“Okay, go for it,” I say, grabbing the pen and pad out of my apron. I stifle another yawn. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for. I need to get my head back in the game after my romantic detour and family drama.
“First, you need to research the company—their mission, their culture, logo, colors, etc., and come up with a color scheme for the venue, as well as attire for the catering staff. Look up Trancy Hall so you can decide on table placement for the venue. Brush up on your formal table setting knowledge and get some ideas for menu course offerings. I’ll need all of this by August 1, nicely formatted in an online presentation so it can be shared with the internship board before the event.”
I nod, writing everything down furiously as she speaks. When I think I have it all, she starts again.
“And Kayla…”
“Yep, I’m ready. What else?” I finish my notes and peek up at her, waiting for the next bit of information. The emotion in her eyes catches me off guard, and I put down my pen, giving her my full attention.
“I’m proud of you. You’ve worked hard to get here, and you’re going to do great.” She wipes her eyes and shakes her hands, looking around the room for a tissue. “Ooh, I’m such a baby!”
“Thanks, Patti.” I smile back at her, handing her the box of tissues next to me.
“It’s true, Kayla. You work so hard and do so much for everyone else. I don’t think you get enough recognition for it. You deserve a little something for yourself too.”
“Ugh,” I say, shaking my head and blinking away tears. “Pat, stop trying to make me cry! I have to get back to work.” We both laugh at that, fanning our faces to dry up the tears as I stand.
“Yeah, you’re right. Get back to work!” She jabs a finger in my direction as I leave, pretending to be the hard-ass we both know she isn’t.
It’s the calm before the dinner rush, so I grab some clean dishes to practice my formal place setting skills while I wait for the next customers. After twenty minutes of moving silverware around and adding and removing plates and cups, I stare at the puzzle in front of me. This shouldn’t be so hard for me to remember, but looking it up on my phone feels like cheating. It’s mostly right—but some small detail is wrong—and I can’t for the life of me figure it out.
“What’s this?” Chase asks, standing across from me while I stare at the place setting. I didn’t hear him come in and look around the diner quickly to make sure I didn’t miss anyone else.
“I have to practice formal place settings for my portfolio. We haven’t gone over those in school since my first semester, and something’s missing. It looks wrong.”
He comes behind the counter, puts his hand on the small of my back, and looks at the dishes before me. “Butter knife,” he saysconfidently, before walking back around. He sits on the stool directly across from me, smiling.
“Duh! A butter knife. I’ve been looking at this for so long, everything’s starting to merge. How did you spot that?”
“One of the perks of etiquette classes.” He shrugs.
“You took etiquette classes?”
“Yeah. How else would I have become so charming?” he teases, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Okay, Mr. Charming.” I roll my eyes, chuckling. “You’re early. The dinner rush hasn’t even started yet.”
“Good, that means I can kiss you now instead of having to wait.”
“Oh, is that what that means?” I load my place setting dishes into the dish return behind me.
“It does if you ever get over here to say hi.” His eyes follow me as I move around the counter and stand between his knees. Wrapping his arms around my waist, he pulls me in close enough that I have to tip my head back to see him. “Hi,” he breathes over me, making my heart tick a beat faster. I’ve mostly gotten used to the way he makes my heart flutter, but sometimes, like right now, he’ll catch me off guard and I have to look away just to think a proper thought. As I lower my chin, he lifts it back up with his finger. “Don’t do that,” he says softly.
Those piercing dark blue eyes stare straight into my soul before he presses his lips to mine, and I swoon. If he wasn’t holding me, he’d have to pick me up from the floor. “I’ll let you get back to work,” he whispers, steadying me while I find my feet. The smirk on his face shows he knows the exact effect his kiss had on me. I take a deep breath as tingles surge from my lips down to my toes.
The bell above the door chimes, breaking my trance and setting me in motion to seat the two booths worth of people who just came in. As I get them settled, three more groups file in, creating a revolving door of customers until the dinner rush ends.
At the end of the night, Chase grabs the spray bottle andcleaning rags, wiping down tables, while I head to the back to prep the washer. I free my hair from the bun on my head, relieving the tension headache I’ve been battling for the last hour. Leaning against the storage room wall, I stretch out my back as Chase drops the dirty rags in the washer. “Done already?” I ask, eyes half closed from exhaustion.
“Yeah. I had a little motivation…”
“Oh?” My eyes pop open, watching him take slow steps toward me. “And what was that?”
He lifts the apron over my head, tosses it in the washer across the room, and wraps his arms around me. “Not what.Who. You might know her…tall, green eyes, breathtaking.”
“The Statue of Liberty?” I gasp, looking behind the door.
He laughs, running his fingers up my arm. “I’m trying to be romantic over here, and you’ve got jokes.”
