The last thing she needed to do was start making assumptions about anything.

  “I never ask staff to give me an expectation for the length of their employment. It’s not like I can even ask that. I just wanted to know if you liked the work or not. If someone doesn’t like what they do it shows. I don’t run that kind of business here.”

  She smiled. She had to. His face even softened some, but he still didn’t smile back.

  He was honest, she’d give him that. It was refreshing in more ways than one, especially after Eddie where everything was said with a smile and a wink. She should have seen that bullcrap a mile away and wasn’t sure why she didn’t.

  “I can understand that. I noticed it at my last job too.”

  “What did you do before, if you don’t mind me asking? You said you went to college for it, but that wasn’t working out.”

  “I went for business but focused on marketing and advertising. I’m not sure what I thought I’d do. Maybe design ads? I like doing that. It didn’t work out that way. I’m not sure there is a big market for it here on the island either. So I guess just finding a job in an office is good enough.”

  “No one should settle for good enough in life,” he said gruffly.

  She forced a smile. “I guess I’m used to that.”

  He frowned and somehow that made him more attractive. She’d never been drawn to big men before. Or ones that didn’t smile, but then again, going with men who told her nice things all the time hadn’t worked out so well for her either in the end.

  “Not sure why you are. I suppose that is your business though. I learned a long time ago to get somewhere in life, to where you need to be, you need to put your foot down and be heard.”

  “It’s not always easy for everyone,” she said. Hadley didn’t want to go down this road. She wasn’t one for sharing much about herself. She just wanted a job. No reason for him to know her personally and how she handled things in her life. “Why don’t you show me what you are looking for? I’m sure you’ve made changes and I don’t want to walk in and just start doing things the old way. I’d rather it be explained or outlined.”

  He laughed at her. Truly laughed and if it was possible for him to be more handsome, he was. “Not many say that in your situation.”

  “What situation is that?” she asked.

  “Your parents’ business. They might walk in and say what they know and just start doing that.”

  “No,” she said. “My parents told me this was some trial thing. I didn’t ask. I never ask. It’s not my business. But I’m smart enough to know that whatever they were doing wasn’t working and you’ve got a very popular restaurant on this island. You obviously know what you’re doing and are making changes.”

  “If you aren’t from this area how do you know about my restaurant?” he asked. “It’s only been open around the same amount of time as Southside.”

  “I know enough to do some research when my father tells me he is going to talk to you about me.”

  “Oh,” he said, smirking. “You didn’t look into me when they brought up our business agreement?”

  “No,” she said. “They’d told me a few months ago they were thinking of selling and then I didn’t ask anymore. It wasn’t brought up. As my father mentioned, it’s been a rough year.”

  “And you don’t like that your father said that to me?” he asked.

  “I can’t control what comes out of other people’s mouths,” she said. “It wasn’t until a few days ago they told me about the business. I never asked anything as I was already committed to the move at this point.”

  He nodded his head. “Okay. Why don’t we get to work and I’ll show you around? If you don’t have plans today, I can have you start. I’ll move you around from the tables to the bar. Early on I don’t have that many here, so those that are here are floating.”

  “Sounds smart. My father should have done that. I think he felt like someone had to be at every station, but if it’s not that busy, someone is standing around. No one likes to just stand around.”

  “I know I don’t,” he said.

  “Do I have to go home and change? Not sure what the dress code is here.”

  She’d put jeans on knowing that was what everyone wore with a T-shirt that said Southside Pub on it. She had one in her car if it was still the case. She wanted to be prepared.

  “You’re fine,” he said. “Blue or black jeans for now and a shirt. I’ll get you one.”

  “I’ve got one in my car if they are the same ones,” she said. Maybe it’d work in her favor to show her how prepared she was so he didn’t think she was some bum her parents had to save.

  There was a look in Duke’s eyes that maybe he believed he was doing her father a favor. He was doing one for her, but she still didn’t want to be thought of poorly.

  Which of course just went back to all the people pleasing she did in her life.

  Some habits were just so dang hard to break.

  5

  Sadness And Embarrassment

  Duke was pleasantly surprised by the woman in front of him.

  She was about five foot five, long brown hair that reached the middle of her back and was straight.

  She looked on the thin side. Like someone that had been under a great deal of stress lately and lost weight they weren’t trying to. Could be the fact her jeans were loose on her and not by fashion but rather the wrong size.

  But she was here and eager to work based on how prepared she was.

  There was a sadness and embarrassment behind her eyes that he was trying to push past.

  He never wanted to get involved in his employees’ personal lives. Life was just easier to separate the two.

  Encouragement for their career? Yes, he did that all the time.

  Yet once she started to talk, he knew he was going to give her the chance because he had a feeling she was out to prove she was grateful and deserved it.

  “It’s the same shirts,” he said. “But I’ll give you a new one just the same. I’ve got shifts that need to be covered a few days this week. You should have more than one shirt. A small?”

