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.

Sal’s irritation hit another level, as he stood glued to the spot. As soon as her eyes met his, the smile disappeared. Finally, he took a few steps toward the bar. Alex smirked when he saw him.

“Can I see you in the office?” Sal said, as he walked by them.

Graciela seemed ready to address him when he glanced at her, but Sal turned his attention back to Alex without so much as a nod. The last thing he wanted was for her to notice that her presence alone had somehow affected him. The worst part was it had nothing to do with her lying on her application. Seeing the way she’d carried on with Alex, then her obvious distaste when she saw him, annoyed him in a way he couldn’t even begin to understand.

As soon as Alex walked in the back office, Sal closed the door. “Do you wanna explain that?” He pointed in the direction of the bar.

“Relax.” Alex sat down on the chair in front of the desk. “Yeah, she lied about her age but only because she wanted a chance to prove herself before we dismissed her based on her age alone. “Which,” Alex raised an eyebrow. “you have to admit, you did.”

Sal couldn’t believe this. Alex had always been too damn nonchalant when it came to this stuff. “Alex, what kind of experience can she have if she just turned twenty-one?”

Alex raised his palm up in an attempt to calm Sal. “She lived in Texas. You only have to be eighteen over there.”

Unbelievable. “And you confirmed this with…?”

“I did better. I had her make me some drinks and she made one of the best Mojitos I’ve ever had. She’s a natural, Sal. And she’s fast.”

“Alex you can’t hire someone just like that. We gotta do a background check, a drug screen—”

“Dude.” Alex chuckled. “Can you chill for a second? I can almost guarantee you that little girl has no criminal record; she’s a sweetheart. We can still get all that stuff done later. But I needed someone tonight and Gracie was nice enough to start right away.”

Sal felt every hair on his body stand at once. “Gracie?”

“Yeah.” Alex stood up. “Listen, now that you’re here, and with Gracie on duty I think I’m gonna head out. Valerie wasn’t feeling too hot this morning when I left. I wanna make sure she’s okay.”

For a second Sal stopped thinking about Graciela and was immediately concerned. Alex and his wife were expecting twins. She was in her eighth month. The doctors had warned that as petite as she was the babies could come early. They’d already had one scare a few weeks ago. “Something wrong?”

“I don’t know. She was just feeling extra tired in the morning. I made her stay in bed but you know how she is.” Alex frowned. “Her dad and step-mom are over at the house now. I’d just feel better if I was there with her.”

“Go ahead. I can handle things for the rest of the night. Take care of her and those babies.”

After Alex left, Sal kept himself busy in the office for a while. A half hour later, he forced himself to do the inevitable: go out into the restaurant and face Graciela.

He walked out just in time to catch Oscar laughing it up with her. She finished a drink and set it on the tray Oscar held. “I’m serious!” Oscar said, as Graciela shook her head. He glanced at Sal. “Uh oh, here’s the boss. Back to work.”

Graciela turned to Sal and again, just like earlier, the smile dissolved. She wiped her hand on her apron. “Mr. Moreno.” She nodded.

“Look,” he said more annoyed than ever. “If you’re gonna work here I’m gonna have to insist that you call me Sal. Is that alright?”

She nodded again then looked away. “Okay.”

“Okay what?” He felt like a jerk acting so bossy but damnit he wanted to hear her say it.

She glanced at him and lifted a perfectly arched eyebrow. “Okay… Sal.”

Julie was already at the bar. Graciela turned her attention to her and listened for the next order. Sal stood there for a moment and watched her work. She was fast. And she certainly knew what she was doing. While Melanie, one of the other bartenders on duty seemed to take a little more time measuring her drinks and making sure of accuracy, Graciela flipped bottles over without hesitation and put drinks together like a pro. It reminded him of some of the older cooks they had who never used any measurements or read any of the recipes Sal printed up for them. They just put everything together by memory and it was always perfect.

