I grinned back, the Will-induced doom taking a back seat to this bubbling happiness I couldn’t turn off. “Only a hundred times.”
“Everything will work out, you know. With Will. I have a good feeling.”
I was glad one of us did. “Speaking of my big brother, I need to run. I’m interviewing this afternoon with Case, so I better go.” I went to grab my purse to pay for breakfast, but Claire stopped me. “You go. I’ve got this.”
“Thanks, Claire. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
* * *
“Why are you smiling so big?” Will asked from behind the bar.
Oh, right. Now I remembered.
I turned my soul-satisfied glow on him. “It’s gorgeous out. These warm February days are giving me life.”
His eyes narrowed skeptically. “Uh-huh.”
“Hey, I have some interviews for that kitchen position with Case this afternoon. Do you want to sit in on them too?” This was interview session round two. The first batch of candidates had not gone well. So far, nobody had been as qualified as they claimed on their application. Or they hadn’t shown up. Or they were just using our interview as leverage to get a better job or bigger paycheck. This whole process was slowly killing my hope in humanity, so if Will wanted to be a part of it, my suspicions about something being wrong with him might be actually grounded.
His eyes didn’t un-narrow, but the reason for them shifted. “Do you need me to sit in on them?”
I shrugged. “I think Case and I can handle them. Case knows what he’s looking for. I’m just there to make sure the applicants aren’t criminals or serial killers.”
“Okay, then, nah. Go ahead without me.”
I walked closer to the bar, almost unable to believe what I was hearing. “You’re sure?”
He looked at me like I was crazy for asking him. “Why wouldn’t I be sure?”
Now I was looking at him like he was crazy for asking methatquestion. “Will, you’re a grade A control freak. Unless you’re controlling things, you freak out. Not having the final say in who we hire for the kitchen might seem like a fine thing to do today, but then we’re going to hire someone. And you won’t have given your approval. And then what will happen is an epic, end-of-the-world meltdown.”
He made a disgruntled face and rolled his lips together in a “psht” sound. “You’re exaggerating. I’m not that bad.” I continued to give him the look. “About some things. Fine... Yes, I can be a little... controlling. But this isn’t my department. So it’s fine. It’s totally fine. You and Case will do a fine job.”
Three fines without taking a breath meant this was anything butfine. But whatever. I wasn’t going to push him into this. It would be a thousand times easier without him there to nitpick.
Charlie walked through the doors, arriving to work for the day. He had a backpack on, but he was moving his shoulders and neck like it was the heaviest thing in the world.
“You okay?” Will asked before I could get the words out.
He took his backpack off and tossed it on a barstool. “It’s this fucking surgery. It’s killing me. My back is broken.”
Charlie had been back to work for over a week. And he’d seemed fine, but his back pain had been getting increasingly worse. Something to do with how they did the surgery and filled his body up with air to get to his appendix. Now he was struggling with extra air in his chest area.
Modern medicine was weird. Miraculous and life-saving, but weird.
“Is it still getting worse?” I asked. It wasn’t just his back. He’d been extra growly since the surgery.
If you asked me, it all had to do with his fight with Ada. They weren’t speaking to each other. Or even looking at each other. And I was waiting for the day when they stopped working the same shifts together too. Which would make things extra difficult since Charlie worked every day with Will and me. And we needed Ada. Every dang day.
“It’s not getting fucking better,” he countered in a way I assumed a grizzly bear would answer if asked the same question.
“Well, Case and I are doing interviews for the kitchen this afternoon out here. So you can go lock yourself in the office if you want.”
His face relaxed with a few seconds of relief. “Thanks, Eliza.”
After he’d wandered off to the kitchen, Will gave me that look again. “See? Something’s different about you.”
