Down to Business (Business Series) (16 page)

My next two classes could not go fast enough. I headed home right after so I could get ready for my first night at Mazzolas. I wore black slacks and a black blouse, since I remembered all of the servers were all in black. Lindy drove me to the station.  Once I boarded the train, I managed to scarf down a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner. I spent the rest of the ride talking on the phone to my mother about Vinny, my new job, and how my classes were going.

When the train finally reached the stop, I had to walk two blocks to get to Mazzolas. Once I came around the corner, I followed the wonderful scents coming from inside. I froze unexpectedly in front of the tall dark wood doors and apprehension flooded my body. I drew a deep breath, put on a brave face, and pulled open the right door by the brass door handle.

I was met with a crowd of customers gathered around the waiting area. Suz worked the hostess counter alone and seemed to be overly busy with a phone pressed to one ear while she spoke to a few guests to her left. Vivian came through the crowd just as I stepped up to the counter. She looked at me and surprise washed over her face.

“Oh, you are starting tonight?” she asked, grabbing a few menus from behind the stand.

“Yeah. Should I go find Tina?” I asked, unsure of what first-day protocol was.

“Just go on back and if you can’t find her someone in the kitchen should be able to help you,” she said as more guests swarmed the counter.

I was glad to escape the crowd as I followed a waiter through the swinging doors and into a stainless steel kitchen full of men, slaving over giant pots of water and hot grills.

“Coming through!” A waiter in black called out to me, carrying a large tray of dishes.

I quickly stepped aside, watching him maneuver through the doors with ease. When I turned around again, Vinny was standing behind me, wearing a sauce-splattered apron.

“Hey, make sure you don’t come through those doors anymore when you arrive. Mom will have a cow. Employees use the back entrance.”

“Oh, okay, sorry.”

“It’s no problem,” he said with a smile. “Come on, I’ll show you where the lockers are and get you acquainted.”

I followed him to a small back room. There was a single row of lockers along the left wall. “You can throw your stuff in any open locker and grab a clean apron from the hook,” he said, pointing to the row of aprons hanging along the back wall. I took one, slipped the loop over my head, and let him tie the back for me.

“Okay,” he said wiping his brow and placing his hands on his hips. “Have you looked over the menu?”

“No,” I said with a frown.

He reached on top of the lockers, pulled down a leather bound menu, and handed it to me. “Take a few minutes to review it, it’s not that big.”

“Okay. Thank you Vinny.” I said, truly meaning it.

“Anytime. I’ll be in the kitchen if you have any questions.” He gave me a smile before he left.

I leaned back against the wall and glanced over the menu. Appetizers started at fifteen dollars and ranged from tomatoes and fresh mozzarella drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette to calamari. As I was reading over the main entrée’s that started at twenty-five a plate, my cell phone rang.

I turned my back to the doorway and answered in a hushed tone so no one could hear. “Hello?”

“Hey. Did you make it okay?” Lindy asked. “I’ve been worrying my ass off.”

“Yes, I just got to Mazzolas. I’m studying the menu.”

“You were supposed to call me when you got off the train so I knew you didn’t get mugged, remember?”

“Sorry, I got distracted.”

“Oh, is Vinny there?” she said in a singsong tone.

“Yes.”

“Is Vivian working tonight?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Joy. Well, have fun and call me on your break!”

“I will. Bye.”

I hung up and turned around, stifling a gasp when I saw Tina was standing in the doorway.

“Were you on the phone?”

“Um, yes I…”

“We don’t use cell phones on the job, its terms for immediate termination. I’ll let you slide this once.”

“Okay, I’m sorry.” I put my phone on silent and placed it inside my locker.

“Did you read over the menu?”

“Yes,” I nodded, noticing the room felt ten degrees hotter than before.

“Good, make sure your hair is tied back. You must always wear a ponytail if it’s long. I thought you might know that since you’ve served before.”

“Yeah, I do know that. Sorry.” I realized I didn’t have a hair tie with me and I could hear my heart beat in my ears.

“Did you have any questions on the menu?”

“No.” I couldn’t think straight anyway with her giving me the fifth degree.

