Alex reached into the small fridge under the counter and pulled out a peach. “Make me a peach Mojito, a Cadillac Margarita, and a Piña Colada.” He stepped back eyeing her. This time he crossed his big arms.
Grace glanced at the large tray at the bar with everything else she’d need for garnish and smiled. “Coming right up.”
Within a few minutes, the drinks were ready and she waved her hands over them. “There you go.”
Alex tasted them one by one without a change in his unreadable expression. When he finished tasting the last and most important one—the Mojito—he smiled. She’d heard about the peach Mojitos from Moreno’s. They were supposedly the best in town.
“When can you start?”
Her mouth fell open, but she regained her composure as quickly as she could. She couldn’t however help the silly smile. “Are you serious?”
“Hell, yeah.” He took another sip of the Mojito. “This is damn good.” After another sip of the margarita, he eyed her. “But first you have to explain why you lied about your age on your application or my brother is gonna have a cow.”
She took a deep breath. “Mr. Moreno—”
“What?” He scoffed. “Call me Alex will you?”
He must’ve seen the apprehension in her eyes because he added with a smile, revealing those deep dimples again. “It is my name.”
“Okay, Alex… if you’re impressed by the drinks I just made, I promise you my cooking will impress you even more.” She leaned against the counter. “The problem is no one ever takes me seriously because of my age.” She glanced down at her feet not wanting to make eye contact. “I was going to come clean about my age. I swear. I just wanted to have the chance to prove myself first.” She crossed her arms again. “Since I wasn’t applying for the bartending position, I totally forgot about my birthday on the bartending certificate.”
When she glanced up at Alex, she was expecting to see disapproval. Instead, he smiled. “Well, if your cooking is anywhere near as good as your bartending skills, I’d be willing to give you a chance.”
Her hands flew to her face and she stood up straight. “Really?”
“I can’t hire you as a cook, sweetheart,” he added quickly. “My brother’s gonna have a hard enough time with me hiring you as a bartender. But once you’re in, I’ll give you a shot in the kitchen. I’m actually curious now.”
Grace fought the inappropriate urge to hug him. “Thank you so much!”
“Any chance you can start today?”
“Yes!” She didn’t even know what the pay was, but she felt ecstatic. “I can start now.”
After giving her a shirt with the restaurant’s logo and an apron Alex excused himself to call his wife. He handed her off to Melanie, one of the other bartenders, to show her around. This was completely unexpected, but Grace was determined to make him proud. She had to. Finally, she had a chance to get in the kitchen of a worthwhile restaurant and her only hope of ever getting her own restaurant someday.
CHAPTER 3
The meeting didn’t go at all as Sal hoped. It seemed the investors were interested in only one thing—using the Moreno name—and the reputation that came with it, to open up more restaurants. The second restaurant which was run by his youngest brother Angel had been an instant hit. There was no doubt in the investors’ minds that all other restaurants with the name would follow suit; as long as they picked out the perfect locations.
However, they weren’t interested at all in talking about the management of the restaurants or staying true to the menu. There were already talks of changing food suppliers to cut down on some of the costs in the food. Sal had nearly called the meeting to an end right there. As far as he was concerned, the food and the service were the main ingredients in running a successful restaurant. Anything else was a distant third. This was one of the reasons why he’d decided against going with a big franchising deal. The investors wanted to change a lot of things, including the menu, mostly to cut corners. They called it good business. Sal called it selling out.
He rushed to get back to the restaurant as soon as the meeting was over. He was feeling a little irritated about how the meeting had gone and wondered if maybe he was thinking too big. Maybe instead of opening up several restaurants all at once, like the investors wanted, one at a time would be best. Getting Angel’s restaurant going had been quite a challenge. In the end, things worked out fine, but they never would’ve been able to give it the attention they had, if there were several other restaurants opening at the same time.
The back door to the restaurant swung open just as Sal pulled up and parked. Oscar waved at him as he threw a bag of trash in the back bin. Sal got out in a hurry.
“How’d it go?”
“Eh.” Sal said loosening his tie. “Not too good.” He hurried into the restaurant behind Oscar. “How’s it going in here? Real busy?”
“Yeah, as usual, but the new bartender is really kicking ass.”
“New bartender?”
Oscar turned back to look at him. “Yeah, Alex hired her today. The girl knows her drinks.” Then he added with a grin, “not to mention, she’s got a real nice rack.”
As soon as they came around the corner and into view of the bar, Sal saw her. Ms. Zendejas was handling herself just fine behind the bar. A long, thick ponytail replaced the tight bun in her hair and the glasses were gone. Unlike the day of the interview, she smiled brightly as she made several drinks at one time. Alex said something to her as he walked behind her and she laughed.