Not long after, another pair of dupes pop out. I scan them, looking back at the crew to get a sense of their pacing. I call the order out, they acknowledge, and we follow the same pattern as before. The pace is picking back up. I’m breathing a little easier now.
“Hands!”
A server appears to whisk away the beef dishes.
Three minutes later, the same thing. “Hands!” I call again.
I look up to the sight of Poppy slipping into the kitchen instead of a server.
“What do you need?” I ask, turning my attention back to the cooktop. “We’re behind.”
“Are you okay?”
“Fine.”
“She snuck in somehow—I don’t know how.”
“I don’t want to talk about this right now.” Or at all.
“Well, I do.”
I swipe my hand through my hair. “You should have gotten me the second you saw her.”
“Why? I was handling it.”
“Handling it?” I spare her a glance as I vigorously shake a pan of asparagus. “Handling it how? What did she tell you?”
“Does it matter?”
I wave her away as I take a smoking-hot pan out of the oven. “Fire on six.”
“Heard!”
Poppy is tying on an apron. She follows me as I pull down two shallow bowls. “You’re behind. Do you want me to help plate?”
“No.”
“I could take over expediting.”
“You’d ruin the flow.”
“Well, then, let me—”
“Poppy, stop.” I finally look at her, breathing out hard through my nose. My shoulders are tense; my entire body feels winch-wound. “We’ve got this. Go back to the dining room and manage the guests we actually did invite.”
She lifts her chin. “What you said to her. Did you mean it?”
“Of course,” I growl.
Of course I wanted to claim her in front of Jessica. It was the only thing I could think to do, in that moment, even though we haven’t spoken about it. It felt right. True. Something I desperately needed to speak into existence, even faced with how fragile things truly are.
“Then let me help. Kiara is working the room. Chester has the bar handled. I’ll be more useful here.”
“You’re not dressed for it.”
“I’ll run and change.”
“I don’t need you back here,” I spit out, finally, like a hurricane hitting the coast. “I’m handling it. This is a real service, not a lesson. You’ll just get in the way.”
