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“Twelve?” she asked, mouth hanging open.
“Yeah. Why? Did you want to make more?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’ve never had a waitressing job pay more than two or three an hour plus tips.”
His mouth thinned into a hard line. “Yes. I’ve heard that. It’s still twelve dollars an hour. With tips. Thanks to Maizy, I’ve got an immediate opening, and if you’re free tonight and tomorrow, I can give you the hours right away. Otherwise you can start on Wednesday.”
“I’m free.”
He swiveled in his chair to tug open the bottom drawer of a wide filing cabinet and pulled out a fresh apron, an order pad folder, and three t-shirts. He handed them all to her.
“I pegged you for a small, but if you need a different size, I probably have them. Unless you need an extra small. I’d have to order some of those.”
“Small is fine.”
“I’m still finalizing the schedule for next week now that Maizy is gone, but I’ll have it worked up by the end of tomorrow’s shift. And we’re closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so you’ll have those to yourself anyway.”
His eyes roamed her face before he asked, “Any questions?”
When she shook her head, he pushed to his feet, and she did the same, but he didn’t make a move to leave the office, so she turned to go instead.
“Oh wait, the ordering system?”
“Right.” He snapped his fingers and reached into the top desk drawer for a plastic card with the pub’s logo on it. “I’ll get you set up in the system, and Clara can train you on it this afternoon. We’ll be busy tonight, so I’m hoping you’re a quick study. But if not, give a shout, and someone will pitch in.”
She could feel eyes on her as he created a profile for her in the system, keying in her details and swiping the card to sync them, and she glanced up to see Addy watching her from across the room. Delaney didn’t get an uneasy feeling from the woman, but definitely a sense that Addy was planning to monitor the situation closely and then decide what to make of her.
The feeling was entirely mutual.
ChapterFour
James pulled into the parking lot of Reign, Declan’s nightclub, and waited while Aidan pulled in beside him. Marriage and fatherhood looked good on his youngest cousin, despite how much Aidan had originally hated the idea of being married at all, let alone in an arranged deal to a woman he’d never met.
“Tired?” James asked once Aidan had joined him for their trek across the lot.
“Siobhan has decided sleeping at night is not fun anymore. Viv thinks it’s just a phase, so she doesn’t want to hire another night nanny. But she’s pregnant, so she gets to catch up on her sleep during the day,” he grumbled.
“Viv’s pregnant?”
“Shit. I’m not supposed to say anything. She’s planning this big announcement. That’s privileged information if you value my life.”
James chuckled while he pressed his thumb to the biometric lock guarding the syndicate’s basement offices from the main floor of the club. When the light went yellow, he punched in his six-digit code and waited for the lock to open with a click.
“Your secret is safe with me.”
“How about you?”
“I am, thankfully, not pregnant,” James said as he led the way down the stairs, the lights clicking on as they neared the bottom. When Aidan snorted, he grinned.
“I thought you said you had a date last weekend. How’d it go?”
James scrubbed at his chin and shrugged out of his jacket. “It was fine. Aisling Donahue is very nice.”
“Uh oh,” Aidan replied. “That’s what you say when you never want to see them again.”
“There wasn’t any…” He searched for the right word. “Thingthere.”
“Sometimes you have to wait for the thing to develop.”