“None?”

I shook my head.

“I heard you came to work through the front entrance.” She said, crossing her arms.

“I did, but Vinny told me I shouldn’t—”

“Always come through the back door. Tomorrow make sure that you are at least ten minutes early and your hair is pulled back. I don’t need OSHA on my ass.”

Vinny popped his head in the doorway. “Hey, how’s it going in here?”

“Good. I’m just instructing Autumn about server etiquette at a real restaurant.”

I offered him a tight smile and tried not to look distressed.

“Okay, well I was going to introduce her to the kitchen crew real quick.”

“She doesn’t need to get acquainted with the kitchen crew. I don’t need her making friends and starting trouble.”

“She won’t start any trouble, Mom. Come on, Autumn,” he said, motioning for me to follow him.

I looked between Tina and Vinny, feeling as if I was in the line of fire.

Tina released a huff. “Fine, when she gets fired for misconduct, you can be the one to blame.”

He glared at her as she brushed past him.

“Come on, Autumn,” he said, reaching out and taking my hand.

“Wait. I need a hair tie.”

“I’ll get you one,” he said catching my hand in his and taking me into the kitchen. A large man wearing a white apron a size too small manned the stoves. He stirred and flung salt at the five large stainless steel pots that were bubbling.

“Hey Angelo, this is our new employee, Autumn.”

He looked over at me and smiled, his double chins turning into triple. “Well, well, isn’t she a
bella di nonna
.”

I wasn’t quite sure what he said, but I knew
bella
meant beautiful in Italian.

“Angelo is our executive chef. That is a glorified term for he bosses everyone around and doesn’t do shit.”

“
Au vaffanculo
!” Angelo cried in a thick Italian accent, pointing the wooden stir spoon at Vinny. “Don’t listen to him. I do everything and I don’t get paid shit!”

Vinny laughed and pointed out the four other men. “That is Phil and Frank the expeditors, and Don and Pauly who are just line cooks like me.”

Only Phil and Frank looked up to greet me, the others were busy cooking and prepping plates.

“Oh and that guy in the corner is the Sous Chef, his name is Sharp.”

“Sharp?” I asked, staring at the small balding man in the corner, checking something off a list. “That’s his name?”

“No, his real name is Jerry but we call him Sharp because he can do all kinds of crazy shit with knives. He can juggle them, set them on fire, swallow them... its nuts. When he was a kid he ran away with the circus and became a carnie.”

I smiled at Sharp. “That’s crazy.”

Sharp didn’t seem to think so as he continued his checklist without a glance towards us.

“Well I better get out there before your mother shits a brick.”

He reached out and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “I think you’re going to do great,” he said, watching me with a softened look. “Don’t let my mother get to you.”

“I’ll try not to.”

The kitchen doors swung open suddenly and Tina walked in and pointed at me. “You. Take that apron off. You’re taking over for Suz at the hostess stand. She had to leave on a family emergency.”

“What happened?” Vinny asked, walking towards her.

Uncle Tommy is in the hospital again, his arrhythmia is acting up.”

“Great,” Vinny said with a frown.

I reached behind my back tugging at the tie on my apron. To my dismay, instead of coming loose, it became a giant knot. Vinny reached back to assist me, and Tina’s lips turned down in a hard frown.

After the apron was off, she rolled her eyes.

“Come with me.”

“Good luck,” he said, taking the apron from my hands.

“Thanks.”

I figured I’d need all the luck I could get as I followed Tina out of the kitchen.

I arrived at the hostess stand where a crowd of people were still waiting to be seated.  Vivian was operating it alone and I had a moment of sympathy for her as a guest tried to get her attention while she was on the phone and looking over the seating chart.

“Hi,” I said, stepping up beside her. “What can I do?”

“Oh, thank God! Here, seat these people at table seven.” She said shoving four menus into my hand and circling the table on the chart. “Schultz, party of four!”

The Schultz party filtered through the crowd to stand before me. They were two young couples on a double date I assumed. I smiled at them and led them to table seven, which was easy to find since it was the only available table in the room. I handed them their menus and hurried back over to the hostess stand to help Vivian with whatever she needed. Needless to say, the first two hours went by quick.

