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“I know. We’re out until they deliver again on Friday.”
“So we have to tell a hundred people that we fucked up, and now we’re out of our most popular appetizer.”
“If it makes you feel any better,” Marco says, “I made Alex call Joe and tell him himself.”
I roll my eyes. Joseph Cohen is many things, but a hard-ass is not one of them. He’ll be comforting Alex before that conversation is over. All of the hard-assing at Cohen’s is left to me.
I pull the phone away from my ear, still looking for my daughter. “Sophie!”
“Do you want me to take Sophie to school?”
I startle as I notice Cassie standing near her bedroom door. “Did I wake you up?”
“Oh, no,” she assures me. “I’ve been up.” She eyes my phone in my hand, where Marco is still chattering about something. “But I can totally take her, if something came up.”
“Oh. No, I—” I bring the phone to my ear and murmur to Marco to give me a sec. “I want to take her. We’re having a mild scallop disaster at work that I have to deal with.”
“Oh, okay. If you’re sure.” She grins at me then. “Did you know that a scallop can produce up to two million eggs?”
I make a face. “Snapple?”
“Snapple,” she answers with a nod.
I catch myself smiling despite what’s happening on the other end of my phone. “Good to know.”
“I’ll go see if I can rustle up your daughter,” Cassie says, frowning up at the stairs. “I bet she can’t find her shoes again.”
I can distantly hear Marco calling my name, but I’m ignoring it. “Thanks,” I tell Cassie. “That would be great.”
“Don’t sweat it,” she says, waving me off.
She starts to climb the stairs in search of Sophie, and I catch myself watching her go for a second longer than I mean to. I tear my eyes away when I realize what I’m doing, turning my back to the stairs and giving Marco my full attention again.
“Listen. Call the servers and have them come in early for a staffmeeting. We can make them aware, and they’ll have to let the tables know as they seat them. I can go tomorrow morning to the seafood market across town and get enough to last until the truck comes back.”
“Okay. Sure.” Marco scoffs. “I’m going to let Alex call them. Let him get bitched out by the servers.”
This makes me laugh despite my growing headache. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll be in later.”
“We’ll be here.”
“Right. Bye.”
I hang up the phone, stowing it in my pocket as I hear footsteps coming down the stairs. I turn to see Sophie taking the stairs two at a time, Cassie close behind. I throw my hands up in question. “What’s the holdup?”
Sophie frowns. “I couldn’t find my shoe!”
I glance at Cassie, who gives me an “I told you so” look.
“Well, come on,” I urge my daughter. “That teacher with the whistle is going to yell at me again if we’re late.”
Sophie adjusts her backpack. “Okay, okay.”
“Thanks for getting her,” I tell Cassie.
“No problem,” she says. She waves her hands in a shooing motion at us both. “Go on, both of you. Can confirm the whistle lady is scary.”
I take Sophie’s hand to pull her out the front door toward the car, and despite what’s waiting for me at work tonight, I catch myself smiling.
