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Man, kids were gross sometimes. “No,” I barked. “Pink. Now. You have five minutes!”
She let out a ridiculously dramaticUghbefore I heard the slam of a drawer, meaning she caved and finally grabbed the pink leotard for her ballet class this evening.
Before I had a chance to take a breath, my cell started to ring, and because I was already off my game, I answered it without looking at the screen first.
“Yeah?”
“Hey, Hardin. It’s Kadence.”
My back went straight. A call from Kadence Perry couldn’t mean anything good. The woman had been working as a waitress at Junior’s Pizzeria for less than three months, and she’d already called in sick half a dozen times. Even when she was present for her shifts, her work ethic was seriously lacking.
She’d been a thorn in my side since her first day, and I should have fired her weeks ago. Hell, I wouldn’t have hired her if the call had been mine, but it wasn’t. Even though my parents were supposed to have retired from the restaurant, my father was struggling to let go completely.
A part of me was bitter at that, because I knew if my brother, Owen, had been the one to take over, our dad would have gladly handed him the reins and sailed off into retired bliss. But that wasn’t what happened. Owen never wanted the pizzeria. His dream had always been to become a veterinarian, and that was exactly what he’d done.
Me, on the other hand, well, all I’d ever wanted was to uphold my family’s legacy. I had nothing but happy memories of my family’s pizzeria. This was where I used to come every day after school, sitting in the booth at the back of the room to do my homework while my parents worked. This was the place I’d gotten my first job in high school. My father had even made me come in and interview, claiming I had to earn my spot. I had, and since that very first job bussing tables and washing dishes, I’d had to earn every raise and promotion I’d gotten. I wasn’t the manager because it was my parents’ restaurant. I was the manager because I’d worked my ass off for the position.
But Junior’s had been handed down to the oldest child for generations since it opened when my mom’s grandfather came over from Italy... until me.
I wasn’t blind. I’d seen the hope in my mom’s and dad’s eyes over the years. All Owen ever talked about was being a vet, but they’d kept their fingers crossed that he would change his mind.
He hadn’t.
And I breathed a sigh of relief the place that had been a second home to me all my life was finally going to be mine. Unfortunately, something about being the youngest, the baby, made it harder for my folks to cut the apron strings. Most days, it felt like they didn’t trust me, and I would have been lying if I said that didn’t sting like hell.
Kadence Perry was just another in a long line of examples of one of my parents going over my head. She was the daughter of one of Dad’s poker buddies, so when he’d asked my father if he could help her out, he hadn’t blinked.
That was how I’d gotten stuck with a waitress only one step up from Keith in laziness.
“Hey, Kadence. You on your way to the shop?”
“That’s actually why I’m calling.” Of course, it was. “I’m feeling a little under the weather this morning, so I don’t think it would be smart for me to come in and be around all those people, you know? I could be contagious.”
I pursed my lips and blew out a slow, calming exhale, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Kadence, this the second time in five days, you’ve called off. I moved you from the evening shift because you kept showing up late”—when she showed up at all—“because you said the early shift would work better. Now you’re bailing on that one too. Your job exists tohelpme and the rest of the staff. If you aren’t doing that, I don’t really see a point in keeping you around.”
She let out an indignant huff through the line. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m really sick! And I’m sure it’s also against a bunch of health code violations for me to be there.”
She wasn’t wrong about that...ifshe were sick. But I’d stake my reputation that she was full of shit.
“I guess I’ll just have my dad call your dad,” she said in that whiny, nasally voice of hers that drove me up the freaking wall.
I swore I could feel my pulse behind my eyeball as I dropped my head in defeat. “No,” I sighed. “There’s no need for that.”
I knew what a call to my father would do. On more than one occasion, he’d questioned whether or not I was ready to take over Junior’s, and each time he did, it hurt like hell. If he found out I fired a womanhehired as a favor to his friend, he’d start to doubt my abilities again.
“Just... get better,” I forced out through clenched teeth. “And we’ll see you on your next shift.”
“Thanks, Hardin! You’re the best,” Kadence squeaked. Then, having won, she hung up on me, leaving me with the start of a nasty headache.
“Okay, Mommy, I’m ready.” Hazel skidded across the kitchen floor in her socks, barely stopping before she crashed into the table.
I arched a brow as I looked down at her feet. “Think you’re missing something, Hazelnut?”
She looked down at her shoeless feet before shouting, “Oops!” and booked it out of the kitchen.
“Did you brush your teeth?” I called back.
There was a pause, then, “Doing it now!”
