Page 60 of The Chef's Kiss
“The thing about small towns is everyone’s got a lot going on. Most have more than one job we’re going to need to plan around. Unless you plan to bus in a load of out-of-work actors from New York to work full time, we need to make do with what we’ve got, and Stefanie will work hard to be whatever you want her to be to keep a job that will fit around her schedule. We want that kind of dedication.”
“The next one needs to be an evening server with experience.”
“The next one is applying for the hostess position.”
“No. Absolutely not.” I shook my head as Emery Ashford made her way across the room to the table. “That kid is a walking disaster. I’ve been here less than three weeks and she’s had at least three jobs she’s been fired from.”
“All the more reason to give her a chance to find the right job.”
“Not as a hostess. Maybe a dishwasher.”
“That’s not nice, Hudson.” She patted me on the shoulder in a very patronizing way. “I’m not her biggest fan either, but I’m at least willing to give her a chance.”
Before I had much to say on the matter, Jorgina hired her cousin as a to-go waitress for curbside takeout and three other waiters with experience at a place called the Rusty Spoon, which they did not intend to leave. The Orchard Hill Bistro would be their second jobs.
My head was swirling with all the new faces, but Jorgina’s organizational skills turned today into a whirlwind job fair, filling all the positions we had open and then some. I even found two new line cooks I would be training in full after the soft opening.
Finally, the last girl left with a full-time hostess position, along with her husband who, thank all that was holy, had actual fine dining experience waiting tables at one of my favorite restaurants in Boston while he was in college.
“Staff hired. Done.” Jorgina actually crossed that off her to-do list. “Now, we just need to train them, and we’ll be ready for the soft opening on Friday.”
I wiped a clammy hand over my face. “It’ll be a miracle if it all comes together by then.”
“Tomorrow will be a big day of training. Do you think you could try to be nice?”
“I was nice all day today.” I leaned forward, taking a long drink from my glass of ice water.
“You practically growled at Emery, and that poor high school kid was near tears.”
“She was talking about dropping out to take a job here washing dishes. She needed to be yelled at.”
“She was joking, you ding-dong.” Jorgina swatted me with a stack of menus.
I grabbed one out of her hand and studied the thick cloth binding. It reminded me of a beautiful hardback book with gold lettering on the spine and front.
“Thanks for choosing the menu binding without asking me what I thought.”
“You’re welcome.” She returned to her insane calendar schedule that made little sense to me with its color-coded nonsense.
“I was being facetious.” I thumbed open the menu, checking out the overall design. I could admit she’d done an excellent job with it, but menu design was normally my favorite thing to do.
“You don’t like it?” She sounded hurt.
“No, it’s beautiful.” I cracked a smile. I couldn’t seem to be my usual gruff self with her.
“But?” She frowned at me, looking over my shoulder at the menu.
“Nothing.”
“No, it’s something. Tell me.”
“I wanted to do it.” I shook my head. This woman could read my mind. “But you did a lovely job.” I handed the menu back to her. “No complaints.”
“You can do the next one when we give the menu a facelift in a few months.”
“Deal. I just have one request.”
“What’s that?” She was busy filling out new hire paperwork on all the new employees.
