Page 8 of Peaks and Promises

“Is there a problem?” someone asked behind me.

It was Terri. My manager. She was around fifty, with bleached blond hair and deeply tanned skin.

“We’re just trying to order lunch,” Buzz said. “I want to talk to a manager.”

“I’m the manager.”

“We need a different waitress. This one keeps being rude.”

Shoulders slumping, I turned to Terri, but her irate glare stopped me from saying anything—even to defend myself. I couldn’t lose this job.

“I don’t have time for this,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “Deal with the rest of your tables.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Just go,” Terri snapped.

Buzz winked at me, sending a cold shiver down my spine.

I moved past Terri, trying to ignore the way she started kissing their asses. It wasn’t the first time Mayhem had gotten me in trouble at work. I should have known better than to snap at them.

But they were not getting anywhere near my son.

Even after getting rid of their table, I couldn’t avoid them. I had other customers, and the dining room was small. Of course they harassed me the entire time they were there. Reaching out to touch me as I walked by. Asking me for random things that were already on their table—salt, pepper, ketchup, you name it. And complaining loudly that I was being rude, even when I hadn’t said a word.

Finally, they left. My only consolation? They stiffed Terri on her tip, even though she’d bent over backward trying to make them happy.

CHAPTER 3

Summer

When my shift came to an end, my feet ached and my head felt like it was about to split open. I went to the back hallway off the kitchen and grabbed my purse from a hook.

“Summer?”

Terri’s voice made my back tighten.

“Yeah?”

“Am I going to have a problem with you?”

“No. Why?”

Her expression hardened. “You know what I’m talking about.”

“I wasn’t being rude to those guys. They were the problem.”

“The customer is never the problem.”

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. Actually, the customer was often the problem, and people like me were treated like crap because of managers like Terri.

“They came in specifically to harass me.”

Her forehead creased. “You know them?”

“Unfortunately.”

“This better not become a regular occurrence.”