Ring of Fire Book Two of the McKay's (18 page)

He had no idea who she was and didn't seem to care. The fact that she looked healthy and was willing to try to learn was enough for him.
He had barely glanced over her application; instead he seemed focused on her answers to a few basic questions.

"You live around here?" he asked in his deep, clear voice.

"Yes, I was born here actually."

He continued to flip hash browns as he spoke. "Married, got any kids?"

"No, not yet to both."

He eyed her again, one brow shooting upward. "Do you do drugs, drink, or curse?"

"None of the above." She smiled.

"Got your own car?" He went back to his task at the stove with a
vengeance.

"Yes I do."

"Good. You be here tomorrow at l0:30. That will give me time to get you a name badge and there are some old uniforms back in the back, if you want to try some on. You'll only be working four hours a day, with the weekends off. We are closed on Sunday, and I have a lot of help on Saturdays. My two daughters come in and work on Saturday for me. I found out early on that no one wants to work on Saturdays, so I got my daughters to fill in for everyone. It works better that way. No hassles with the help."

"Is there anything I should know now?" Letty asked somewhat stunned that she had the job without a resume.

"Only that the customer is always right, and we aim to please. You be friendly, and get their orders right and there will be no problems." Joe wagged his finger at her and smiled. "The One Stop Café is known for its friendliness and good manners. So use them at all times. I like to think I hire good people and that I tend to please my customers with good home cookin'."

"Sounds reasonable to me, thank you.
"

"Good, see ya tomorrow then
." He gestured and got back to work.

The waitress that had suggested the job came up to her. "Go through that back door and check out the uniforms. See if there is something you can wear. And remember my name is Debby, so if you need any help tomorrow, I'll be here with you."

"Thanks, I so appreciate this job…"

"Tell me that after the noon rush and I'll believe it." Debby chuckled.

The noon rush? Was that something to worry about?

Debby looked at her with
a strange smile. "Thanks, Debby."

Letty rummaged through the uniforms and found one that would fit. She grabbed it, went into the bathroom to try it on and came out with it on her arm. Debby nodded to her on the way out.

It was as simple as that. No resume, no fifty questions, just show up for work with a smile basically. She could do that. It didn't sound like there was much to it.

Four hours out of her day was practicall
y nothing. How hard could it be?

The next day she found out.
She showed up early and waited between orders for Joe to talk to her.

She had pressed the uniform until there were no wrinkles in it. She had put just a tad of make-up on, and wore her sandals.

Joe eyed her carefully when he took a break. "Next time wear some closed toed shoes."

Letty glanced at her shoes. "Oh, are these inappropriate?"

Joe stared at her a moment, then finally nodded. "Yeah. Here's your name badge. Pin it on you. Now just look over the menu here, and get to know what we serve, then Debby will show you how to write most the orders up, put them on the spinner up there at the window and serve it while it's hot. Be pleasant with all the customers and they'll tip good," Joe recommended.

"Sounds good, I'll just go over the menu." She took the menu in her hand and studied it for a long while. Debby joined her as the morning rush slowed.

"Take a look at how I write the orders up. And do it like this. Don't spell everything out, but don't make it too short or Joe won't know what you are trying to say. We'll be getting real busy in about thirty minutes, so go over the menu until you have a good idea of the food we serve. Smile at everyone. That's real important. Don't argue with anyone, don't curse, Joe don't like it." Debby smiled. "Don't worry, you'll do fine."

But at eleven thirty, when half the road crew came in, Letty felt as though her feet were suddenly glued to the floor.
Her jaw dropped when she saw so many walk in together. She brought them menus, and water and waited patiently for their orders. Some of the men eyed her.

"Guess she don't know we don't need no menu
," one of the men said.

Letty's face reddened. "Oh, I'm sorry."

She grabbed the menu from his hand and took it back behind the counter. Then she returned to a long set of faces.

With so many coming in all at once, s
he got flustered with several orders, and she wasn't sure she abbreviated the orders correctly.

Scrambling with plates on her arm
was like juggling, only the plates were hot and she moved quickly toward the tables. She managed not to dump any on the customers, but she did spill water once and got the man's pants wet. She gave one man tea when he asked for coffee, and one order was completely wrong, but Joe didn't scream at her, he just shook his head and said, "You'll get used to it. Just keep smiling, like a pro."

Letty was shocked she wasn't fired.
She'd never made so many mistakes in her life. Who would have thought being a waitress took any talent?

Joe couldn't read one order, and seemed frustrated with her momentarily
, and she was late getting everyone's tab figured up and on their table. These men had to be back to work quickly and they couldn't wait around for her to bring the tab, so Debby stepped in again and saved her.

Still
, she made fifty dollars in tips that day and she went home smiling as though she'd hit the lottery.

The next day was worse, the county workers had come in with the road construction workers and there were twice as many to feed.
All of them were in a hurry to eat and get out, and Letty tried to rush herself more. Although all of them were nice, Letty saw several of them frown when she turned around, and a couple insisted that Debby wait on them. Letty tried not to let it get to her. She'd just have to do better, and smile more.

She mixed a few orders up due to the confusion of the crowd, and Debby helped her.

By the end of the second day, Letty was wiping her brow and sighing loudly, but she had made it and neither Joe nor Debby seemed too disturbed with her mistakes.

