Chapter 1

“God, I can’t wait to go home. I am so exhausted.” I say this quietly to myself as I do my nightly paperwork. Another night of craziness at my job and my crew is busy cleaning and getting things ready for the next shift. The other manager is running things while I finish my work, but for the most part I am sitting here day dreaming waiting for my paperwork to print out.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Renee’ Hoover and I am a shift manager at a local fast food restaurant. I love my job, but on nights like tonight, I really wish I was at home in my bed instead of dealing with the drunken party goers of the night before. I am 5’5 with dark brown eyes, jet black curly hair that reaches my shoulders when straightened and cocoa colored, baby smooth skin. I’m also a plus-sized girl. It is the middle of November and my birthday is next month. I will be turning twenty-three this year and the plan is to go out with some friends from work, and a few old friends of mine, and I cannot wait because the truth is that I could use some fun in my life right now. Lately I haven’t been able to shake the feeling that my life is going to change this month for some reason. I have been having a strong urge to go to the restaurant I transferred from, but I have been fighting that feeling or coming up with excuses not to go. There are people there that I would rather not run into anytime soon, so I have no idea why I would have a pull towards that place. My thoughts are interrupted by the vibration and ringing of my cell phone. I look down at the display and then answer on the second ring.

“Hello.” I say into the receiver as I start putting my papers together and into their folder. “Renee’, this is Shirley.” I brighten up at the sound of my friend’s voice.

“Hey girl, how are you?” I ask her. I hadn’t really been talking to her since I transferred and we’ve both been busy working which leaves little time for a social life.

“I am alright. I wanted to know if you could pick me up from work when you get off of work.” Now my body is protesting because all it wants to do is go home, take a warm shower, and hop into my comfortable bed, but this is my friend and I will not leave her stranded at work.

“Sure I can pick you up. I should be out of here in about ten minutes.” I start opening the system back up and getting the office clean while I talk to her a little longer. After talking for a few more minutes she finally says that I may have to wait for her because they will not let her leave

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Love Worth Fighting For

until five.

“Alright girl, that is fine because I will not be out of here until about four-thirty anyway depending on how fast this other manager can verify and take over the safe. Let me get this work done and I will see you in a little bit.” I say this as I finish cleaning and tell a passing crew member to ask the other manager to come see me.

“Okay. Bye Renee’.”

“Bye Shirley.” I hang up right when the other manager comes in and I tell her that I am ready for her to verify the safe and deposit. She sits down and starts counting as my mind wanders off again towards my earlier thoughts and that pull that I could not shake. “Well it looks like I am going to end up going where I did not want to go after all. Why am I so against going there? It is not like something bad will happen to me, and I do have friends that still work there that I have not seen in a while. What could happen if I just go for a visit?” Consumed by my thoughts, I did not hear when the other manager called my name and told me that everything is fine and I could go start on my other stuff. Once I finished getting the inventory and cleaning and stocking done, I ordered my breakfast, and then went to warm my car up while I waited for them to make my order. I went back inside and told everyone bye and grabbed my breakfast, then I was on my way back into my city. While in the safety and silence of my car, I began to finally relax. I turned on my favorite c.d., which is Alicia Keys-Songs in A Minor, and head back into Lake Charles from Sulphur. I work in the next town over from where I live, but it is not that long of a drive so I do not mind. I hit the highway like a bat out of hell too ready to get into my bed after picking up my friend and bringing her home. When I was exiting the highway heading toward Shirley’s job my cell phone rang. I answered on the second ring after turning down my music. It was Shirley. I guess she thought I had forgotten about her.

“Hey girl, I am on my way. I will be there in five minutes.”

“Oh. I was trying to catch you before you got here. My cousin showed up so he’s going to take me home. I am sorry for making you come all the way over here.”

“It is okay.” It really was not okay because I could have been at my house if I did not have to take this damn detour and I was very tired. I needed to end this conversation because I felt myself getting angrier and crankier by the second.

