Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 146034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 487(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 487(@300wpm)
I glanced behind me, half expecting to see Jessica walk through the door.
“Hi, can I help you?” a voice called, jarring me from the dream. I turned to find a woman calling to me from behind a high counter with two registers that sat on the left.
Clearing the emotion from my throat, I gave her a small wave. “Hi. My name’s Savannah, and I have an interview at eight. I’m supposed to ask for Dakota.”
The woman’s face lit, her smile stretching wide as she came around the counter. “Ah, you must be our new favorite person. I heard that Ezra was sending someone over, and let me tell you, we were happy to hear it. We’ve been absolutely slammed since two of our servers left for college a couple weeks ago. I’m Beth, the general manager, and one of Dakota’s besties.” She stretched out her hand. “It’s great to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” I said as I returned her handshake.
She started in the direction of the double doors that sat propped open and led into the dining area, gesturing for me to follow. “You are going to love working here. It’s crazy busy, but the people are crazy awesome.”
She tossed me a grin from over her shoulder. “Including myself.”
A giggle rolled up my throat at her easy confidence.
She was tall and willowy, her skin just a shade lighter than her black hair that she wore in a floral fabric headband that tied at the base of her head and flowed down her back.
“Well, I do have to say that I approve of awesome,” I told her as casually as I could, fighting the wobbling emotion in my voice.
I didn’t get a whole lot of it. But maybe…maybe this would be the place where I’d find it. Where my luck would finally turn, and I’d find the one person in this world who meant anything to me.
“It’s a good thing. There’s plenty of it around here.” She waved a hand at the packed dining room that buzzed with activity.
Servers rushed around. Dishes clattered and voices droned, filling the place with both a casual and hectic vibe.
The scent was almost overwhelming, and my stomach twisted with how delicious everything smelled. I hadn’t taken the time to eat last night before I’d gone searching, trying to follow the clues that were so few that I hadn’t really known where to start.
The café had a rustic, chic vibe. Trendy but cozy at the same time. The booths that lined the three walls to the left were gray wood with cream and light-blue checked cushions. There were a bunch of long tables done community-style that took up the open section in the middle.
All the tables and booths were decorated with sprays of baby’s breath that sat in small buckets.
To the right was a long counter. At the far side of it was a coffee bar and a glass display for the bakery that was stocked with every kind of deliciousness. High stools took up the other half, each currently occupied by a trio of old men sipping from mugs of coffee and clearly embroiled in tales from the past.
There wasn’t an empty seat in the restaurant.
“I see this is the place,” I said.
“Once you taste the food, you’ll see why.”
“I don’t doubt that.”
“All your meals are included, which is pretty much the whipped cream and the cherry on top of a pretty incredible job. I mean, I’m not biased or anything.”
Beth led me through a swinging door behind the counter and into the chaos that was the kitchen on the other side. Several servers were darting around, carrying orders and filling drinks, and cooks called instructions through the long window lined with heat lamps where they set orders to be picked up.
A woman with a brown ponytail leaned toward the window and hollered, “Thanks for that, Will.”
“Anything for you, Dakota.”
Beth shook her head with a grin as she approached her. “You have all those boys wrapped around your cute little finger, don’t you?” she teased.
The woman at the counter straightened. “I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around. I don’t know what I would do without them,” she said. Then her mouth split into a full smile when she noticed me trailing behind Beth. “Tell me you’re Savannah and you’re here to save my life.”
Easiness glided from her, this comfort and welcome that I wasn’t quite sure what to do with.
I went for light. If I was going to work here, then I needed to fit in. Not come across like I was here for any other reason than needing to make some extra cash. “Well, I might not be able to pull you fully from the deep end, but I think I might be able to help get you closer to the top.”