“Start over?” asked Sorrow.
Laura braced for the speech that was to come, about how it wasn’t a big deal, the Jessups wouldn’t do anything illegal, there was no fighting the system. Increasingly she felt like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills.
But then Helen burst into the kitchen, interrupting, which meant for once she was happy to see the woman. “Hey, Helen. ”
“I see you’re all hiding in the kitchen while some of us are out on the floor, hustling our butts off. ” Their waitress thrust the tavern phone at her.
She gave the phone a wary eye, making sure to keep her tone exaggeratedly even. “Is this your way of saying the p
hone is for me?”
“It’s my way of saying I need more help out there. ”
Laura put her ear to the phone. “Hello?” She waited a second, then rolled her eyes. As far as she was concerned, Helen’s days were numbered. She’d even begun to keep a list of the woman’s transgressions, remembering from her office days how the two most important things in any employee termination were to keep calm and to keep documentation. “There’s nobody there. ”
“So sorry,” Helen snapped. “Maybe if I had more help I could’ve run back here sooner. ”
“Hey, I could use more help, too. ” Laura was more committed than anyone and could school the lot of them in what it meant to work hard. “But my hands are tied. Consider yourself lucky you even have a job. ” She was speaking from experience, as someone who’d recently been fired, but the way Helen bristled, she’d clearly taken it as a threat.
Whatever. She glared at the phone instead, putting it back up to her ear. “Who was it?”
“Did the call get transferred to the other line?” Billy asked.
Helen ignored them, looking to Sorrow. “We’ve got more business than ever, and I just can’t handle it. ”
Laura switched to the other line, only half listening to Helen’s griping—she had neither the time nor the patience—but there was silence on the line. “Nope, that’s dead, too. ”
Helen finally tuned in, and, shooting a quick glance Laura’s way, she said, “They must’ve hung up. ”
“Gee, thanks,” she grumbled.
“Well, if I hadn’t had a dozen other things to do at the same time, maybe I’d have found you. ” Helen angrily crossed her arms, and the gesture plumped her already ample chest—did she purposely flaunt her assets at any given opportunity? “But can I say one word to complain? No. I do much of the work yet have none of the say in how things go around here. ”
“You have a say. ” Sorrow tapped her spoon on the edge of her frying pan and gave Helen her full attention. “We’re listening. ”
“Go on,” Billy said. “They won’t bite. ” Then he pointed to Laura and added with a smile, “Well, she might. ” He placed his hands on his fiancée’s shoulders. It seemed he was always touching Sorrow with those affectionate, automatic gestures.
Helen only glared.
The chatter from the other room swelled with the sound of new patrons. It was time to defuse the situation and get back to work. Helen had diners to serve, and she had a certain construction worker to confront. Even if nothing came of things like forcing Eddie to remeasure the property lines, it’d still provide nice little setbacks for him.
She hopped from the counter, pocketing her cell phone with one hand and holding the tavern phone in the other. “We’re all overwhelmed, Helen. Our marketing efforts have begun to pay off, and it just means we all have to work extra hard. ”
“It’s a case of be careful what you wish for,” Billy said wryly.
Helen stiffened. “Well, it’s become too much. I can’t keep running between tables, back to the bar, back here, back to the tables—”
“Okay. ” Sorrow smiled. “Okay. ”
“Okay?” Laura gaped at her sister. Okay was not the way to manage people. The situation had been in hand before Sorrow had interrupted. “What do you mean, okay?”
“Okay, we’ve hired someone to help. ”
Laura almost dropped the phone, not believing her ears. “Since when?”
“Since Dad finally relented. ”
Annoyance quickly followed her relief. “When exactly were you planning on telling me? I am the manager. ”