| ❅ | Finding Home | ❅ | A Novel | ❅ | Complete | ❅ |

❅ Chapter Thirty-One ❅

Monday rolled around and Risa looked in the mirror of her hotel room. She tied on her apron and smoothed down her top, making sure there wasn't a winkle in sight. She hummed making sure her collar was laid flat down which she had spent a good few minutes trying to accomplish. When she had, she was thrilled she looked so professional, dressed head to toe in brown and white, the café colors.

She had spent almost all morning practicing how she would act on the job. What she would say and do. She wanted to make sure she made a good first impression on the customers and her boss. She didn't want to lose this job, so she needed to be on her toes at all times. Working at a café wasn't as easy as she figured, Tessa had told her stories about how gruesome it would be. It didn't discourage her though. 

Who knew an orphan girl like herself could get a job at a café in Paris? It seemed a bit cliché to her, but life was full of little clichés and ironies. You sometimes have to accept it and just go with the flow. Which was what she was doing. It wasn't like she couldn't have helped it, it was the only place that would hire her with no prior job experience. She just hoped to prove to everyone that even with no job experience you can still get into the swing of things and make a life for yourself. 

She twirled around pulling her hair into a ponytail out of her way. "Oh Loyal, can you believe it is my first day at work." She exclaimed then noticed her puppy was sound asleep. "Whoops, I still forget the sun isn't even up yet." She took her voice down to a whisper and giggled softly.

She walked over to the curtains and opened them just a little. The lights were still on that lined the sidewalk and it was still dark out. She was going to have to get used to waking up at five am to be at work at six am. That meant she would need to go to bed earlier and sacrifice late-night outings for strictly the weekends to never oversleep.

She recalled back to her time at the orphanage, even then she had never gotten up this early. She normally could have woken up at seven am, even eight at the latest if she wasn't sleeping well. Any normal person wouldn't be happy to get up before the sun to go to work, but this was her first job, so how couldn't she be excited? She hardly slept a wink.

She turned off the lamp so it would be dark for Loyal. She walked over to her bowl and filled it up with some food quietly so when she got up she could eat. "That should hold her over until Stella comes to pick her up while I am at work." She mused, putting away the bag at the bottom of a dresser door. 

She walked over to the door and grabbed her coat off the rack, pulling it on, she then pulled on her gloves and then her hat. She grabbed her small purse and opened the door, pausing and blowing out the candle that sat on the dresser. She walked out and closed it quietly behind her making sure it made only a small click.

She walked with a little bit of bounce in her step, excitement was pouring out as she left the hotel. She hoped her first day of work would go well, plus she had spoken to Stella who would come by before she picked up Loyal to see how things were. She had nothing to worry about, so she could solely focus on her job.

She hummed softly arriving at the café which wasn't even open yet. She pulled open the door and walked into the warmth of the fireplace. "Tessa? Jaelle? Boss? Philippe?" She called out walking towards the kitchen, first calling to her two friends, then her boss and lastly the chef of the café.

Tessa called out from the kitchen letting her know where they were. "Back here, Risa." She laid down a crepe on the baking sheet and popped some filling into it, before passing it over to Jaelle, who was giving the little guys a dusting of powdered sugar or chocolate drizzle.

It seemed that neither their boss nor Philippe was there, which struck Risa as odd. She followed her voice and was a bit curious about what they were making. It did smell pretty good in the kitchen, though it seemed to be empty of Jaelle and Tessa at this time. "Hello, where is our boss or Philippe?" She asked, curiously, dropping her hat, gloves, and coat in the back room.