She grabbed a tray of silverware and napkins and started rolling them for the tables, something servers had to do before clocking out so the next shift would have plenty to work with. On Friday and Saturday nights, sometimes they had to do this twice, once in the middle of the shift and again at the end of the night. This was a headache for her because it meant she had to take her focus off her tables and rush even more.
No-win situations like that made her hesitant to pick up weekend shifts.
Thirty-five rolls of silverware later, she showed the head server her pile that was organized in rows of seven.
“Seven, fourteen, twenty-one, twenty-eight, thirty-five. Okay, you’re good! Just sweep your area and you’re good to go.”
“Thanks, Anne!”
Next was the ultimate challenge: finding a broom and dustpan. Sometimes cooks grabbed these and threw them in random places in the restaurant but today she smiled as she saw a set at the end of the counters in front of the employee bathrooms.
“Hey, Hailey, you working tonight?”
She jumped at the voice and turned to see one of the cooks at the salad station.
“Oh hey, Scott! Not here. I worked the lunch shiftand now I’m heading to work at the gym.”
“Do you need dinner? I can make you your favorite! Chicken pesto with mozzarella and tomato sandwich.”
“I would absolutely love that and you if you made me one.”
“You got it.” He winked.
“You da best!”
Scott started on her sandwich. He was a nice enough guy, average looking with brown hair, brown eyes and only a few inches taller than her. He flirted occasionally even though he was married, but she figured it was no big deal since nothing was going to happen. Some men were just flirts. Was that wrong? She didn’t have time to decide because she was hungry, and there was no way she was flirting back.
After she swept her section, she got her sandwich and untied her apron, then started to make her way out the door. As she walked by the empty tables getting ready for the dinner rush, she pulled out her phone before saying goodnight to the hostess at the door and getting the hell out of there. When she got outside and finally looked at her phone she stopped, her jaw dropping at the sight.
“Fifty-two missed calls? What the fuck?”
2
SHE STOOD THERE GAPING, not noticing the older couple trying to get past her through the door. She must have looked freaked because they started panicking for her.
“Dear, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” the woman said, putting her hand across her husband’s chest to keep him from walking past her.
Coming out of her stupor, she realized someone was talking to her.
“Oh yes, thank you. I’m okay. Just had a long shift. Have a nice night!” She started walking quickly to her car as she clicked on the recent contacts to see who must be having an emergency.
The calls were all from Gage so she immediately called back and was about to ask if everythingwas okay when she was met with shouting so loud she had to pull the phone away from her ear.
“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling you all day!”
“Babe, I was working. What’s wrong, are you hurt? What’s going on?” she couldn’t hide the panic in her voice as she prayed no one was dead, because why else would he have blown up her phone?
“Yeah, my problem is that you aren’t answering your phone!”
“I … what? Are you okay?”
“No, I’m pissed. I’ve been trying to reach you and I expect you to return my calls after two hours.”
“Babe, I was working. It was too busy to answer my phone and Mike has been on our asses about being on our phones while we’re working; I’ve told you that. What do you need? You’re freaking me out with all these calls!”
“I called to talk to you. I wanted to talk to you about what restaurant to go to tomorrow night for our anniversary, but you were too busy, I guess.”
She stood there in the parking lot with her hand on the door handle, seemingly stuck in place from disbelief.
