“But I never gave you a shift. I didn’t tell you …” she sighed. “I didn’t tell you how to do any of this. How things are supposed to be done. What needs to be prepared.”
“Oh, I know that. I just went with my instincts and what I’ve done in the past.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “In the past?”
“Yup. Didn’t I tell you what I do?” He smacked his forehead dramatically, making a fine dusting of flour twirl through the air. “That’s right. We never got to know each other. You’ve got no idea who you’ve got working for you.”
She shook her head. “I do not.”
“I was the Head Chef at a few restaurants throughout my life, but before I got that top position, I had every other job you can think of in the service industry.”
Lila was too stunned to say anything in return. Thankfully, Mason went on.
“I’ve been a busboy, a bar back, a dishwasher, a prep chef, a line chef, a pastry chef. A waiter, a maître d’. You name it, I’ve done it.”
“But …” she closed her eyes and sighed, her shoulders sagging. “This is really information that would have been useful to me yesterday. I wouldn’t have panicked when I saw you in here.”
“Yes, you would’ve. You like controlling this place all by yourself, so it didn’t matter if you knew or not. You would’ve always thrown a fit seeing me here.”
“Don’t pretend that you know me well.”
He chuckled. “I might not know you, but I would like togetto know you. After all, we are gonna be working together for a bit now.”
“I don’t remember agreeing to that,” she mumbled. “But no one is beating down the door to work here, so what choice do I have?”
“That’s the spirit,” he said with all kinds of enthusiasm. “So does that mean we can actually think about me being an employee and not just here on a temporary basis?”
Lila didn’t know how he could be so damn positive all the time, but maybe if they spent enough time together working the diner, some of his attitude would rub off on her and make her life that much easier. She could do with a little bit of positivity.
“Fine. You can work here, but if you do one thing to upset a local, I am not gonna be responsible for how they react.”
“You got it. I’m sure I can take it. If I can serve the hoity-toity people of New York City, London, and Paris, I’m sure I can handle a few folks from Half Moon Key.”
She snorted. “Sure, because that’s the same thing.”
“What? You think that people here are more judgmental?”
“Oh, I didn’t say judgmental! People here are used to things done in a certain way. That means you’ll be workingandliving under a microscope.”
“My every move watched?”
“Yup.”
He leaned closer to her until his lips were basically pressed up against her ear. “Bring it on.”
He stood, winked at her, and returned to the dining room. As soon as he was gone, Lila shivered. It wasn’t cold, but there was something about Mason that made her body do crazy things.
She knew she was going to have to watch herself around his grin and winks.
* * *
The lunch rushcame and went, and Lila was so damn relieved to have Mason help her out when Bobbie left at the end of her shift. It was so much easier to take care of the dining room when she didn’t have to keep running back and forth between serving her patrons and manning the grill.
Mason was obviously a pro. He was fast and efficient at getting the meals ready. What was even more impressive was that the usuals didn’t even realize that it wasn’t Bobbie or Lila getting their meals ready. The man fit in seamlessly.
For that reason…and that reasonalone …Lila didn’t mind having him around. It had nothing to do with the way he smiled at her every time she went into the kitchen to grab an order. It definitely had nothing to do with the jokes he cracked when she brought in an order too. Nope. He was good at his job, and that’s all that mattered.
By the time the lunch rush died down, they even had a good groove going on. Of course, it was in the lull between one and four that Sheriff Pierce arrived. He sat at his usual booth, which also just so happened to be the booth Danielle preferred.