This could not be happening. Out of all the restaurants in Chicago, there was no way they could be at hers.
Muttering several uncharitable curses under her breath, she waited for Kendra to come back.
“I need you to take that table,” Willow requested when she did. “You don’t even have to switch, she can sit you again next, I just… I don’t want that table.”
“Why?” Kendra asked, frowning and taking a step back. Rolling her eyes, she said, “Ugh, kids. Nope, the mess is yours. Why do people feel the need to bring kids to restaurants?”
“I’ll bus the table after they leave,” Willow promised. “You won’t have to deal with the clean-up, just… come on, please?”
Kendra’s scowl deepened. “Why do you wanna get rid of this table so badly? They don’t tip, do they?” she asked, her suspicions rising.
“They tip,” Willow said irritably. “If they don’t tip you at least $20, I’ll give you the money out of my freaking tips, okay? Will you just do this for me? I’ll take your next table and you can keep their tip, too.”
Slicing a suspicious glance at Willow, Kendra took off toward the hostess stand.
Willow followed a bit hesitantly, hoping she was going to switch the table to her section.
Kendra approached first, so by the time Willow got there, Kendra had a hand perched on her hip, her penciled on eyebrow rising. “I can’t take your table. They requested your section. What’s going on?”
Overcome with a mixture of shock and dread, she tried to come up with any reason that could possibly make sense for Ethan’s family to request her table. Things may have gone badly last time they saw each other, but there was no way Ethan would do that. No way.
Since they were all gathered around the hostess stand and not taking care of their customers, it shouldn’t have been a surprise when Willow’s frowning boss approached.
“What’s going on up here? Did someone forget to invite me to the staff meeting?” he asked, eyebrows rising.
Quick to tattle, Kendra offered, “Willow’s trying to get rid of her table.”
Willow sighed, feeling like her whole being was weighed down. “It’s nothing. It’s fine.”
Refusing service to a table when the owner was there… probably not the wisest move she could make.
But for all that he could sometimes be gruff, he was watching Willow with a funny expression. “Did the table give you trouble? Is it guys? I can go over there.”
Forcing a little smile and a shake of her head, she said, “No, no, it’s… it’s fine. I just got double sat, I was trying… I should go get their drink order.”
“If you want me to take it, I will,” Aaron stated. “You can take a break or something.”
Oh, God, how tempting.
“They requested her,” Kendra added, not at all helpfully.
The owner glanced at Kendra, not appearing amused with her tattling.
Kendra immediately remembered she had something to do and flitted away.
“Thanks anyway,” Willow murmured, attempting a smile and heading back to her section.
She paused at the server station to gather up her courage, but she saw Aaron following closely behind, so she pulled herself up and forced her legs to carry her around the corner, toward the table. She even tried not to look like she was marching to her doom.
Her stomach dropped when Ethan glanced up as she approached the table, and she saw a brief look of horror on his face that matched her feelings well. His eyes widened as she clutched her order pad, glancing at it instead of them and jotting the table number down on the paper. Her hand trembled so badly, it was barely legible.
Amanda had the baby sitting on her lap and she was digging through her bag on the ground. Upon spotting Willow, she threw her long dark hair over her shoulder and sat up, holding a pair of socks out in Ethan’s directions with a familiar smile.
“You left your socks at the house, by the way.”
Ethan stared at the socks for what felt like 3 years before reaching across the table to take them.
Willow molded her face into what she hoped was a smile and willed herself not to throw up. “Hello, welcome to Flavor. My name’s Willow and I’ll be your server this evening; would you like to hear our specials?”