She stepped into a small cafe not far from where she got off the bus and sat down in what looked like the last empty seat. It was busy here for breakfast. A woman dropped off a menu and got her drink order, reappearing a few minutes later with the required cup of coffee.
“What else can I get for you?” she asked.
“I’m starving. Let’s go with the big fry,” she told her.
“Aye. I’ll get it started for you,” the woman replied, reaching for the menu she’d laid on the edge of the table.
“Is it always this busy?”
“During the day? Aye. Loads of offices nearby. They eat breakfast and lunch here. It thins out a bit for dinner, but still pretty lively. You’re Irish?”
Fuck.
Deidre had forgotten that she was supposed to be a native Londoner. She was going to have to work hard to get rid of the accent. For now, one server hearing it probably wasn’t going to make a difference. She dodged the question, instead asking her own.
“Can you get me an application?”
“Sure. I can do that,” the server replied.
“Are you hiring? Is it a decent place to work?”
“It’s okay. The customers are more of a pain than the boss,” the woman said in a lower voice. “No offense.”
“None taken.”
The server returned a few minutes later with an application. Deidre filled it out while she ate her breakfast and gave it to the server when she came back to refill her coffee. The server glanced at it and then looked at her.
“No experience?”
“No, not really, but I am a fast learner, and I would work any shift available. Is there someone here I can talk to right now? I really need the work right away.”
“Not now, not during our morning rush, but if you come back after two, she will probably talk to you then.”
“I’ll do that. Thank you,” Deidre told her.
She finished her breakfast and paid her ticket, eager to get on with her day. She’d be able to buy a few things she needed now with the money Niall had given her, but it wouldn’t last forever. She couldn’t afford to waste any time in finding a job. Waiting tables wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind, but with the house bought and paid for, her expenses wouldn’t be that great. It should do for now.
By the time lunch rolled around, she’d purchased several new pairs of jeans and shirts from second-hand shops and new undergarments and shoes from the Primark she found nearby. She glanced at her phone and realized that she’d need to head back to the cafe soon. Making one last stop at an electronics shop, she purchased a laptop and a Fitbit.
It was shortly after one p.m. when she found herself back outside the restaurant, but rather than going inside, she stepped into a used bookstore next to it and bought a few books. She found herself lost among the romance novels that filled a large section to one side but walked away from them in favor of more useful selections about cooking and language.
Shortly before two, she stepped back into the cafe. The server who’d given her the application was nowhere to be seen. She kicked herself for not having asked her name. Instead, she approached another server and asked for the manager.
“Is she expecting you to come in?” the girl asked, looking her up and down with a disapproving glance.
“I don’t know. One of the other servers told me to come back.”
“Which one?”
“I didn’t get her name,” she said.
“Just have a seat at an empty table. I’ll see if she’s around,” the girl said, waving her hand dismissively toward the tables on one side of the now nearly empty cafe.
“Deanna, over here,” a voice said from behind her.
Deidre ignored it and went to have a seat. It was only as she began to cross the restaurant that she noted the server who had waited on her standing behind the counter. She smiled and walked toward her to ask if she’d gotten any feedback from the manager.
“Come on back, Deanna,” the girl said, opening a small half door to allow her behind the countertop.
It was only then that Deidre realized it had been her she was calling out to a moment ago. It was going to be weird getting used to being called by a different name.
“The manager said she’d see me?”
“She did,” the girl said.
Deidre followed her back to a small office and she sat down behind a desk, motioning for her to have a seat in front of her.
“I don’t understand. You’re the manager?”
“Yes. Miriam Hannah.”
“But you’re so young,” Deanna said, realizing it might not necessarily be taken as a compliment too late.
“That I am. My parents own the cafe.”
“I see,” Deidre replied.
“Looks like you’ve been doing some shopping,” she said, nodding toward the bags.