“Allegedly.” Mattie raised her eyebrows before taking a sip of wine. “I still think you faked it so you could quit.”
“Okay, first of all, you weren’t even there when I fell, and second off—” Frankie held up another finger and launched into a prepared argument I had a feeling the two had already gone through many times in the past.
Their dynamic made me smile. I glanced over at Giles to see if he was enjoying the sibling spar as much as I was, but he ran a hand down his face. He caught my eye and gave a small shake of his head. Maybe he didn’t know what to make of the two of them. He was an only child, after all. Mattie and Frankie weren’t much like Nathan and me, but I could still recognize the intricacies of a sibling relationship when I saw one.
Nathan and I hadn’t fought much growing up, but at the same time, we also never got along. There was an unspoken rivalry there, something put in place by our parents that we never quite understood but accepted all the same. Except it wasn’t the two of us battling for the best grades or being the football star or some crap like that. We were battling lifestyles—our parents’ lifestyles tobe more specific. Dad had Nathan working like a dog in school, while my mother worked on crafting me to be her upbeat sidekick. Sounded fun in theory. In reality, it fucked with all of our heads.
“Where’s the doctor’s note, then?” Mattie demanded, breaking me from my thoughts.
“Oh my God, I didn’t think I’d need to keep it fordecades. How was I supposed to know my own sister would use this incident to question my integrity for the rest of our lives?” Frankie lightly smacked my shoulder with the back of her hand. “Back me up here.”
“I mean, it sounds believable from what little I’ve managed to gather so far. She does seem unathletic,” I added, jerking a finger in Frankie’s direction.
She turned to me, mouth agape. “Hey! Who asked you anyway?”
That made me chuckle. “Prove me wrong, then. Let me take you snowboarding.”
“I don’t think so.” But even as she folded her arms and glared at me, I could see the little crack I’d managed to form in her resolve.
Before I could press, Bev materialized at our table again. “Hey, Frankie,” Bev said. “Sorry to interrupt again, but before you leave, I wanted to give you this shirt for your first shift tomorrow. Jeans are fine with it.”
Frankie took the black shirt from Bev and let it unfold in front of her torso.Marie’swas spelled in a cursive font across the chest. “Thanks,” Frankie said. “I’ll see you at four.”
My eyebrows rose as Bev walked away. “You working here or something?” I asked.
“Apparently,” Mattie said with a sigh.
Frankie rolled her eyes. “Yes, I am.”
Mattie took a sip of wine, eyeing her sister warily. “Please try, and don’t make Bev’s life any harder, okay?”
“It’s going to be fine,” Giles said. “Frankie will do a good job, and Bev is drowning back there.”
Frankie was about the last person I could see hustling behind a bar while simultaneously being polite to customers. But I would definitely be first in line to see it with my own eyes.
“See! Thank you, Giles.” She balled up the T-shirt into her lap and rested an elbow on the table. “Besides, it’s just taking orders and running food and drinks to people. How hard can it be?”
EIGHT
Frankie
“Frankie,that table still needs their drinks,” Bev called, effortlessly pouring three shots of vodka with one hand while customers swarmed the bar at least three bodies deep.
“I’m going right now,” I said.
Shit.What had they ordered again? I pulled out my pad of paper that was now puffy and hard to read due to the pitcher of water I’d spilled on it earlier.
This was the end of my fifth shift. At first, Bev had been quite confident I would improve. Now, I think she saw me as more of a liability and likely regretted asking for my help in the first place.
If you’d asked me last month, I’d have insisted multitasking was one of my strong suits, but working at Marie’s had made me come to the realization that I was sorely mistaken. I couldn’t take the constant onslaught of customers pulling me in every direction. “Can I get a side of fries?” “Don’t forget about my espresso martini.” “Another napkin when you get a chance.” I couldn’t think straight with all of the demands. ButI still showed up every time I was scheduled, which Bev said was better than nothing. Likely the highest praise I would get out of her until I showed some real improvement.
I found the drink order I was looking for and rushed to make it before slipping out from behind the bar and dropping it off. Another table that was finally ready to order after sitting there for fifteen minutes also flagged me down. Something else about working in a restaurant was that it was almost impossible to remember to smile and be friendly while I was also trying to feed and water these vultures. I would never take for granted the service industry again.
Once I was back behind the bar, I rang in the food order before starting to help Bev with the next rush of customers waiting to be served. Making drinks was probably the only part of the job that I enjoyed. I wasn’t perfect by a long shot, but at least I had some of the simpler drinks locked down. Plus, Bev had a laminated book of drink recipes that she kept behind the bar. Sometimes if it was a guy who ordered something I wasn’t familiar with, I asked them what was in it while batting my eyelashes and smiling. They never seemed to take offense to that.
Three girls all dressed in pastel puffy jackets finally made it to the front of the bar line. They all had perfect blowouts tucked underneath fuzzy hats and faces full of makeup. Had they actually gone skiing or were they just here to look cute? Honestly, a vibe I could get behind.
“What can I get you all?” I asked.
