She shuffled her heels on the carpet for a second, a grin on her face as she blushed some more. I was laying it on thick and trying to be as convincing as I could. The worry was, if she didn’t say yes now, she might change her mind later. I couldn’t let that happen.
“Okay,” she said finally, and I pumped my fist. She laughed. “I have to call Dina, though. She was expecting me tomorrow for the evening shift. I guess Amanda just got promoted.”
I laughed as she pulled out her phone and hit a button before bringing it to her ear.
“I’ll make us some coffee,” I said, dipping into the kitchen and giving her a little space. As I made it, I could overhear the conversation on the phone.
“I know,” she said, “but I would like to point out I haven’t gotten a raise in three years even with the promotion to manager. And you denied my vacation time twice because you didn’t want to find someone to cover. And you canceled my vacation three years ago at the last minute.” There was a pause, and then her voice returned even angrier as she finally let out some frustrations that had apparently built for a long time. “An elective surgery. That you could have scheduled for any time other than when I had already told you I was going to be on vacation. No, it’s too late. I’ll turn in my keys to Molly tonight. I quit.”
I came back into the room to see her sitting on the couch, tears welled up in her eyes but a smile still on her face. She took the coffee gratefully from me and downed a good portion of it.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes. No. I don’t know. That felt really good. Scary, but good,” she said. “So, where do we start first?”
“Well, the first thing we should do is order lunch. Have you eaten yet?”
“No,” she said.
“Then it’s on me,” I said, pulling my phone out and finding the number for Sergio’s. Their delivery guy had already been out to our lot once, so I knew they delivered. “Think about it this way,” I said, “now you can work in a more peaceful environment and not have to worry about your ex showing up. Because if he showed up here? I’d be within my rights to hurt him.”
She laughed and seemed to relax a little into the couch, sipping on her coffee.
I made the order and then set her up at the computer in the front. There were a couple of programs I had to walk her through, but she got the hang of them rather quickly. Everything else were programs she had already used at the restaurant in order to keep track of finances and scheduling. All told, it took about an hour before she had seen about everything that I could show her ahead of time.
“Alright,” I said as we finished the lunch that arrived. “I think you’re set. I need to go finish up some tasks in my office, but I’ll be hanging out back there with the door open. If you have any questions, jxust come on by and ask. Feel free to pop on the TV or something for sound.”
“Okay,” she said, an excited, if apprehensive, smile on her face. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you,” I said. “We need someone in the office. And you are perfect for the job. This works out for both of us. All of us.”
I smiled as I turned back toward my office, hoping that my correction wouldn’t be too obvious.
A little while later, Deacon and Everett came in and headed to my office. They were both dressed for outdoor work.
“What’s up with Lauren?” Deacon asked. “You hire her?”
“Yeah,” I said. “She was the only applicant, but man, she is perfect for the job.”
“I bet,” Everett said under his breath. I chose to ignore it.
“So, I take it that means you aren’t coming out with us on location?” Deacon said.
“Not today,” I said. “I need to be here to kind of help her through her first day.”
“Well, we can work as a team of two today,” Deacon said. “It’s no big deal. We just might not get as much done.”
“That’s fine. At least we have a receptionist now. Somebody will be in the office during business hours to answer calls and respond to emails when none of us are here. Plus, I showed her the financial and roster list. She can help out with all that stuff too. Especially short-term hiring.”
“Damn, that’s a good idea,” Deacon said.
“Remind me to get a new dry-erase board to put up in there with names of our regulars,” Everett said. “That way she knows who to call first and in order of who we want.”
“Smart,” I said. “A depth chart.”