Another laugh. “I’m not going to rag you about it, I promise. But, if you met a guy last night, yay for scoring.”
Kit let out a small chuckle. “Tish, is there another reason for this call?”
“Yes, sorry, I don’t mean to embarrass you. I got an urgent phone call from Dare’s Destiny. They’re having a special tasting today and last night the refrigerator holding all their food broke down.”
Kit had visited the local winery a few times. Tish often supplied chocolates for them, and she had an idea where this conversation was headed.
“Oh, lord.” It came out more as a reaction to Sid’s hand down the front of her pants. She’d wriggled underneath the zipped fly and rubbed her clit. “Er, that sucks. I’m guessing you’re at the shop now?”
“They don’t want to cancel because people have paid the tasting fees in advance, so yeah. Want to earn some extra coin?”
Kit preferred to strip down to nothing and topple onto Sid’s futon with the hot brunette underneath her. She couldn’t leave Tish to fulfill a large, last-minute order by herself, though. The chocolatier treated her too well.
“Give me a few minutes to clean up, and I’ll be over as soon as I can.” So much for a hot morning fuck. She eyed Sid and her heart sank on seeing the other woman pout.
“Oh, you’re an angel. Kit, I’ll make this up to you. I just wish I could count on other certain people on my payroll.” Tish’s tone darkened at that.
“You don’t mean Sid, er, Sidney, right?” Sid perked up at this, and Kit put a finger to her lips for a second. “Do you have a way to call her, because I can look her up and see if she’ll want to help out.”
“I don’t mean her. Who currently works for us now? Until you let her know?”
Shit.Gloria. The sex had gone to her brain. She’d forgotten for a second Tish put it on her to can the slacker.
“Consider it done.”
“Awesome. Listen, you take care of that and I’ll call Sidney Campbell and ask if she’s interested in a baptism by fire. I have her number from the resume. See you soon.” Tish rang off before Kit could say goodbye.
“What’s up? Everything okay at the shop?”
“You’re about to get a phone call.” Kit then summarized the winery’s dilemma and sighed. “It doesn’t happen often, but Tish will get calls like this. She’s too damn good at making chocolate and has trouble saying no.”
“Good for future business, anyway.”
“You’re replacing Gloria, who isn’t yet aware she’s about to be kicked to the curb. No need to feel bad about it, because she’s awful.” She called up Gloria’s number and waited. “I don’t know what possessed Tish to hire her in the first place.”
“Ouch. Hard to find good help, I guess.” Sid made a face.
“Either that, or these girls come in thinking it’s going to be likeAce of Cakesor some other exaggerated reality show, where an entire day is squeezed into thirty minutes. They realize they have to stand behind a counter and wait on indecisive people who want you to explain the ingredients of every damn trufflewhen the place cards list all the ingredients, and I’m going to shut up now.”
Kit realized her pent-up frustrations from suffering the counter work, before Tish promoted her to the kitchen, might influence Sid to change her mind. She relaxed a bit when the other woman laughed.
“Kit, it’s fine. I’ve worked in food service. I know the drill. Just happy to be part of the team.”
“It’s not all that boring, and if you come today you’ll make chocolate. We get a nice steady stream of—” Finally Gloria answered and Kit turned away her attention. “Hey, it’s Kit. Got a minute?”
A roaring sigh tickled her ear, and she imagined Gloria in one of her gaudy floral blouses, buttoned to the throat and covered by the olive drab cardigan she probably slept in. “Yeah. I was about to meditate, then shower and have breakfast, but I guess it can wait.”
“Look, Tish is working to get a last-minute order done for the winery…”
“I don’t work Sundays. Anyway, I’m busy.”
“Right, you’re meditating. You can’t do that at the shop, huh? Put a littleomin thenom nom nom?”
“What?” Gloria sounded dull and leaden.
Kit sighed. Damn, this girl had no sense of humor and had all the personality of a mud puddle. She’d planned to ease into a gentle layoff, but fuck it. She had a hot new co-worker teasing her who deserved more of her time.
“Gloria, I have good news for you,” she said. “You can meditate every day and every hour until the planets align. Tish says you’re fired effective immediately. She’ll mail your last check. Don’t ever work in customer service again.” Tap. Swipe.Done.