The crowd finally tapered off around nine and I was busy cleaning off the seating chart when Vivan turned to me and smiled.

“Working here is exciting shit isn’t it?”

I laughed. “Yeah, it wasn’t how I was expecting my first night to go. I thought I’d be waiting tables.”

She smiled. “I still remember my first night. Vinny was waiting tables and I kept screwing up the seating chart because I was so busy staring at his ass.”

I forced out a laugh even though jealousy coiled in my stomach.

“One time,” she whispered leaning closer, “After everyone left, we had sex in his mother’s office, right on her desk.”

I glanced up, gawking. “Wow, uh, that’s pretty…risky.”

“Yeah, it was so fun though. We were so horny that we couldn’t wait to get home.”

I bit my lip and squeezed the dry erase marker in my fist, wanting to write whore hound on her forehead. Instead, I sprayed more cleaner on the seating chart and wiped it down.

“Did you guys have fun at the movies yesterday?” she asked.

“Yeah, we did.”

“You guys aren’t, you know, sleeping together are you?”

I focused on the chart, not meeting her gaze as my face burned up. “No, we are just friends.”

“Oh, cause when I first saw you together I thought there might be something there, but now I realize you aren’t his type at all.”

How would she know that I wasn’t his type?

“What is his type?” I asked, curious about what her opinion was.

“Me.” she answered with a shrug and smile.

Of course that would be her answer.

I forced myself to smile. “How did dinner go last night?”

“It went really good. We ate at my favorite seafood restaurant and then we went to 21 Club until 4AM, and after that we went back to my place for a little bit.” She bit her lip as if she was hiding a dirty secret.

I snapped the cap back on the marker. “Oh yeah? Sounds like you had fun.”

“We did. It was his mother’s idea for us to go out last night. She really wants us to get back together.”

I frowned. “Oh, I didn’t think his Mom wanted him dating anyone from what Vinny says about her.”

“Not when it comes to me. She’s all for it. He says he’s not ready to get serious again but that kiss goodnight he gave me told me otherwise.”

He kissed her?
My stomach tightened at the thought.

“I need to use the bathroom,” I said brushing past her, unable to hide my irritation for another second.

I headed to the restrooms and locked myself in a stall. The thought of them kissing was enough to make me want to cry. I pressed my fingertips into my eyes holding off the burning tears.

What the hell was wrong with me?

I never cried this much, especially over a guy. I took deep breaths to calm the furious emotions roiling through me. I had no right to feel jealous, but I couldn’t help it. I wondered if I would ever get over him. I felt like a lost cause. I remained in the bathroom until I got my emotions under control.

Thankfully, when I got back to the hostess stand, the topic of conversation turned to Vivian’s major, which was nursing, and she explained she was taking extra classes to graduate early.

When it was time to be off, Tina came to tell us we could go home. I went to the backroom to get my purse from my locker and found Vivian and Vinny talking.

I paused in the doorway, feeling that familiar stab of jealousy. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“You didn’t,” Vinny assured me. “How was your first night?”

“It was good.”

Vivian crossed her arms and smiled. “She did okay. She only sat two parties at the wrong table.”

My cheeks burned and Vinny looked amused. “It’s her first day, give her a break.”

I stepped past them to get to my locker. “I should get going before I miss the train.”

“Did you need a ride home?” he asked.

“Vinny, I thought we were going out?” Vivian asked.

“I can drive her home first,” he answered. “She lives close to campus.”

“No,” I said swinging my locker door closed. “It’s fine. I’ll take the train.”

“It’s dangerous to be in the train station at this hour, you could get mugged.” Vinny argued.

“I’ll be fine,” I said, walking past him. “See you guys tomorrow. Have a great night.”

With the sour mood I was in, if a mugger tried to mess with me, I’d feel sorry for him.

Before I could make it out the door, Vinny was chasing me down. “Wait.”

I turned around and looked at him, noticing he was still wearing his sauce-splattered apron. “Look I know you want to be independent and all, but you’re not leaving alone. I’ll lock you in here if I have to.”