Emma giggled.
“I’ll grab your other meal,” Miles said, leaving Emma to chat. He quickly grabbed the plate and brought it to them, where Emma was telling a story with her arms waving wildly.
“…and then my daddy went ‘Oh no!’” She screwed up her face and imitated a fall.
Kelly and Ava laughed, and Miles didn’t dare ask what story Emma was telling. It likely was something she made up. His daughter had a great imagination and liked to tell stories, and this would be no different.
He set the other plate down on the table. “Here you are. Is there anything else I can get you?”
“No, I think we’ve got it all,” Kelly said. Then she turned her attention to Emma. “Thank you so much, Emma. You did such a great job.”
Emma smiled proudly. “You’re welcome. Let us know if you need anything else.”
Miles smiled and took Emma’s hand, leading her back to the kitchen. “Emma, you did a great job, but you can’t serve customers food.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because that’s a job for grown-ups.”
“But I did a good job.”
“You did do a good job, but you still shouldn’t be serving the food,” Miles said.
“Why?”
He pressed his palms over his eyes and suppressed a sigh. They would go around in circles for an hour if she had any say in it. “You just can’t.”
“But why?”
Savannah rushed into the kitchen and looked at Miles guiltily. “I’m sorry. I got distracted and didn’t realize she had walked away.”
“It’s okay. No harm done,” Miles said. “Peanut, why don’t you go color for a bit. We’ll be leaving in a few hours to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner.”
“But I can help,” Emma whined.
“We’ve got it from here,” Miles said.
Emma sighed heavily, went back to the table, and dug into her backpack. Miles looked back at Savannah.
“I’m so sorry. She was there, and then she was gone,” Savannah said.
“It’s okay. Fortunately, she served a few guests I had a run-in with yesterday. I don’t think they’ll be filing any complaints about a six-year-old serving their food.”
Relief flooded Savannah’s face. Then she left the kitchen and Miles went back to work preparing food. He moved over to the cake they had ready to be served from their dessert menu and cut a slice, moving it to a plate. Then he drizzled their rich, house-made chocolate syrup over it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Instead of having Savannah deliver it, he carried it out himself. He approached Kelly and Ava’s table just as they were finishing their meals.
“As an apology for having a child deliver your food, here is a slice of our most popular cake on the house,” Miles said.
“That wasn’t necessary,” Kelly said. “Your daughter is adorable.”
“Unnecessary, but certainly welcome,” Ava said.
Miles set the plate down between them and took their empty plates. “I hope you enjoy your stay.”
Miles and Emmastepped through his parents’ front door after a long day at the restaurant. Family dinner was scheduled a little later so Miles could help with the first half of the dinner rush at the restaurant before leaving the rest in the hands of his capable staff.
Miles typically prepared the family dinner, but tonight his mom took care of it since he had been so busy with the restaurant. He welcomed the break and sat at the long kitchen table with the rest of the family. Lily and Mia had just gotten back from their event in California and were being updated on everything that had happened at the resort while they were gone.
