I sat up straight and squared my shoulders. “Bob says we have enough to match Case’s salary.”
“But if Case becomes the head chef, doesn’t that come with a pay raise?”
Well, damn, I hadn’t thought of that. But still, I needed to hold my ground. Just because Will had thought of things that I hadn’t didn’t mean we needed to scrap the whole idea. “Case is drowning, Will. He can’t keep up on our busy nights. And he can’t keep up this pace. I know we need to fill in other positions, but maybe the server job can be put on hold for a minute. I’ll help out until we are in a better spot to fill out the rest.”
Nothing I was saying seemed to penetrate Will’s thick skull. His face was red, and if he had been a cartoon, smoke would have been billowing out of his ears right about now. “You should have talked to me before you did anything.”
I slid to the edge of the barstool, as angry as him now. “I’ve been talking Case out of quitting for weeks now. I did what I knew was best for the business. I don’t need your permission to make every single decision.”
Will leaned forward, his face a solid purple color. We were about to start shouting. Usually, we saved these brawls for private, but apparently, tonight, we were going to give our customers dinner and a show. “For fuck’s sake—”
Jonah jumped to his feet and stepped in front of me. “Will, you need to calm down. You can’t talk to her like that.”
Will was so surprised at Jonah’s intervention that he took a step back. The eggplant color on his face started receding, and he turned a more normal tomato red. “I can’t talk to who like that?”
“Eliza,” Jonah said. His voice was calm on the surface, relaxed. But there was steel behind it. Will and I both heard the domineering command in his quiet words. “Think about your next words very carefully,” he warned my brother. “Eliza was doing a hard part of her job without asking for help. You should be thanking her. Not yelling at her.”
“You’re talking about mysister?” Will asked, still too confused to make sense of what was happening. “You want me to thank my sister for going behind my back and trying to hire a full-time position we can’t afford?”
It was on the tip of my tongue to remind him I’d cleared the salary with our accountant and business manager, but Will clearly didn’t want to hear those rational details. He just wanted to be mad.
To be honest, I would have reacted the same way.
And as much of an asshole as Will was being, it wasn’t anything I wasn’t used to. We were siblings. In business together. We fought regularly. It was part of our charm.
“You need to calm down,” Jonah insisted. “Think about what you’re saying and about what Eliza did for you. When you can speak to her with respect, then we can continue the conversation.”
“Wecan continue this conversation?” Will was flabbergasted. That was the only word for it. He looked so confused I was worried his head was about to explode.
But so was I. Where was this coming from? There had been times when Will, Charlie, and I had been really going after each other that Jonah had intervened before. But I always assumed that was because our fighting made him uncomfortable. Plus, who liked to hang out with siblings who were constantly at each other’s throats? But now, he was very specifically taking my side and standing up for me.
Against Will.
His best friend.
Will was officially going to kill me.
“We’ll go,” Jonah announced, standing up. He put his hand out for me to take. “Figure out a better way to say everything you’re saying, Will. Because this is unacceptable.”
“What is happening?” Will demanded in a shrill squeak. “Eliza, what the hell?”
It took a very valiant effort not to shoot him a smug grin. Instead, and by some miracle, I managed to keep a straight face and offer a solemn nod. In my head, it sounded more like, “That’s right, sucker! Figure your shit out, and then maybe I’ll talk to you.” My inner Eliza was laughing maniacally.
“We’re leaving,” I told Will. “No decision has been made yet. So you need to seriously think this over. Talk to Case. We can discuss this further after you’ve calmed down.”
Will’s eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. His voice dropped to a low growl. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Jonah put his hand on my back. “Do you need to grab your things?”
“Yeah, they’re in my office.”
“We can go out the back then.”
A couple walked in and sat at the end of the bar. Providential timing because now Will couldn’t follow us.
“Eliza,” Will said regardless. “Jonah? What the hell is happening? What is going on between you guys?” His tone was growing more desperate the closer we got to the kitchen door. And epically more pissed off. “It better not be what I think it is. I’m fucking serious, Jonah. That’s my fucking sister.”
By the time we reached the safety of the kitchen, I was breathless, trying to hold back laughter. Jonah was not as amused, though. We walked briskly by Case into my office.
