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Chapter Fifteen
After the late morning rush, Plum was washing up at the sink in preparation for going back to finish dealing with the stockroom before the lunch crowd swarmed the place. She didn’t know how long she’d been scrubbing up when Dustin appeared at her shoulder.
“Are you fucking the priest?Sorry, Daddy, I’ve been bad? You’re fucking him, aren’t you? I knew you were into some kinky shit, but that’s beyond, even for you. Isn’t that illegal or something? He’s apriest. Does he spurt holy water when he comes?”
Plum snorted so hard she started to choke and had to pound her fist on her chest.
“Holy shit, dude. You are killing me. I am, maybe, seeing the priest. And his name is Gideon. And no, it’s not illegal. First of all, hi, separation of church and state. Second, he’s an Anglican priest not a Catholic priest so he’s totes allowed to get married and stuff.”
Dustin’s ginger brow cocked. “Stuff being going buck wild with rockabilly baristas?”
She smacked him in the chest. “Oh my God, you’re the worst. I’m not discussing this with you. Please get your overly vivid imagination back to the counter so you can help customers.”
He grinned at her but then his brow furrowed.
“I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Yeah, of course, what’s up? Here, walk with me.”
Dustin trailed her back to the stockroom and shoved his hands in his pockets while Plum started stocking the shelves.
“Go ahead, I’m listening. I just want to get this done before the lunch rush. Bring that pallet of coconut milk over here, would you?”
Dustin did as he’d been asked and then swallowed audibly.
“My cousin has been having a rough time. He got out of prison a few months ago for a drug offense and he can’t get a job with a record. He’s a good guy, just, you know, had the bad fortune to get caught and get a hardass for a judge.”
Plum could sympathize with that. She’d smoked her fair share of pot in college and drank while she was underage and never got in trouble for any of it. But she remembered a townie getting caught with some weed he was bringing over to sell at the university and being sent to prison for it while none of his customers even got a slap on the wrist. Ridiculous what being upper middle class and, in a lot of cases, white, could get a person out of whereas if you were poor and/or Black or brown you got screwed.
“Okay,” she said, setting box after box of the coconut milk on the shelf. “And you’re telling me this because?”
“I know you’re not hiring because we’ve got a full staff, but I thought maybe you could give Andy a few hours a week? He’s been a busboy before. He could do the dishes, take out the trash, mop up, whatever you need. You can even cut some of my hours and give them to him. I’m worried about him and I don’t want him to get into a bad spot again.”
Plum stopped her refilling of the shelves and turned to Dustin. He was a good kid—twenty-two and figuring his shit out after finishing college—and a reliable worker. She hadn’t been too sure about hiring him at first, but he’d turned out to be one of her best employees and a good friend. It was very like him to be concerned about other people and to be pretty selfless about it.
She knew how much she paid him and while it was better than the minimum wage a lot of the chains paid, it still wasn’t a ton. But when one of her other employees had been looking to pick up extra shifts to cover some vet bills, he’d given up some of his. If Dustin’s cousin was anything like him, she’d be lucky.
“Let me look at payroll and how we’re doing this month and I’ll let you know, okay? I can’t make any promises but I’ll do what I can.”
Dustin’s brown eyes lit up and he gave her a quick squeeze. “You’re the best, boss. Thank you.”
