I unzipped my jacket to show off my cute outfit and shifted through the crowd of anxiously waiting couples to get to the hostess desk. “Hello, my name’s Tori. I’m here for—”
“Angel? We’re busy.” She rolled her eyes and fumbled a buzzing handheld alarm.
“I’ll just be grabbing orders at the counter. If you happen to see him, could you let him know where I’ll be?”
“Sure.” She did a double-take at my wobbling headband without even a glimmer of a smile.
A man tried to bustle me out of the way. “How much longer will we have to wait?”
“Until your alarm goes off. All wait times are estimates,” she said with ice under the veneer of friendliness.
“But we’ve been here over thirty minutes.”
“If you don’t like waiting, maybe next year, you can make a reservation,” she said.
I still didn’t know her name. But I did know she was under extra pressure dealing with customers at much closer proximity than me today.
I offered her one of the bulk-box of gummy candy hearts I’d gotten in anticipation of adding them to orders. “Thanks for your help. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
“I’ll pass on the message.” Her cheeks incrementally lifted, and she snatched the treat away with the discretion of someone who’d been accepting bribes all day.
Bells tinkled, and another couple approached the desk as I backed away from it, the tall man’s shadow eclipsing me.
“Reservation for Hamlin,” he said.
The pretty girl holding his hand grinned at me, heart-shaped bobby pins tucked lovingly amid her shiny, reddish-brown hair. “I love your headband,” she said.
“Thank you.” I bowed to make the antennae jiggle. “I love your bobby pins.”
She giggled and leaned into her date. “They were a gift from my boyfriend.”
“He has good taste,” I said.
He blushed and rubbed his eyebrow piercing. “Only in girlfriends.”
“Come along.” The hostess snatched menus and gave us pointed glances. “You’ll love your server’s accessories. He’s one of our best-dressed, at least for the holiday.”
“Really?” The girl beamed.
Her boyfriend squeezed her hand. “Come on, Sugar. Don’t make me jealous on Valentine’s Day.”
“Aw, you know you’ll always be the prettiest boy in the room to me.” She hugged his arm as they followed the hostess into the dining area.
I didn’t remember Angel wearing anything particularly Valentine-themed when he left this morning, but maybe they were given heart-patterned ties at work today.
But the servers I could spot from the cake counter weren’t doing anything fancy. There was a girl with cute earrings in another section. I caught up on school reading on my phone while I waited in line.
A murmur of admiration went through the crowd.
“Look at that.”
“Hilarious.”
“Perfect,” they said.
I caught sight of a cupid strutting through the aisle.
No, not a cupid. An angel.Myangel.
