"He overlooks these things sometimes," the girl said, smiling reassuringly. "My name's Leigh, I will show you where to go."
"Thank you," Julie said gratefully, following Leigh over to what must be the time clock on the wall.
Leigh looked at the cards, going down the line until she found Julie's. "He already put your name on it, so just go ahead and slide it, put in your code, and then I'll show you where to put your coat."
Aaron was back with a little black apron in just a couple minutes, at which point Leigh had already instructed Julie to just follow her until Aaron came back and told her what to do.
"Grilled cheese is up," Aaron said to Leigh as he handed Julie the black apron.
Leigh smiled at him. "My favorite flavor of Lifesaver."
Aaron cracked a half-smile at that. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, just go get your food."
As she passed, Leigh placed a hand on Aaron's arm and said, "Try not to scare her off the first day, hm?"
Shooting the girl a playful glare, he watched her with a slight shake of his head until she disappeared into the kitchen, then he turned his attention back to Julie.
She shifted a bit awkwardly as she smoothed down the apron.
"All right, have you ever waitressed before?" he asked.
Julie shook her head. "No, I have not."
"What kind of work experience do you have?" he asked.
"Food service—the fast food variety—and a nanny job. Shouldn't I fill out an application?"
"No, just wait. I'll give you one to fill out when you go home. If you survive today, maybe you can com
e in for a few hours in the morning and see how we open."
"Okay," she said, although she wasn’t at all excited about the prospect of getting up that early.
Leigh was walking back out of the kitchen with a tray of food, and Aaron spotted her and said, "All right, Julie, you can shadow Leigh through lunch, and at about one o'clock I'm going to have you wrap silverware. I'll have Leigh show you how you stock up when your shift is over, because she leaves at two and you'll need to know how. Then for the last hour I'll see how you're doing and tell you what to do accordingly."
After being given her marching orders, Julie trailed after Leigh for the next hour, trying to keep up as the restaurant got a major lunch rush.
Since Leigh was busy and the only people waiting tables were her, Julie and Aaron –and Aaron didn't wait on very many people—Julie tried to carry her own weight, trying to remember who got what to drink, bringing the call-in orders up front to the register, which she had no clue how to use, and having Aaron brusquely push her out of the way and do it himself.
She was beyond relieved when lunch was winding down and there were only two stray tables occupied, one by a college student munching on fries and reading a textbook, one by a lecherous-looking man who sat there nursing a cup of coffee and smiling at Julie every time she walked by.
Julie was trying to find the coffee filters to make a new pot of coffee when she was startled by a big clanking noise behind her and she turned around to see Aaron had just parked a big tub of silverware on the table. He handed her a soft brown package, which she stared at with bewilderment, then she looked up at him questioningly.
"Napkins," he stated. Then, pointing to the tub he said, "Silverware. Make up sets, roll them up and put them on the tables once Leigh and I get them all cleared and clean."
Nodding, Julie tore open the brown package of napkins. "I can do that."
"You've done a good job so far," he said, nodding briefly and walking away.
Julie felt herself smile a little at the first nice thing Aaron had said to her since they met.
The rest of her shift passed rather uneventfully, and Aaron gave her $13 of his tip money before he gave her the key and sent her on her way.
She spent the rest of that evening mostly doing homework.
Aaron came home at 6, but all he did was drop off some groceries and make a phone call, then he left again, saying he would be back later.
It was a little after 9:30 before he made it back. She didn't know where he had gone, but since it was really none of her business, she didn't bother asking.