Chapter One

The night I met my Dom…

The night I met my Dom I was waiting tables on my Wednesday evening shift at Hooters in Tucson. Do you know the place? I work at the one off Speedway near the corner of S. Kolb Road. I know what you’re thinking… Hooters. When I was looking for a job I filled out applications at other places, but Hooters had an opening and hired me on the spot, for obvious reasons. It’s an OK place to work, I guess. I’ve been able to save up a little money and Richie, my manager, is really nice to me (and a pretty sexy guy). I’ve been working here a little over two years now. We’re located just a short drive straight up Kolb through the desert from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. A lot of military personnel come in especially on the weekends to get drunk and stare at the waitresses in our tight t-shirts and skimpy shorts. You should stop on by sometime, order a beer. I don’t mind being looked at. I’ve been stared at by men and women all my life.

Before I begin my memoir, I want you to know that I didn’t just aspire for a career as a waitress at Hooters. After high school I attended a community college for two years part-time, but I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life so I never finished my college degree. Then I saw these commercials on late night TV on how to train to become a medical assistant, so I thought I’d give that a try. I applied to get money to go to nursing school at Pima Medical Institute, but I was so buried in credit card debt I couldn’t get approved for a student loan. Around the same time my Dad lost his construction business and was no longer in a position to help me financially. After the recession hit and our home was foreclosed, Dad decided to leave Tucson. The last time I saw him he was driving in a caravan of broken down cars with his hippy friends, traveling toward California to start a nudist colony somewhere in the desert. I haven’t seen or heard from him since he left town. If my memoir ever gets published and you happen to read this, I want you to know… I love you, Dad. I miss you. You were always a good Father to me…

I scraped together enough cash to pay in cash for my first semester at Pima and I liked studying there. I felt like I finally found my vocation. I even met this really cute guy there, but before I could get a chance to know him, I had to take a leave of absence when I didn’t get the scholarship I was hoping for. I got the job as a waitress, figuring I could save up enough money from my tips to get out of credi