Grace had just finished putting on her apron on when a girl she’d never met walked in the back room.
“Hey.” She smiled big.
Grace knew Sal was still working on hiring more people. This girl had long, thick, beautiful hair and was drop dead gorgeous. Great.
“Hey,” Grace smiled but not nearly as big as the girl had. “You new?”
“No, actually I’ve been helping out at the other restaurant for the past week. They had a few people call in sick. But I’m back now.” She pulled an apron out of one of the drawers in the cabinet. “I’m Sofia.” The big perfect smile was still draped across her face. She tied the apron behind her. “You must be the new bartender I heard about.”
Grace waited a second before responding. “I’m not the only bartender they hired recently.”
“No, it’s you. Sal spoke of a girl. I know he hired another guy but he didn’t mention much about him.”
And he had mentioned her? Trying not to sound too interested, Grace turned away from Sofia and placed her purse in the cabinet. “Really? What did he say?”
“That you’re good. And he said you’re fast. Which, let me tell you—we need fast, especially on the weekend.” Sofia pulled her ball cap on. “Sweet Sixteen starts this weekend. You’ll see what I’m talking about.”
“Sweet sixteen?”
“March Madness.” Sofia looked at her like she was from another planet. “The last sixteen college teams standing, they start battling it out this weekend. It’s gonna get busy in here.”
Grace was still thinking about Sal talking about her. Sofia said he’d hardly mentioned the other bartender. She shook it off, grabbing her cap out of the cabinet and began putting it on. “So uh, is Alex closing today?” That was one way of finding out if Sal would be there later or not. It was only either him or Alex who ever closed.
“No, he’ll be in for a few hours, but I’m closing.”
“You?”
“Yeah,” Sofia smiled at her. “She leaned over the desk and typed something into the keyboard of the computer. “Ugh, Sal has to be so damn anal about everything. Does he really think anyone has time to take their lunch and breaks when he schedules them?” She turned to Grace. “Seriously he does all this.” She motioned to the screen. “And no one even bothers to look at it.”
Alex walked in. “Hey, Gracie. Sof, you’re back.”
He leaned in and kissed the side of her head as Sofia continued to type something then laughed. “Don’t tell Sal I did this.”
Alex peered at the screen and smiled. “He’s gonna know it was you.”
“Doesn’t he get it? After all these years?” She turned to Grace. “He still prints out recipes for the cooks that have been cooking here for years. I can just imagine the stuff he laid on the new cook.”
Alex laughed. “Oh yeah, poor sap has his homework cut out for him.”
“Homework?” Grace finally spoke up.
Alex sat down. “Just wait, Gracie. You’ll see when you get in the kitchen. Sal’s too much. I’m surprised he hasn’t been riding you about the Moreno way of making drinks.”
Sofia turned to Grace. “He hasn’t given you the whole speech yet, about the way things work around here?”
Grace shook her head. “No, the most he did was give me a tour of the restaurant.”
Alex and Sofia exchanged glances. “Maybe it was the way things went down with Grace. I hired her, not Sal,” Alex chuckled. “He wasn’t too happy about it either.”
Grace tried not to frown at that.
“Why?” Sofia turned back to Alex. “He even said she was good.”
“Ah.” Alex winked at Grace. “Minor details on her résumé. You know Sal. But it’s all good now. Gracie’s in, and we got ourselves a hell of a bartender.”
Sofia rolled her eyes then smiled at Grace. “Once you get used to Sal’s meticulous ways, he’s not so bad.”
It wasn’t until a few hours later that Grace got a revelation making her feel like an idiot. The whole time since Sofia had arrived, the way she spoke of Sal and how at home she made herself at the restaurant, Grace had begun to wonder about her relationship with Sal.
Then Sofia’s fiancé dropped by and asked her something about her brothers. When Sofia told him only Alex was there, Grace nearly slapped herself on the forehead. Of course. She’d been so preoccupied with how pretty Sofia was and how Sal, who obviously did most of the hiring, and was so meticulous, had not only hired her, but given someone so young the responsibility of closing the restaurant by herself, Grace missed the resemblance entirely. She didn’t even put it together when she saw the dimples Sofia flashed. Now it all made sense, even the way Alex had greeted her with a kiss.
What bothered Grace now was how relieved she’d been. What business was it of hers to care about who Sal hired and what inspired him to, anyway? She was forgetting her whole purpose for being here—time in the kitchen. That’s what she should be focusing on. From that moment on, she vowed to stop with what was beginning to smother her every thought. But as much as she tried to stay busy and focus on doing her job, she couldn’t help looking up and hoping it was Sal every time someone walked in. Even after they were closed, she looked up, hopeful it was him who knocked on the locked door. She smiled when she saw Joey, but couldn’t help feeling let down.