AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Maybe that’s why she wouldn’t even listen to Romeo. To her it was just history repeating itself. Again. Right down to the blonde bimbo.
There was a bit of back and forth. Romeo had tried his best to apologize to her, again. To convince her that he hadn’t done half the things she thought he had. But she wasn’t hearing it. The thing was though, she missed him. Romeo. Deep down she still really liked him. And she was ridiculously attracted to him. But she no longer thought she could trust him. And therein lay the problem.
Finally she’d had enough. She told him it was over and he had to leave. Then she walked away, stopping only to have a few words with Nikki before she did. She walked to the back of the restaurant, pulled open the heavy handled metal door to the walk-in fridge and stepped inside. Now she was alone.
She could have gone into the office. There was no one in there at the moment. Her dad wasn’t due to get in for another hour or so. Or probably even the bathroom. They had a few customers sitting outside but she didn’t think any of them were in there right now. Besides, there were stalls. But she didn’t. Instead she chose the fridge. She chose the uncomfortable choice.
Inside it was cold and damp and the bulb that was in there wasn’t the right wattage for the space. It had blown out a week and a half ago and at the time this was all they had on hand. A forty watt fluorescent that her dad found in the office closet that took forever to ramp up and flickered once it did. He still hadn’t upgraded it.
So on top of everything else, it was kind of dark in there. Darker than it should have been. And in that cold, dark, damp walk-in fridge, standing there alone next to the cardboard cases of meat, the eight crates of onions, the bus tubs full of cheese and all the other ancillary items available as toppings, Ant drew in a long, deep breath and absolutely, positively, refused to let herself cry.
37
Tyler was having a tough time too. After another feeble attempt to weasel his way back into Cap’s he realized his dad wasn’t kidding. He was fired. Having no other options he set out to find himself a new job. Needless to say, it didn’t go well.
First thing he did was hit up a couple of the other cheesesteak joints in town, of which there were surprisingly many. Tyler’s first stop was Greasy Tony’s, the contest’s third place winner. But Joe, who was now the owner since taking over after Tony retired and moved to Arizona to be with his brother who had a wicked case of the Jimmy Legs, said they didn’t need anyone.
Next he went to Chucky’s Cheesesteaks, a joint that had illegally appropriated the image of Chucky, the possessed evil doll from the Child’s Play slasher movies, and used it for their own advertising.
How they hadn’t been sued yet was anyone’s guess. How they managed to sell as many cheesesteaks as they did with all those gruesomely disturbing images hanging on the walls was an even bigger mystery.
The manager did offer him a job. “When can you start?”
“I dunno,” Tyler said.
He was such a go getter that one.
“Tomorrow I guess. ”
“Fine. Be here at nine. We work a twelve hour shift. Pay is eight dollars an hour.”
“Eight?”
“Yeah eight.”
“My dad paid me fifteen.”
“Yeah, well I ain’t your dad am I.”
Tyler didn’t take the job. Instead he continued on, stopping next at Kobe Korner. They said they made their cheesesteaks with Kobe beef. Kobe beef is Japanese Wagyu, a specific breed of cattle that only comes from the seaside city of Kobe, Japan. It is the rarest, most expensive beef in the world. Yet somehow they managed to keep the cost of each sandwich under ten bucks. There was no way.
Of course, since Tyler had no idea what Kobe beef was, none of that mattered to him. He assumed the place was named after Kobe Bryant, or that the owner’s name was Kobe, both of which he thought rhymed with probe, and never gave it another thought.
He walked in and asked for an application, but it didn’t take long for the owner, a life long townie who’s name was Lou, to recognize him.
“Hey. I know you,” said Lou, snapping his fingers. “You’re that Tyler kid, the one from Cap’s. The one that’s always getting into trouble.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, that’s you,” continued Lou. “I’ve heard all about you. You’re quite the troublemaker.” Then Lou straightened up. “You’re the guy that spiked the ketchup with the hot sauce at that other place, right? Monty’s? Right?”
Tyler grinned proudly. “Yup. Put a whole bottle of ghost pepper sauce right in there.”
“You sent a little girl to the hospital didn’t you?”
“Well, I, I mean…”
“Yeah, and you’re the genius who smashed the milk jugs on the floor of the Buy the Way a couple of years ago as a prank, but then slipped in the milk and broke his own jaw.”
