked towards the back of the diner and through the swinging door leading to the small, makeshift break room. Originally, the breakroom was barely walk-in closet-sized with just a small array of lockers on the wall, but someone had managed to squeeze a fold-out card table and a couple of chairs in there. She collapsed into the first chair she saw at the table. She put her head down, arms folded on the table, taking deep breaths. She was all alone, and the sudden quiet was jarring and soothing all at the same time. Willa embraced the stillness and silence as much as she could, moments all to herself few and far between. She checked the time on her phone, realizing her seven-year-old son would be dropped off from school on the bus soon. Luckily, they should have a few minutes to talk before her break ended, her asking the predictable mom questions, like "How was your day? What did you learn about?"

Jack surprisingly always gave her pretty detailed responses, not like the ones she would give her parents. Even though she remembered perfectly what she learned in school each day, she had no desire to engage in any way with her family.

It was fine.

I don't remember.

She never had to coach Jack into telling her more about his day, though. He had always been very talkative right after school, sharing the excitement of the day with her. It was Willa's favorite part of the day. Nothing made her happier than hearing what Jack had to say, and it could be about anything at all. Thinking about him, she lifted her head up and took one final deep breath.