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I turned to walk the other way, only to find that Rita Alexander was headed right toward me. I had seen some photos of her on the internet, so I recognized her right away.
"Hey, hello, I was, goodness… Mrs. Alexander, you were just the woman I was looking for. I don't know if you have a second, but I actually just left my phone number inside for you. They were going to give it to you." I didn't mean to sound overbearing, but the stranger's vote against my mission only made me want to pursue Rita and the story.
"Oh, you'd like to talk to me?" she said with a friendly smile. "What have I done now?"
"Oh, no, you haven't done anything."
She smiled. "I know I haven't. I was just playing. You didn't come to apply for a job, did you?" She was a comforting woman—I felt at ease in her presence. Her smile was welcoming, and her gaze was sincere. She was a well-put-together lady, but she was approachable. Her hair had been cut since the photos I had seen of her on the internet. In those, her white hair was shoulder-length, and now it was cut into a stylish, chin-length bob.
"Yes ma'am. Maybe. Probably. I don't know. Why, are you hiring?"
She smiled. "We sure are. You'd need to talk to my grandson, Isaac. He's the manager. He handles all that." She tapped my arm and winked. "But I can pull strings around here, and you have a kind smile that I'd like to keep around. Do you have experience as a waitress?"
"No, but I do as a hostess." I cleared my throat. "I work as a hostess at a restaurant on the weekends… and a bank teller… during the week. I don't know if you need a hostess, but that's what I was doing at my other job. It's nothing like this, though. It's just a little Mexican restaurant." I could feel myself getting antsy, feeling nervous. I could tell that I was about to start blabbering to hide the fact that I didn't even live in Seattle.
What was I even doing?
"Well, there's nothing about waiting tables that I can't teach you," she said. "Sometimes, I honestly feel like it's better to have somebody with no experience. At least you don't have to un-teach them any bad habits."
"I don’t have any habits at all with waiting tables," I said, seeing that she was serious. "I've never tried it."
She patiently smiled at me. "Would you like to come in and talk right now? Isaac's working, but I can give you your paperwork, that way you have it done if we decide to move forward."
"Sure," I said "That'd be wonderful. Thank you."
Chapter 4
I had no idea how I let myself tell Rita Alexander that I was looking for a job.Had this ever been done before? Had someone ever gone on a trip to a place and ended up getting a job and moving there?
"I see you found my grandmother," Isaac said as soon as we walked in the door. "She was looking to fill out an application," Rita said.
"Oh yeah?" Isaac said. He looked a little confused. "Is that what you wanted to see Rita about?"
I was insanely nervous. There was no way I could have prepared myself for the way I met Rita on the sidewalk. I imagined a calm quiet conversation where she was working behind the counter and we sat down with a cup of coffee while she told me everything about herself and Micah and the special room where they both stayed.
"I wasn't sure if you guys would even hire anyone without experience waiting tables," I said to Isaac, being vague. "I've only ever worked as a hostess."
"Were you thinking we'd interview her to replace Misty?" he asked his grandma.
She shrugged and smiled at him, nodding a little as if saying in some unspoken code that she thought I could handle it.
"Are you looking for something full-time?" Isaac asked me.
"Uh, yeah," I said, since this whole scenario was theoretical to me, anyway.
"Okay, well, I'll be able to sit down and talk to you at about three o'clock today. Do you want to come back then?"
"Sure," I said. "Thank you."
It was barely noon when I left Jimmy's on 2ndwith paperwork in hand. I took an Uber straight to my hotel so I could be alone and clear my thoughts.
I figured I could just never go back there. I got nervous that I was in over my head, but then I remembered that it was not necessary to go back there at three o'clock. Nobody was forcing me to do it. The fact of the matter was that I wanted to go back. I wanted to go back on a regular basis. I liked Jimmy's on 2nd. It was a restaurant, and that wasn't a big deal since I already worked in one of those at home. But this place was different. It was special.
And my motivation in wanting to go back was not at all that I was a fan of Micah's. It wasn't even that I wanted to uncover Rita's story. I did think there was probably an interesting and maybe secret room hidden somewhere within that building, but I also just wanted to stay in that restaurant and hang out with these people.
I liked Isaac and the crew at Jimmy's. I had sat at the counter there long enough to know that Big Jim (Isaac's uncle and Rita's oldest son) was in charge in the kitchen. I heard him chime in on conversations. I liked the vibe in that place, and I felt honored that Rita would be willing to give me a chance so quickly. The truth was that I wanted to work there. Quite frankly, the idea of going into Jimmy's on 2ndinstead of the dusty credit union and dingy restaurant where I currently worked sounded wonderful.
Moving to Seattle to work at a restaurant was probably a half-hatched idea. But sometimes in life, you have to jump into the water and be in over your head for a moment, trusting yourself, knowing you'll adapt and get better at swimming. It would have to be sink or swim in Seattle. That was what I told myself when I was sitting in the hotel thinking about moving. I knew I could do it.
