Page 35 of Finding Kyler
“I know your waitress is new, and clearly struggling to grasp the concept of the job, but how anyone is dumb enough to mix salads with burgers is actually quite shocking,” she tells him. “Don’t your staff have to pass some form of basic intelligence testing before you inflict them on unsuspecting customers?”
You’d swear I was working for NASA, not the bloody local diner, for flip’s sake. Addison is testing every last one of my nerves. And we haven’t even started the fun and games in school yet.
I swallow the bile in my throat as David fusses over her, apologizing profusely and gesturing at Rose and me to clear the table.
I hold my head up high as I walk away with the offending plates.
“We’ll take those off your hands,” a husky masculine voice says. I look up into gorgeous blue eyes I’ve seen before. It’s the same guy I saw the first day in the diner, the blond jock who was hanging back from the crowd. I think he was at the party last night too, although I can’t be one hundred percent sure on that.
“You will?”
“Sure,” one of the guys behind him says. “We’re totally famished. Hand ‘em over.”
Rose winks at me, and I grin. Problem somewhat solved.
The blond guy slides into the booth beside his buddy, and I set the plates down in front of them. I grace him with a massive smile. At this moment, he’s the equivalent of my own personal knight in shining armor. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He smiles back at me, a real genuine smile without any hidden depth or meaning. It’s kind of refreshing.He’skind of refreshing. “By the way, I’m Brad.”
“Faye.”
“What the hell, Brad?” Addison’s heels tap noisily off the tiled floor as she stomps toward the booth. “What are you doing?”
He motions toward the table. “Eating. What does it look like I’m doing?”
“That’s not your order!” she fumes.
“No, you’re right. It’s yours.”
“So you did order this?” David asks, also approaching. “What’s going on, Addison?”
“Nothing, David.” She grabs his arm, bamboozling him with that faux sugary smile of hers. “I guess it’s lucky for your waitress that she managed to resolve her fuck-up.”
I ignore the dig, happy to take this win.
I give Brad one last smile before heading to join Rose at the counter. “That was awesome,” she says.
“I know. Although, she’s only going to have it in for me worse now, right?”
“I doubt it’ll make much of a difference. I wonder why Brad did that.” She looks reflective.
“You know him?”
“Yeah, he’s t—”
“A word, please, Faye,” David says, officially ending our convo.
Rose gives my hand a reassuring squeeze before I follow him into his office. “Sit down,” he barks. I drop into the seat, preparing myself to be fired. “I don’t know what went on out there, but if you have some issue with Addison Sinclair, you need to keep that out of my restaurant.”
“I don’t have any issue with her. I arrived in this country a week ago, and I’ve only met her briefly a couple of times. She’s the one who seems to have an issue with me.”
Leaning back in his chair, he scrutinizes me, and I hold my breath waiting for his decision. “Very well, but I can’t have a repeat of that.”
“I understand, and there won’t be.”
“Apart from that incident, I think things have gone very well. If you are still interested in the job, it’s yours.”
I sit forward in my seat, my eyes lighting up. “I am, and that’s great. Thank you so much.”
