Page 20 of Hot and Bothered
“Where’s the side of guacamole?” he asked.
I nearly groaned. I had written down chips and salsa, but I had completely forgotten he’d also asked for guacamole on the side.
“I’ll be right back with that,” I told him.
Luckily this guy didn’t seem to be too upset. He just went back to his conversation with his friend.
But I still had to confess to Lizzy that I had screwed up one of the orders.
“I’m so sorry,” I told her. It felt like I had apologized more in the last forty-eight hours than I had in my entire life.
“You’ll get the hang of it,” she told me with a sympathetic smile.
But the night didn’t get any better. I messed up orders, mixed up customers’ requests, and delivered food to the wrong tables, with each customer seeming to get increasingly irritated.
A customer was in the middle of chewing me out when Evan sauntered up from behind the bar counter. He had been busy making drinks for customers on the other side of the bar for most of the night.
I had been glad for that. It meant he hadn’t seen all the screw-ups I’d made. But now the customer had raised his voice at me and I couldn’t say a word in my defense. I had messed up his order, after all.
I wasn’t cut out for this. I didn’t know why I had thought I’d be able to do this. I should have known I would make a mess of things.
“Is there a problem here?” Evan asked as he walked up to us.
The customer gave him the short rundown of all the various ways I’d screwed up his order. Evan apologized and offered to give him half off his bill.
I wondered if it would come out of my paycheck. It would only be fair.
But that meant it would take even longer for me to get back on my feet. If I kept on screwing up and kept on getting my paycheck docked, who knew how long it would take.
Or maybe if I got bad enough Evan would fire me on the spot. I was half-surprised he hadn’t done so already. The night had been a disaster.
While Evan talked to the customer and tried to smooth his feathers, I ducked out of the conversation and made my way to the back hallway. I needed a moment to myself.
My breath was coming too fast. My hands were clammy. My head swam and turned fuzzy. It wasn’t a panic attack exactly, but I was feeling overwhelmed and disorientated and I didn’t know what to do.
Evan appeared in the hallway, catching me standing in the corner, wringing my hands together and no doubt as pale as a ghost.
“Having a tough time out there?” Evan asked.
“I don’t think I’m cut out for this,” I said. “I keep screwing up and making mistakes.”
“You’re brand new to this customer service thing, aren’t you?” Evan asked.
“It’s that obvious?” I asked.
I continued wringing my hands together nervously, waiting for Evan to tell me I was fired. Waiting for him to tell me I had imposed on him long enough and I needed to leave his apartment.
I still hadn’t decided what to do. I still didn’t know what direction my future should take. I was using my time with Evan to try to sort that out.
If I had to leave now I knew I would end up back at home, marrying Jacob, and being miserable for the rest of my life.
My lower lip trembled. I fought back the panic rising in my chest.
“You’ve been working for most of the night,” Evan spoke up, politely not mentioning my quivering lip or my glossy eyes. “Why don’t you take a break before getting back to it?”
“You’re not going to fire me?” I asked.
“I have to admit, I didn’t think you’d be quite this awful at customer service,” he said.
