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“What?” I groaned.
“I can’t read this,” he said. “What does it say?”
I snatched the ticket out of his hand. “No onion. Come on, you know that.”
He grinned. “Maybe, but it’s fun to piss you off.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. “That’s just what I need.”
I needed a shower. My skin felt sticky and crusty. It was cold out but hot as shit in the diner. I’d bust my ass and get all sweaty. Then it dried. Then I got sweaty again. It was a lovely feeling.
I walked back into the dining room and spotted the two-top at table seven. My mood immediately changed. The man was gorgeous. I was going to assume the little girl he was with was his daughter. I would be more than happy to serve them.
I was headed that way when Mr. Guthbert put his hand up. “Hey,” he called out.
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Mr. Guthbert?” I asked as sweetly as I could. It was hard to have patience with the old fart. He sat at the counter drinking coffee all day. He never tipped and he expected everyone to drop everything they were doing to serve him.
“I need a warm-up” he said.
I sighed and turned back around to grab the coffee pot. I filled it up. “Anything else?”
I knew he didn’t want anything else. I supposed we all took pity on him. He was lonely and spent his entire day at the diner’s counter. I felt kind of bad for him.
“I’d like some fresh stuff,” he said. “This tastes like mud.”
“Mr. Guthbert, I just made that pot fifteen minutes ago. You saw me make it.”
“That’s been an hour ago,” he argued.
“No, it wasn’t,” I groaned.
“I can’t drink this swill,” he muttered and pushed the cup away.
“Just add sugar,” I told him. “Sugar makes everything better.”
“I want fresh coffee!”
I growled and walked back around the counter to make another pot. It wasn’t fair to the other customers in the restaurant. Mr. Guthbert sucked all the life out of the whole place. Every other customer had to wait longer to get served because we were all beholden to him.
“I have to go take an order,” I told him. “It’s going to take some time for the coffee to brew. Just sit tight.”
He opened his mouth to complain, but I walked away. I had enough of the man. I pulled out my order pad and walked to the table with the hot dad. As I approached him, I couldn’t help but overhear his conversation.
“I want a younger nanny this time,” he said. “I need someone who actually gets off the couch and hangs out with Lily. I have a long list of qualifications I’m going to ask the service for this time. Young, hardworking, and she has to be able to have fun. I’m so tired of burning through nannies. Just when we get one broken in, she quits or I have to fire her. It’s not fair to Lily. She’s a good kid.”
His daughter grinned at him. She was a cute little thing. She looked like she would be a good kid. A fun kid. An idea formed in my head. It was probably a terrible idea but was there anything worse than what I was doing already? I glanced over my shoulder and saw Mr. Guthbert waving at one of the other servers.
“No risk, no reward,” I muttered to herself.
“Hello.” I smiled at my new customers. “I’m Deanna, and I’m going to be your server today.”
“I have to go,” the man said.
That was a good sign. He was not the kind of asshole who talked on his phone while I tried to take his order. Her decision was made. I knew what I was going to do.
“I’m sorry, I’m just going to come right out and say it,” I said.
“Excuse me?” he asked.
