And Everything Nice by Kim Moritsugu Page A

more cash on me. I must have spent it somewhere.”
    â€œI love how your first thought when money is missing is that I took it.”
    â€œI said I was sorry.” She smiled up at me. “I used to take money from my mother’s wallet all the time when I was a teenager— a five here, a few singles there. She never noticed.”
    â€œWell, I’m not a teenager. And I guess I’m more trustworthy than you were.”
    So far I was anyway.

CHAPTER TWO
    N athan was the bar manager at an upscale gourmet restaurant downtown called Sterling. It was the kind of place where rich food snobs spent hundreds of dollars on dinner for two with wine. He got off work at eleven thirty, so I met him at his apartment at midnight. When I saw him on his work nights, we usually stayed up for a few hours after he got home. We’d talk and watch tv while he wound down.
    That night we drank some good white wine, left over from the restaurant. And we shared an extra dessert Nathan had brought home, a molten chocolate cake. He told me about a table of bankers who had come to Sterling to celebrate a deal and run up a big tab. They’d had cocktails before dinner, four bottles of wine with, and cognac after. And they’d tipped in cash.
    â€œWhat about you?” he asked. “How was your day? Did you have any problem customers? Anybody who asked for the manager and tried to start a fight?”
    â€œSomeone asked for me, but not to complain. The regional director came by on a store visit and I showed her around. She wanted to know what was selling well, and how the merchandising was working out.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œShe liked me. She said I was a natural.”
    â€œA natural what?”
    Good question. I thought at first she meant I was a natural at retail, which Joanne would say was no compliment. But when I asked her to explain, she said I was a natural speaker—clear, smooth and relaxed. “You should see about doing some Gap training videos,” she’d said. “They mostly hire actors, but they like to use real employees if they can find someone who’s good on camera. Email me your contact info and I’ll pass it on. If you’re interested.”
    I told Nathan this, and that I planned to send her an email the next day. To say sure, I was interested. But I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting to hear back.
    â€œThat’s my Steph.” Nathan patted my knee. “Future star of training videos.”
    Was he making fun of me? Because he’d made me sound a little pathetic.
    He said, “You’ll be trying out for American Idol next.”
    Wrong. I didn’t mind the idea of making a training video as a break from my routine. When I was little, I told everyone I wanted to be on tv. So it would be kind of like that. But I was no entertainer.
    And by the way, this story is not about how I joined the choir and became a singing star, in case you were wondering. That’s not what happened.
    â€œYou sound like Joanne,” I said. “She’s all enthused about this rock choir she’s in. She wants me to come with her next Tuesday night and try it out.”
    â€œIs it seniors singing Lou Reed songs and shit? I saw something about that on tv once.”
    â€œShe claims the choir members aren’t that old. And the songs are by artists like Elton John and Billy Joel. And Journey, for god’s sake.”
    â€œJourney’s awesome. Don’t knock Journey.”
    â€œWhat, you think I should be in the choir too?”
    â€œOnly if you want to. Though what else have you got going on a Tuesday night? It’s not like you’re taking a course.” Nathan took online college courses part-time in business management. So that one day he could open his own bar. As if that would ever happen.
    I said, “I do things. I work out, I watch TV, I go clubbing with the girls.”
    â€œExactly. What have you got going on that’s