  “What?” she asked.

  “Your size? A small?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Thanks.”

  “Come with me. They are in my office.”

  He wasn’t going to feel odd saying it was his office and not her father’s now. It’s not like it was much of one, but it was a space to do his paperwork and was private so better than nothing.

  “Wow. It’s so neat in here.”

  He turned to look at her when she said that. “Was it messy before?”

  He was going through the shirts in the box and pulled out a small and handed it over.

  “Yes. My mother is the neat one. My father’s desk was always a mess. I used to remember his secretary complaining about it too before he retired. They probably cleaned it up before you arrived.”

  “It was pretty bare when I got here,” he said.

  “That would be my mother’s doing,” she said. “Everything here is so much cleaner. It’s nice.”

  He grinned. The kitchen hadn’t been up to his standards and it was the first thing he changed. He’d like to come in with better equipment, but everything functioned for now until he could figure if he’d buy it or not.

  “There are some rules I’ve got that some don’t like, but they have to adapt. Cleanliness is one of them. I don’t expect my employees to get down on their hands and knees and scrub the floors. I hire cleaning companies for that, but I do expect their areas kept clean before they leave.”

  He learned a long time ago to keep things to his standards it was best to have someone come in and do it and have it maintained. Staff was happier that way too.

  “That’s nice,” she said. “I’m not sure my father would have ever thought or considered that. Or if he could afford it.”

  “It’s not cheap, but it saves being shut down by the health department too.”

  She cringed. “Was it that bad back here? I never came back much. Or even looked all that closely.”

  “Not that bad,” he said. “But not great.”

  “Then it’s one good change and I’d think those working back here would appreciate it.”

  He thought they would. Most of them did. What they didn’t like though was that when he was working he made sure they worked clean too. It wasn’t just being clean at the end of the night.

  “Some do,” he said. “But you won’t be working back here other than getting the food. Even then, one change I’ve made is that during slower periods, the bartender will come back and get some of the food to bring to the bar and save the servers from going in the back.”

  The servers were thrilled with that, the bartender not so much. But it’s not like it would be happening at night when it was busy.

  “That’s smart,” she said. “Do they bring the ticket out and place it on the counter off to the side by the door?”

  She was a smart one, he could say. “Yes,” he said. “The flow is better. Early shifts, like today, the servers are getting the drinks themselves behind the bar. Not a big deal, as you can tell. If there is a bartender on, like later in the week and it’s slow, they will get the food if they can. It’s a work in progress.”

  “Isn’t everything?” she asked.

  They moved to the front of the house. He’d rearranged the layout of the tables too and felt it had a better flow here. By removing a few tables, people weren’t as crowded and it’s not like it was filling up before. This way it appeared to be busier and if people thought a place was packed they wanted to flock there to try it out too.

  “It looks nice in here,” she said. “You didn’t change much except the way the tables were placed.”

  “No reason to make a ton of changes just yet. The menu is about the same. It’s only been a few weeks and didn’t seem like it was necessary to do much more. I removed a few things and added some. It’s best to do that with the cost of food.”

  “My mother told my father that. If the cost of something was high and it wasn’t selling, why even have it on the menu?”

  “You’ll notice that here. I have some dinner specials each night too. They start at five. Orders are taken on a pad and brought to the back to enter into the computer. It’s fast and easy and stops all the traffic from going in and out of the kitchen. The servers only go in to get food, not to drop off orders.”

  It’d been worth it for him to install that here. He had to. He couldn’t work with paper tickets everywhere a day longer. Not in the kitchen.

  “I’m sure that makes things easier having it electronic.”

  “It does. At my restaurant they carry tablets with them and enter it as they take the order at the table. That’s not very common though.”

  He tried to be up to date on technology when he could, but it had to be beneficial too.

  “It feels as if our entire lives are all about having some device in our hand anyway,” she said.

  “That was my thought. Let me show you how to enter an order in. When we open there will be another server here. I’ll have you working behind the bar rather than having her covering both. She can show you how to put the orders in, and you can get familiar with the menu.”

  “I can jump in and do whatever you need me to,” she said. “Do you need me to make a drink or something for you so you know I can do it?”

  He laughed at her. “Not too many are coming in ordering specialty drinks. I’ll be here until close. If you get an order that you don’t know how to do, just ask me, or look it up on your phone if you need to.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “Will I be by myself behind the bar until the dinner service?”

  “Yes,” he said. “I’ve got someone coming in at four until close. If you can work from when we open at eleven thirty until five that would be great. If you want to stay later and help out if it’s busy that is up to you. I’ll know more as we get close to that time.”

  “I can stay as long as you need me to,” she said.

  “Good,” he said. “We’ve got a few hours before we open if you want to come back. I don’t have much for you to do. I’ve got to make some desserts to have on the menu. I refuse to sell frozen stuff and it seems not one of my cooks working today likes to bake.”

