Until Cece (Happily Ever Alpha World)

“Cece,” I murmur like an idiot, as if he didn’t just hear his manager.

His face softens as he squeezes my fingers a little before letting go. “It’s nice to meet you, Cece. And I can’t thank you enough for agreeing to start on such short notice. We can really use the help around here.”

He’s thanking me? They’re saving my life by giving me this job, and he’s thanking me for working for him? But my brain is malfunctioning, so all I manage to squeak out is a pitiful, “You’re welcome.”

“Oookay,” Steph inserts, taking hold of my arm and tugging me back a little. “We have a couple more things to go over before people start coming in for dinner, so on that note….” She leaves it at that as my feet finally start working on their own and I detach my eyes from my new boss’s warm expression. She tugs me back the way we came, and we pass by the two men on the other side of the workstation, one I have absolutely no recollection of, if I even got introduced to him or not while my brain was busy malfunctioning while in the presence of… Winston. Chef Winston Schmidt, I somehow recall. Who ducks beneath the unit in order to smile at me once more. And if it weren’t for Stephanie leading the way and pushing the door open ahead of us, I would’ve ran into it like some silly Looney Toons character.

“Well, that was… different,” Steph says as we step behind the bar.

I just eye her, not knowing what the hell to say. I have never in my life reacted to a man like that before. Not even when I met Mike back in the day and he was a senior in college while I was just an eighteen-year-old high school student. It’s like I was star stuck or something, but I’m pretty sure the man in the kitchen isn’t some celebrity.

“I’m pretty sure that was the first time my boss has ever drooled over a female in his entire life,” she continues, and I startle, turning to face her.

“Excuse me?”

Her brows furrow as she smiles confusedly. “Girl. Did you not see the googly eyes he was making at you? And he literally shook your hand for a solid minute until I finally had to pull you away from him. He was totally smitten.”

“I….” I don’t know what to say to that. Surely she’s mistaken. He was just super nice, meeting his new employee. “I… I’m sure that was no different than any other time he’s been introduced to a new server who’s been hired on.”

“I’ve been here for over six years, and I’ve never once seen him look at another person like that before. I’m just sayin’.” The bell dings above the door, and we both turn and look to see a family of five step inside the restaurant. “Showtime, Cece, my girl. Remember, you’re just shadowing me tonight, so you can wipe that look of absolute panic off your face.” She leans closer. “Fake it till you make it, bitch,” she whispers, leaning closer to me, and I look at her, my eyes coming to meet her pretty blue ones up super close as they twinkle confidently at me.

A small smile takes over my face, and I nod. “I can do this.”

“You can totally do this. For your girls. Remember, we don’t need no man.” She purses her lips sassily and nods.

“We don’t need no man,” I parrot, and when she strides around me, grabbing two regular menus and three folded up kid menus wrapped around small packs of crayons, a follow behind her, acting like I know what I’m doing.

And somehow, just pretending I’ve done this for years makes the next few hours pass smoothly. I even manage to not have an anxiety attack when Steph tells me to take over one of the five tables by myself. Until then, I had just been following her back to the kitchen and hanging back while she loaded up her tray and served the food. But now that it’s all on me to do it for this one couple at table 16, it means I’ll be seeing my boss for the first time since our awkward meeting earlier.

I take deep breaths, telling myself quietly, “He’s just a guy, Cece. Don’t be an idiot,” as I grab one of the large round trays and head to the kitchen to pick up the order.

I clear my throat, stepping up to the workstation, and say in as confident a tone as I can muster, “Table 16.”

And I see his hands pause a moment while the rest of him is still hidden from my view. I set the tray on the stainless top and wait for him to move the correct plates toward me so I can load them on, feeling my heart pound in my chest.