When she was done with that round of drinks, she glanced at Sal. Her eyes were bigger than he remembered, and that dress she’d worn the day of the interview had done the curves she now revealed absolutely no justice.

“I’ll need a few minutes with you when you get a chance,” he said.

“Alex gave me the paperwork I need to fill out. I can fill it out for you on my lunch.”

“When is that?” Sal needed to get a few things straight with Ms. Zendejas now.

She shrugged. “Alex said I could take a half hour whenever I felt like it. I’m not really hungry yet.”

Sal took a deep breath. Alex and his managerial leniency would be the end of him. He glanced over at Melanie and Luis the other bartender. “You two think you can handle it out here for a few minutes while I have a word with Graciela?”

They both nodded and continued working. He turned to Graciela. “Follow me.”

He didn’t wait for a response. He simply turned and headed for the office. She may’ve impressed Alex with her drinks and that damn smile, but the fact remained she lied on her application. They hadn’t had very many incidents with employees getting out of line, or being irresponsible, but from experience he knew the younger ones usually were more trouble than not. She had been late to the interview and at twenty-one, Graciela was now their youngest employee. He highly doubted Alex had explained any of the rules to her. As usual, he probably welcomed her on like family, just like he treated the rest of the staff.

He waited until she was in the office before closing the door behind her. “Have a seat.”

She sat on the edge of the seat by the door as he sat back on the office chair. “I understand my brother was so impressed he hired you on the spot.”

Her posture was perfectly erect and tense like he remembered the day of the interview. So unlike how she’d been behind the bar when he first walked in. “Yes, and I explained to him about my age. I only wanted to get a chance to prove myself and I was going to tell you the truth after.”

“Yeah, well whatever the reason, lying on your application is pretty bad.” He crossed his arms in front of him and leaned back. “First impressions go a long way. Not the smartest thing to do is start off lying.”

With a slight lift of her chin she began, “I’ve already apologized to Alex and now I’ll apologize to you. I’m sorry. I was only trying to make a point. But you’re right. A liar is not how I’d like to be perceived. I’m only grateful that Alex was kind enough to give me the opportunity to prove myself.”

He stared at her for a moment and she didn’t look away. Instead stared right back. She didn’t seem at all intimidated by him. In fact, he’d bet she added that last remark as a jab.

“There are still a few things we need to get taken care of.” He sat up and spun the chair around so he faced the computer. “We’ll need to run a background on you and do a drug screening.” He turned to face her. The dry expression hadn’t changed. In fact it seemed even more severe. “I’ll also need to verify your past employment. You know, the bartending experience.”

“You don’t believe I have experience—”

Sal held up his hand. “This is standard procedure, Grace. It has nothing to do with believing you, but to be fair you did already lie about one thing and—”

“First of all.” She stood up. “It’s Graciela. And second, I just apologized for that. Alex didn’t seem to mind. If you just give me a chance I can—”

“Have a seat, Graciela. Please.”

“I’d rather stand.”

What the hell happened to the smiley Graciela at the bar? The one that didn’t have a problem with Alex referring to her as Gracie. Here, Sal wasn’t even allowed to call her Grace?

He felt like an ass now for even saying it. It was unprofessional and completely out of line. But it just came out. The fact that she didn’t say more about his comment did not go unnoticed. Maybe it had come as an unpleasant surprise—one that rendered her speechless. He was suddenly grinding his teeth.

“Are we done here, Mr. Moreno?”

Sal turned around. “No, we’re not. And I thought I asked you to call me Sal.”

For the life of him, he couldn’t understand why his words came out so harsh. The expression on her face was that of obvious aversion—aversion to him. And he couldn’t say he blamed her. He was being a total dick. This was so out of character for him.

In a tone completely opposite to his, she asked, “What else do you need from me… Sal?” It was almost condescending.

“I’ll need references.” No he didn’t. What the hell was he doing? They’d never once asked for references from any of the other employees.

“References? Like from past employers?”

“Yeah.” Sal glanced at her. She chewed the corner of her lip. The disdainful expression was now replaced with a look of concern.