  “I like to bake,” she said.

  “Your father said you don’t work in the kitchen.”

  “I don’t. Not to cook. I mean I can do small things. But I bake. My parents know I do. I had a cake business on the side before I moved here. Wedding cakes and specialty cakes for parties.” She pulled her phone out. “Here are some of the things I’ve done. I guess it was my hope to try to start that again once I’m settled. My parents don’t know though.”

  He looked at her cakes. “These are nice,” he said. He zoomed in for the detail work. That said a lot to him. The time it would take someone to do the little things.

  “Thanks. I know you can’t taste them from the pictures. But I can bake anything. If you don’t mind, since you’re doing something anyway, maybe I could do something too. If it’s not up to your standard, I won’t take offense. I’m not professionally trained or anything. Baking was a hobby and design was more my thing. I guess it came with my field of study. But no one has ever complained about the taste of my cakes either.”

  He laughed at her. “Not having someone complain isn’t indicative of great tasting food.”

  “I know,” she said, sighing. “You won’t know until you try something though.”

  He liked how she stood up straighter when she said that. Like she took a stand and put her foot down for a passion when he started to wonder if maybe she was one to shy away from things.

  Damn. That was what he wanted to see and he had a little weak spot for it in someone. “Then I guess we are baking together,” he said. “Tell me what you like to make. Your best or favorite dessert.”

  “You don’t have anything on the menu?”

  “No. There was no dessert here other than what your parents bought and had frozen. I’m not serving that.”

  He could whip up any gooey cake or pie in a pinch. Brownies and ice cream, even chocolate chip cookies and ice cream with hot fudge. Dessert didn’t seem to get bought a lot, but he was going to change that too.

  “I don’t blame you. I do a great white chocolate chip blondie that goes great with ice cream. Like a fruit ice cream if you have it.”

  “That’s interesting, but we’ve only got vanilla ice cream here.”

  “Do you have any fruit? I could make a quick jam or sauce to go over it. Strawberries or raspberries work. If neither of that does, I’ve got a great peanut butter pie recipe in a chocolate crust. I’m not sure what you’ve got here for supplies. I can make any kind of cake you want, but wasn’t sure if you wanted a layered cake or not.”

  “I’m going to make my signature triple chocolate cake,” he said. “It’s one of the few desserts I do and it’s requested a lot. There are both raspberries and strawberries here. Take your pick. I like the idea of the blondies with the fruit sauce. We’ve got a chocolate dessert and a non-chocolate one. Do you think you have time for the peanut butter pie? Not sure how you make your crust. If it’s with chocolate stuffed cookies, sorry, don’t have them here.”

  She laughed at him. “No. I mean I’ve made it that way before, but I don’t. I make a chocolate crust from scratch. I’m sure you’ve got cocoa here.”

  “I do. And chocolate chips. All the basics for baking,” he said.

  “Then I’m good to go. My peanut butter filling is no bake. It’s like a peanut butter mousse with chocolate chips in it. Once the crust is baked and cooled, I’ll put that in and it has to set for a few hours. I can get the dough going first and in the oven. Then start on the filling and get that in the fridge. Blondies are fast and easy. I can do that once the other stuff is done.”

  She was rolling her sleeves up and wanting to get ready to work. “Why don’t you go change your shirt and grab an extra chef jacket hanging up. I’d give you one of mine, but you’d be swimming in it. Let’s get these desserts done first, and if it rolls past opening, once you’re done, we’ll bring you up front. Does that work for you?”

  “Yes,” she said. She started to do a little fist pump and then pulled it back.

  “It’s fine,” he said. “You’re excited. I like to see that. Much more excited than the thought of just working the front of the restaurant.”

  “I’m happy to be working in general,” she said. “But doing this…I need it in my life right now. You won’t be sorry. I know you won’t. I’m good at what I do.”

  “That’s the confidence I like to see in my staff,” he said. “Let’s get to work and then we’ll see what tomorrow brings.”

  6

  Hit Of Success

  Hadley was floating on cloud nine when she got home at seven thirty.

  She would have worked until close, but Duke told her it was slow enough and that more than half her desserts had sold. More than his cake. She could tell he was almost surprised by that but not her.

  Nope. She was out to prove something and she needed that hit of success in her mind.

  More so when he asked her to come back tomorrow before opening and do it again. To send him a text later tonight with what she wanted to make. There was enough to start tomorrow off, but he wanted her to make another batch of the blondies and he was thinking that could be a continuous menu item. Then he wanted one more thing.

  She was stepping out of the shower after having danced her way to her bedroom where she undressed and grabbed a change of clothes when she heard a knock at the door.

  It had to be her parents checking in on her to see how it went.

  She ran to the door to see her parents standing there. “Hi. I just got out of the shower.”