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Victor and I started the dance while Tarin held a small music player that was louder than I had expected. They explained that tomorrow, there would be speakers around the area so that the music would travel with us. When it was time to cross the street, we didn’t dance, because the road was open now. Instead, we rushed to the other side and went through the moves there before moving on.
The choreography was so perfect that we only had to make one adjustment to the entire routine to make sure that it moved well between the different areas. Tarin and Holly were very pleased, as were the few others that had joined us.
When we got ready to start it again, Cal stood in front of me. “Remember, that you are about to possibly meet the man of your dreams. Let your soul shine as you finally meet his gaze.”
“I will!” They started the music again, and we ran through it two more full times before my cellphone wouldn’t stop ringing. One of the production assistants brought it to me.
“I’m sorry, but it keeps ringing, and the screen says Ricardo. After he called the fourth time, I thought maybe it was important enough to bother you with.”
“Yes!” I grabbed the phone out of her hands. “Ricardo, what’s wrong?”
“Ali, someone else got sick.”
“What? No!”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Is the health department back?”
“Yes, a different team of inspectors, doing a more in-depth inspection. They have already found one issue.”
“What issue?”
“You know that tile in front of the freezer that jiggles, they jiggled it enough to make it loose, and it broke. They are hitting us with an unsafe floor.”
“But that has absolutely nothing to do with someone getting E. coli!”
“That’s what I told them, but they told me to get out of the kitchen while they inspected.”
“They kicked you out?” I practically screamed.
“Yes.”
“Oh, no, they don’t. You march right back in there and watch everything they do. They cannot kick you out! I’m on my way. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” I hung up without another word, and everyone was staring at me with wide eyes.
“You can’t go now; we still need to go over a few things.”
“Holly, I’m sorry, but the health department is back in my kitchen, and they are turning everything upside down.” I rushed back to the other side of the street to get my stuff, Holly and Tarin in tow. “I’m sorry. I know this messes things up, but I have to be there.”
Holly grabbed my arm. “Ali, I know you have to go, I get that, but tell me this: are you going to be able to do this tomorrow? You won’t be able to jet out of here if you get another call from work. Ali, I have to remind you that you did sign a contract saying you would do this.”
“I know I did, Holly! I promise you that I will be all in tomorrow. I have the night off.”
“Just because you have the night off, doesn’t mean they can’t call you and say help!”
I was torn. My job was everything to me, but I had signed a contract saying I would do this. If I didn’t have the contract dangling over my head, I might have told her to forget it. That’s how frustrated and stressed I felt at the moment.
I inhaled deeply and released it to try and calm down. “Holly, I know that I signed a contract, and I know that a lot of people are counting on me, but right now, more people are counting on me in my kitchen. Their jobs are at stake, their livelihoods, and our reputation. This isn’t just a silly date; it’s about my career and other people's lives. I’m sorry, Holly, I have to go. I’ll call you later.”
“Alright,” she said uneasily.
I dashed off and back to my car. I was there in twelve minutes and pulled my car down the alley toward the restaurant. The whole way there, I tried not to dwell over the way I’d taken off. I felt terrible for what I’d said to Holly. I knew that I’d hurt her when I’d called the whole thing silly, but in comparison to what was going on, it was. I understood that this was her job, and she was trying to do it to the best of her ability. This wasmyjob, and I owed it to my employees and the owner of the restaurant to do everything I could.
There were two parking spots in the alley behind the restaurant, one for me and one for Randolph, or the manager, Anton, when Randolph was not around. Ricardo and Anton were leaning against Anton’s car.
“They kicked you out again?”
“Yeah, they didn’t want anyone in there.”
