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I snorted loudly. “Pfft, no,” I said with a slightly manic laugh. “That doesn’t make any sense to me. I don’t know what she’s talking about. She, um, didn’t explain further?”
Asher shook her head, staring at me like I’d just lost my mind. “She didn’t. But, hey, are you all right?”
God, maybe Kim was right after all. Maybe I was a terrible liar. My mind raced trying to come up with some kind of cover story for my sudden weird behavior. Lucky for me, I had a lightbulb moment.
“Yeah, sorry. Things have just been tense lately. I found out someone has been stealing from the restaurant.”
Asher sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes going wide. “Are you kidding me? Do you know who?”
I shook my head. “Not yet. I have a suspicion, but I don’t want to say anything until I have proof. You know, just in case.”
“Yeah, of course. I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. You should have said something sooner? Do your parents know?”
That all-too familiar resentment I’d been doing my best to push down over the past weeks came rushing back to the surface “I told them. I’m sure you can imagine how that went over. Dad accused me of being too soft again, said my staff thinks they can walk all over me and get away with anything.”
“Shit,” she hissed. “Hard, I’m sorry.”
More than once, during a booze-fueled ladies’ night, I’d gotten a little tipsy and opened up about my animosity toward my parents for not believing in me. I tried not to bring it up too often, never wanting to make Asher feel as though I was putting her in the middle, but sometimes it got to be too much and I needed to loosen the pressure valve.
“They love you so much, Hardin. I hope you never doubt that.”
“I don’t. I know they love me. That’s not the problem. The problem is, they don’t believe in me. That’s what hurts so damn much.”
“Then prove them wrong,” Asher said firmly, like she believed I could do just that. “Catch the asshole who’s been stealing from you and have their ass arrested. They’ll have to see how reliable you are then.”
I offered her a small smile, wanting to believe what she was saying, but unable to let myself go there. “Yeah, maybe. We’ll see.”
“It’ll be okay, Hardin,” she promised, optimism dripping from her words. “Just give it time, and you’ll see. Everything will be great.”
I really hoped she was right, because I couldn’t imagine wanting to do anything else with my life than run Junior’s. As frustrated as I got with my parents, our family’s legacy was something I was incredibly proud of, and all I wanted was forthemto be proud ofme.
Asher hung around for a while before having to head out for Whiskey Dolls rehearsal, and I got back to work, trying to track down the missing money.
My eyes were beginning to cross, and I was about to give up when there was another knock on my office door.
My head server, Penelope, ducked her head inside.
“Hey, boss. Sorry to interrupt. Do you have a moment?”
I waved her in. “Sure, come on in. You aren’t interrupting anything. I’m slowly driving myself insane with numbers.”
She sat in the chair Asher had been in earlier, and I noticed her posture was rigid. She was on the edge of her seat, literally, clenching her hands together so tight her knuckles were bleached of color. “Everything all right, Pen?”
“Well, um... I don’t know. I mean, I don’t think so. Well—”
“Pen,” I interrupted, giving her a reassuring smile. She’d worked for me for years and was one of my most trusted employees. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how I’d function without her, and if it were up to me, I would have promoted her a long time ago. “It’s all right. You can talk to me. Just tell me what’s on your mind.”
“I heard you talking to your friend about”—she leaned in deep and lowered her voice to a barely-there whisper, even though the door was closed—“the missing money, and I think I might know who’s stealing it?”
My spine shot straight, the tiny hairs on my arms standing on end. “You do? Who is it?”
“Well, that’s the thing. I don’t have solid proof, but I think it’s Kadence. There’s no denying she’s lazy as all get out, and everyone here knows it, which was why I thought it was so weird when I kept hearing her offer to cover other people’s breaks whenever they were in charge of the register. And, well, you know whoever is last on register for the night has to do the count. I mean, you made that rule yourself. I thought it was really suspicious, so I went back and looked at the old schedules, and sure enough, the days the register was short just so happened to be the rare days she actually worked her entire shift.” She twisted and re-twisted her fingers together as she shifted in her seat. “I hope I didn’t overstep by going through your scheduling software like that.”
“No, Penelope, don’t even think that. What you did is actually incredible.”
“Do you think we should call the cops on her? I know it’s mean, but I’dreallylike to be here when they arrest her.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s not mean at all, and I’d want to be right beside you, but I don’t think we have enough yet to have her arrested.”
