Rejected, Loved, Mated

Chapter Two: Keep Going

"Leanna, can I speak to you in my office?" Paul Johnson, my manager, called from his office door. His bald head shone under the lights and his tired face pulled into a small smile that he reserved for me.

I nodded and I finished putting in the order I was punching into the register then asked one of the other servers to take my tables while I was away. As soon as I was sure everything was taken care of, I headed to see what he wanted.

"Have a seat." he said, leaning back in his chair.

"Yes'sir." I murmured, sitting and waiting for him to begin.

"As you know, this restaurant has been doing good business for quite some time and you've been a great contributor to that. Management has gotten together to start a new campaign and we were hoping you would be one of our waitresses that would help us kick it off."

"That sounds great, you know I always love doing whatever I can for the company. What's this new venture?" I smiled, flattered that he was considering me.

"We hadn't been allowing this location to be rented out but now we are allowing renting and providing the staff for the parties. For all of our first parties, I would like you to take point and help organize the waitstaff. If you think you can handle it, the first party is coming up in less than a week. I apologize for the short notice but the party refused to wait and we just opened up the option. Do you think you could do it?"

"It's at night, right?" I asked, making sure because I couldn't miss any classes so close to the end of the semester. I was about to graduate a semester early anyway so I needed to make sure I was ready.

"Of course and there's a fifteen percent salary boost for working the job." He assured me. Fifteen percent sounds good to me, I thought with a smile.

"Sure. I'll start on the arrangements before I leave tonight and have everything prepared by the party. Do you have the list of the waitstaff that are going to be on duty with me?" I asked and he passed me the sheet of names without preamble. "Alright, I'll get this done and get back to you. Thank you, sir." I smiled. I finished my shift, marking the waitstaff plan for the party we were hosting whenever I had time.

By the time I clocked out, I had the plan finished and approved. I was ready to do a great job on the party and show my bosses why they loved to keep me around.

Once I got home to my quaint, little apartment, I turned my brain to my homework and finished my studies before I allowed myself to fall out. Sometimes working and going to school was so hard but it was worth it to be independent. When all was done, I switched off my lights and climbed into my bed, letting the exhaustion take me over after I set my alarm. I felt blessed that I was able to do everything and still get sleep. Now all I had to do was keep this up and get through that party.

Four days later......

I checked the table arrangements, making sure I had paired all of our waitstaff so that they brought out the best in one another. I had worked with most of them since moving here from Washington so it wasn't too hard to pick who would work better together for the veterans, the problem came with the new staff. I hoped my system would work fairly smooth but you never know what might happen. Even if they messed up I was set to take over their sections as needed so there wouldn't be any disruptions in the fine tuned machine I had orchestrated. At least that's what I thought, until I grabbed my notepad and headed out to ensure all was right.

I paused at the register station closest to the kitchen and set the registers so they would configure the way they were needed and moved around the crowd that was forming to do the rest of them. I felt eyes watching my movements and braced myself for some kind of attack.