"You'll get used to it and wonder why you sweat it. It just takes a little time." Debby smiled at her.

As they were finishing up for the day Letty looked at Debby. "How long have you been doing this?"

"Oh
, I started right out of high school. Actually, I didn't finish high school. My mom got sick, Dad lost his job, and I had to go to work. Joe hired me on the spot and I've been here ever since." Debby sighed, glancing up at Joe a couple of times.

"Are you married?"

"Nah, never had time for that either I guess."

But Letty noticed that Debby was rather fond of her boss more than once that day and she smiled to herself. Twenty years of waiting tables kept Debby thin and in good shape.
Still, Letty sensed an inner sorrow in Debby, as though she hadn't had time for many of the luxuries of life.

Letty pondered that for a few minutes, wondering if she had become a pampered, spoiled daughter during her own childhood. She shrugged
; the one thing that was paying off for her these days was that she wasn't a pampered or spoiled woman. She worked for what she got and was proud of it.

Taking her job into account
, she realized that there was a tremendous amount of pride that she managed to wade her way through the day without any major mistakes. In a few weeks this would be a breeze for her, she was confident of that and smiled to herself.

She'd never known a job like that could take so much out of a person though and her feet ached.
She glanced down at her feet. Joe had been right, sandals were definitely out in this job. The first day she'd spilled hot coffee on them and danced about the floor for several seconds.

"How in the world can Debby stand on her feet all day?" she blurted out in the car on the way home.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mike showed up with his equipment, wanting to get some interior shots of her in evening wear. This work was so much different and required little effort on her part. The money was much more than her waitress job, but she admitted to herself that her job in town was an invaluable eye opener. Letty believed that everything she did in life taught her some kind of lesson.

However, nothing prepared her for the scowl on Hank's face a couple of days later. It was Saturday and she was up early. She did her chores and hummed a tune as Hank approached her.

"You're not thinking of riding Thunder I hope." He sounded grumpy.

Letty turned all her attention on the man who filled her thoughts.
The sight of him in well-fitting jeans, and bright yellow shirt took her breath away. She hadn't realized how hungry she was for the sight of him. She hadn't realized that one look from him made her whole body come to life. What was it about Hank that made her react?

"Hello Hank, how are you
? I haven't seen you in a while."

"Miss Letty. You didn't answer my question…about Thunder
," he finished as his eyes connected with hers.

"No, actually, I wanted to ride Whitey this morning. I've missed doing that for a while." Letty smiled.
"I've actually come to appreciate his tame ways."

"
That's good to hear. Heard tell you got yourself a job in town," he muttered thickly.

How did he know? Letty's eyes widened. "Y-yes, I did."

"Waitressing?" he muttered again in a grumble.

Letty twisted her he
ad to look into his craggy face. "That's right."

"What are you trying to prove?"
he asked under his breath.

She moved closer
. "What did you say?"

"Are you trying to prove something
by taking a job that is way below your standards?" He turned his full attention on her as he pulled Whitey out of the stall. "I mean, you're a law student, a model, why take a job like that? It couldn't be the money, so what's the draw?"

"The draw?"

"Yeah, why take a job like that?"

Letty studied him a moment, and then her temper got the best of her. "You wouldn't have any idea
!"

"Try me!" he demanded as he turned to stare at her.

"I went to apply at the bank for a job, there was a sign outside that said they had a teller job. I figured I could handle that. I had my little resume in perfect shape; the man didn't pay a bit of attention to me. I was more than qualified for the job, but he completely turned his nose up at me. I applied at a cute little dress shop on the main strip of town; the girl looked at me as though I had two heads. Naturally I had no experience, but she could see perfectly well I knew how to dress and my resume was spotless. It seems we McKay's have some sort of sign on our heads. A 'do not hire' sign."

"I don't follow?" He frowned.

"Everyone in this town knows we're about to inherit money. And people tend to treat you as if you have a disease. You can't just be a regular person. At least they think they know so much about us. Getting a job around here is like pulling teeth. You've got to be born here, raised here, and picking out a plot to die here to get a job in this town. And if your name is McKay, forget it. They think we live in some ivory palace." Letty didn't mean to sound so condescending but she did. "It's not like that. I wish people could understand it." She was near tears and didn't even realize it.

Hank was sil
ent a moment, but his voice held compassion. "It's a small town Letty, forgive them for jumping to conclusions about you. But for one thing, you don't need a job, others do," Hank answered.

"But I want to work, I enjoy working. I'm happy working. And it doesn't matter the job or the money
," she countered.

"Maybe that's the problem."

"I beg your pardon."

"It's complicated to explain, but rich girls don't have to work, especially rich ranching girls. They figure if there is something to do
out here, you'd be doing the bookwork here, or helping out with the ranch chores, not getting a regular, nine to five job. Most of the jobs that come up are given to relatives or good friends, not rich little strangers."

"I found that out
, the hard way," Letty remarked scornfully. "It isn't fair. Besides, Wendy helps Wade with the bookwork. I don't want to horn in on her work. She's been doing it for years now. There's only so much work you can do, unless you're a man."

Hank shook his head
. "I guess you're right about that. But look, it's more than fair. Jobs are hard to come by these days. And most people looking for them are trying to feed their families."

Letty looked down a minute, thinking over what Hank was saying. "You mean they need money more than I do?"