“If you can get them,” he added, feeling guilty. “It’s not a big a deal.”

“Because the restaurant I worked at last, went out of business and the manager there moved back to Mexico. My other jobs were all in El Paso but—”

“That’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

Sal gave her all the information on where to go to get the drug screening and she went back to work. Even after sitting in the back mulling over why the hell he’d behaved as he did, he still couldn’t figure it out. He finally chalked it up to his already dire mood from the meeting with the investors, and then the surprise of finding out Alex had gone ahead and hired her, even though he knew Sal’s apprehension about her—hired her on the spot no less.

He sulked in the back for hours getting the inventory sheets ready for that weekend. By closing time he couldn’t stand it anymore, he needed to talk to Graciela. The more he thought about it the worse he felt about his behavior. His comment about Alex had been completely uncalled for.

The restaurant was closed now and everyone was cleaning up when he walked out into the bar area. Melanie and Graciela were laughing about something as Melanie wiped down the bar and Graciela filled the dishwasher.

“That time again, ladies. We’re almost out of here.” Both girls turned to look at him. Melanie smiled while Graciela’s lips flat lined.

Graciela continued to put glasses in the dishwasher. Melanie’s attention was taken by Oscar, who brought her more receipts to put in the closing drawer. Sal took advantage of Melanie’s distraction and walked past her coming to a stop next to the dishwasher. Graciela glanced at him but said nothing.

“Look, I wanted to apologize for how I acted earlier. That’s not me.”

She stopped what she was doing but only for a moment and nodded her head. “No need to apologize. I know lying on my application was wrong and I get it. You don’t trust me. But I’m okay with it. I know I can prove myself to you and Alex and I will.”

“You don’t need to prove anything Grace—uh, Graciela,”

Her perpetual glare finally eased up a bit. “You can call me Grace.”

Feeling he’d made a small but significant bit of progress, he smiled. “Thank you, Grace. You don’t need to prove anything, just show up and do your job. That’s good enough for me.”

She chewed the corner of her lip like she had earlier in his office. This time he noticed how perfect her lips were. Like the kind you see in drawings. The top one perfectly arched, the bottom soft and round. Not wanting her to notice him staring at her lips, he brought his eyes back to hers. Just like the day of the interview, she wore no makeup and now that she was finally not glaring or crossing her eyes at him, he could appreciate how pretty they were.

“Alex said he’d give me a shot in the kitchen… ” She glanced away.

“I said that, too. Remember?”

She looked back at him, the corners of her lips lifting. It wasn’t the same as the smile he’d seen on her face earlier when she’d actually laughed at whatever Alex said to her, but it was a start.

Something behind him suddenly got her attention and talk about a smile. Her eyes brightened in an instant. She almost seemed excited. Sal turned to see what it was. A guy with his hands against the window of the locked front door peered in. He smiled also when he saw her and he waved a hand holding keys.

“I’m all done here. Can I go now?”

Sal turned back to Grace who was already undoing her apron. “Sure.”

She rushed to the back room. Within minutes she walked out, purse in hand. Sal followed her to the door to unlock it. The second he opened the door she was in his arms. “Thank you so much for coming, Joey.”

Joey squeezed her tight. “Of course, sweetie. Anything for my Gracie.”

The guy was clean cut and bit too generous with the cologne. It wasn’t until he let go of Grace and she turned to say goodnight that Sal noticed how tight he was gripping the door handle. His knuckles had nearly gone white.

The guy glanced at him and smiled. Sal managed a smile before closing the door and locking it. He walked back to the office trying desperately to shake off the ridiculous unsettling tension he suddenly felt.

This entire day had been a roller coaster of emotions. From his frustration about the less than qualified applicants that morning, to the meeting gone wrong, to finding out Alex had gone against his wishes and hired Grace. Everything he felt when he saw Grace again was understandable. But what he felt now was infuriating because it made no sense—no sense at all.