He studied the ticket. “That’s not what this says.”
“I know because that’s not what they ordered.”
Diego stopped his activity, his brows pressing together. “Are you sure you want to do this? I don’t want to get in trouble for wrong orders while my dad is here.”
She waved him off. “It’s fine. I’ll take it over to the table and take responsibility for it. You’re not going to get in trouble.” And it wasn’t as if Mason hadn’t asked for her suggestion to begin with. Her answer to his question was merely delayed.
Shrugging, Diego did as she instructed. With the drinks in hand, she strode to the table with confidence. The group of men all acknowledged her, although it was Mason’s eyes that stayed on her the longest. “Okay, here’s a black coffee,” she said, placing the drink before Daniel. “And a Nutella latte.”
“We didn’t order that,” the older man said. “Mason should have got—”
“It’s okay. I’ll drink it,” he replied, taking the offered cup, and gulping a large sip as if he expected someone to come along and snatch it away. Yeah, this guy was definitely in the way too nice category.
Her Tío Enrique sent a stern look in her direction, but she clasped her hands together and smiled sweetly. “Natalie—”
“Wow, that’s really good. This might be my new favorite drink.” Mason stood, reaching into his pocket. “Do I owe you something extra?”
“It’s fine. Fine,” Enrique answered, waving away Mason’s wallet. “Don’t worry about it. For you, my friends, it’s on the house.”
Mason continued standing, staring at her, before appearing self-conscious and sinking into his chair again. “Okay, thanks.”
She glanced downward to see if her boobs had suddenly grown overnight. Nope, they were still small. Also her hair was a mess, and the only makeup she had hurriedly swiped on this morning was some tinted moisturizer. She didn’t know what he saw but she wondered if the guy was due for an eye exam. Small boobs aside, Natalie had always been okay with her body but even she wasn’tthatconfident.
“What about her? Could she do it?” Daniel asked and suddenly she regretted coming here instead of sending Diego. If there was one thing she didn’t like, it was being roped into things, especially when her uncle had a bad habit of volunteering people regardless of whether they were his own offspring or extended family members.
“My niece is the manager here and she’s great, but she’s a bit…” Enrique studied her as if she was going to finish this description and save him the trouble. Natalie crossed her arms, giving her uncle a flat look. This was going to be good. If there was one thing her family wasn’t afraid of, it was being honest to the point of rudeness.
Enrique waved a hand in her direction. “Yes, exactly. Natalie is like that,” he replied as if she’d made his point with her stance and current attitude. “Diego would be a better choice for this business plan,” her uncle continued. “He has more of the right attitude for…”
Excuse her? Enrique was going with Diego for whatever this was?Over her?Diego? The kid who thought it was hilarious to make fake fart sounds when the coffee shop was dead quiet—which was sometimes funny—but that wasn’t the point. For one thing, she’d been working at Pony Expresso for a long time, at least since she was Diego’s age. Plus, her cousin was willing to overlook an order and be talked into making something else entirely just because someone told him to. Did that sound like a leader? No, it did not. She was the manager for God’s sake and actually wanted to be the owner of her own coffee shop, if she ever had the money for it or could get Enrique to give her a chance. She wasn’t fooling around, doing this job for spending cash.
“I can do it,” she interrupted.
All eyes turned to her again.
“I don’t think you’ll want—” her uncle started.
“I can handle it,” she assured him. “What is it?”
Natalie got her first sign that maybe her ego wasn’t the best at making rash decisions when a smile, one that could only be described as devilish, slipped from beneath Tío Enrique’s mustache. He spread his hands as if to say,Well, you asked for it.“Daniel and I think it would be a good idea to have a small Pony Expresso coffee truck at Poinsettia Paradise, their Christmas tree farm in Apple Hill.”
“Oh.” Apple Hill was an area located in a town called Camino just outside the city of Placerville. While Mason could technically not be considered local-local it was definitely close enough. Too close.
Although, she had a bigger problem to worry about, because after hearing it laid out, everything her uncle said, especially about Diego, made a lot of sense. The kid would love to escape the coffee shop and goof off in a Christmas tree lot, a place where he wouldn’t have constant supervision and could make all the fart noises he wanted. In fact, fart noises were probably more appreciated in a place like Poinsettia Paradise. “Okay, well, now that you mention it—”
“Actually, you know what? Maybe you are exactly the right person for the job,” Enrique said, leaning smugly against the chair back. “It’ll be good for you.”
Being surrounded by Christmas trees and cheer and cold and all that stuff? Yeah, none of that sounded like the kind of change she was looking for. How could Natalie be the right type of person for this job when she wasn’t even a Christmas person? Time to pump the great attributes of her younger cousin, who happened to be a star employee and never complained about cleaning the bathroom, even though it took him a weirdly long time to do it. Oh, and he had a great sense of humor and did exactly what the manager told him to do. “Yeah, you know, Diego—”
“Great,” Daniel added, appearing pleased about Natalie volunteering herself. “Both Mason and I will look forward to seeing you around. Isn’t that right, Mase?” He planted a hand on Mason’s shoulder, giving him a light pat.
“Yeah, sounds good,” he replied. “When do you want to come by to pick up a tree?”
“Uh, what tree?” she was at a complete loss and her whole world was shifting out of control. Damn Enrique. She was calling her tía right after this to tell her all about him sneaking pastries for breakfast after promising he was going to eat healthier.
“They’re giving us a tree for the shop. Isn’t that great? We still have some ornaments in storage around here, right?” Enrique asked.
“I guess.” Cheap ornaments from the Dollar Store were stashed in a supply closet somewhere. She wasn’t looking forward to addingdecorating a treeto her list. “I’m sure whatever tree you guys bring will be fine. Although, it seems like a bigger hassle than it’s worth.”