“Renee’ I will talk to you later and maybe we can get together and do something this weekend. I miss seeing my friend.” At this I started to soften up a little. I missed seeing my friend also.

“Okay we can definitely do that. I miss seeing and talking to you too. Well I am going to head home because I am exhausted and my body is ready to collapse.”

“Okay then you better get home.” She laughs and so do I.

“Okay. Bye Shirley.”“Bye Renee’.” We hang up and I do feel a little better. I start thinking that maybe my sister will want something to eat and since I am already almost there I might as well order her food. Now every part of my brain is telling me to just go through the drive-thru because there really is no reason for me to get out of my vehicle, but for some reason I ignore my brain, park my car, and walk into the restaurant.

When I walk up to the counter, one of the managers I used to work with was in a panic. He asked me if I could cover the rest of his shift because he was trying to get home for his anniversary and his wife kept calling and was angry. Again my body is protesting and begging me to go lay down, but my soft heart takes over and I agree to help him. After calling my supervisor to make sure it was alright and getting them to clock me back in, he started giving me the run-down of what was going on. He gave me his keys and codes and then I was left alone to run another shift. Once he was gone and I had everyone keeping busy until the next wave of customers came through, I looked over the schedule and saw a name that made my heart skip a beat. “What the hell was that?” I asked myself. It was a feeling I had never felt before and could not understand how just seeing a name could make that feeling happen. Butterflies began to do a synchronized dance in my stomach and in that moment I knew what or should I say who was pulling me towards this place this whole time.

The shift was running very smooth and I was proud of myself since I never ran a morning shift. I have always been a graveyard worker even as a crew person. Working in the mornings was never an option for me unless I was training, because I do not like getting up early in the morning. Other than having to get the cooks to make a few adjustments to orders they got wrong, and ask everyone to stay busy, the morning was going good and I could not wait for the next manager to

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Love Worth Fighting For

get there so I could leave. Other crew started to show up and I realized that one person was late but in truth I was hoping to be gone before that person showed up. If their name could make my heart and stomach react that way, then what would happen if I actually saw this person? I had to be gone before this person showed up because I did not want to find out. Turning towards the window, I realized that I had spoken too soon and the object of my thoughts was right outside. There she was getting out of her sister’s truck with a blank expression on her face. She had not seen me yet and for some reason I found a bit of relief in that knowledge. Suddenly somebody yelled, “Jay is coming!” I looked towards the person that was yelling and told them to be quiet because the customers could hear them and to find something to clean. They apologized for being so loud and started wiping down the equipment in the kitchen area. I happened to turn back to the front as she walked through the door. We just stood there for a minute staring at each other and then she smiled and I smiled back. My heart suddenly went into overdrive and those damn butterflies started their dance all over again. She clocked in and then walked over to me. My brain finally kicked in and told me that there was time to figure out what was happening later but right now I had a job to do. I told her where her position was and she just simply said “Ok.” She got into position and then the morning rush started. I silently thanked whoever was responsible for giving me this distraction.

Finally that rush was over and I told the crew to start re-stocking and getting things clean and ready for the next rush. I started cleaning in the front area while I sent the cashier into the lobby to do some cleaning. Jay walked over to me and did not say anything but she just looked at me. Once again my heart sped up but at least the butterflies decided to stay calm. Maybe they were tired from all the dancing they did earlier. “Jay, do you need something?” I asked her as I kept stocking the napkins and sauces. She looked at me a little longer and I tried to figure out what she was thinking. The look on her face seemed to be that she was not exactly sure of how to ask me something or she was in deep thought but either way I just wanted her to spit it out. I hated waiting. “I was just wondering why you are here. Did you transfer back to this store?” Oh. Is that really all she wanted? I wonder how she would feel if I had transferred back to this store. Would that make her happy or angry? I shook my head in an attempt to clear it and then answered her question.