3. Chapter Three
Chapter Three
HATTIE
The Dock was surprisingly busy for a Tuesday in January. Usually the post-holiday fatigue that hit most of the human population in the first few weeks after the new year made restaurants seem like ghost towns. I peered into the dining room from my spot near the entrance of the back hallway where our offices were located. Today, though, it was as if most of Half Moon Lake had come in for lunch.
I couldn’t fight the smile that split my face as I looked down at my nephew. It was hard to believe he was walking already. At the moment, Hudson was standing at his mom’s feet and holding on to her leg, which was a good thing, with so many people in the dining room. It felt like he was born yesterday. I swear Rhett had just handed him to me to hold, and now he was toddling.
“OMG, I love blue orchids,” Bella said as she bent and scooped Hudson into her arms.
Before I could ask what the heck she was talking about, one of our hostesses appeared at my side with a bouquet of white roses and blue flowers. The same type that had been delivered to me a week ago. Hopefully the person who’d sent them had signed his name this time. I never had figured out who the last set of flowers had come from. Not that I put that much effort into solving the mystery. If the person didn’t care enough to tell me who they were, I wasn’t wasting my time worrying about it. But now I had more, and that was weird.
“You sure seem popular lately, Hattie,” Jamie said with a smile.
I winced as she bumped into Bella and the bouquet wobbled in her hand. She’d been here for longer than just about any other employee whose last name wasn’t Williams, and although she could be clumsy at times, she was one of our most valued employees.
Turnover was high in our industry and always had been, but the rate at which it was happening lately had been horrible and finding decent people who actually wanted to work was even harder.
She passed me the flowers, thankfully without dropping them and turned to head back to the host stand. Bella eyed the white card, but I grabbed it out of the bouquet before she could.
It was lovely seeing you last night.
“Oh.” I shook my head. “These aren’t for me.”
Bella not so subtly scooted closer and craned her head, so I saved her the neck cramp and handed the card to her.
“I didn’t have a date last night, or see anyone, for that matter. I worked and then went home.” With a pat to my back pocket, I remembered that I’d left my phone in my office. “I’ll call over to Stella’s and let her know they are delivering them to the wrong person.”
“Here.” Bella pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I have the number saved.”
Of course she did. Overseeing events at The Dock made it necessary to have those contact numbers handy.
I brought up the number, and a second later, the older woman answered.
“Hi, Bella, what can I do for you?”
“It’s actually Hattie Williams.”
“Oh, sorry. The caller ID said Bella.”
“Yeah, I’m calling from her phone.”
“Well, what can I do for you?”
“I’ve gotten flowers delivered twice, and?—”
“That’s lovely, dear. I didn’t realize you were seeing someone. Anyone I know?”
A heavy sigh escaped me. I didn’t have much time. Rhett was going to come looking for me if I didn’t hurry up. He was patient to a point, especially when it involved Bella or his kids, but if I didn’t come help with the lunch rush soon, he’d be yelling my name.
“I’m not. That’s the problem. I think you’re delivering them to the wrong person.”
She was silent for so long I pulled the phone away from my ear to make sure the call hadn’t been dropped.
Finally, she hummed. “As far as I know, we haven’t had any orders addressed to you.”
That was exactly what I thought. “Right. They’ve been delivered to The Dock. Could it be that they’re meant for someone else here?”
“What kind of flowers? I can check with Archie when he gets back.”
Archie. He was probably the issue. He made deliveries when one of their part-time employees wasn’t available. It wouldn’t surprise me if, in his old age, he was using the wrong name when he delivered them.
“I’m almost positive he didn’t have a delivery for The Dock with him, though.”
I bit back a chuckle. Maybe Stella was the one getting old and making the mistakes, then.
“Both bouquets were white roses and blue orchids.”
Without hesitation, she said, “They didn’t come from here.”
My chest tightened at the certainty in her tone. “What?”
“I don’t have blue orchids right now. White, red, pink, and green, but not blue.”
“Maybe…” Where else could they come from? I racked my brain for a theory that made sense as I headed toward the hostess stand with Bella on my heels.
Rhett glared at me as I weaved through the tables, and I held up a finger to let him know I’d only be a minute.
“Jamie.”
She looked over with an eyebrow raised.
I held the bouquet up between us. “Did Archie deliver these?”
A huff echoed through the line, but I ignored Stella’s indignation.
With her lips pressed together, Jamie shook her head. “No. Some young kid dropped them off.”
“Young kid?” My stomach sank as my mind reeled.
“Yeah.” Jamie frowned, her brows pulled together. “A boy. He was maybe twelve or thirteen.”
Why would a preteen boy give me flowers?
“There you go. Mystery solved,” Stella chirped in my ear.
No. The mystery was not solved. At all. Was this a prank? Or…
“You have some young kid crushing on you?” Bella teased, bouncing Hudson on her hip.
“That’s weird.” I shook my head. “Sorry to bother you, Stella.”
“Oh, it’s no trouble at all, dear.”
With that, I disconnected the call, handed the phone to Bella, and tossed the flowers into the trash can behind the hostess stand.
“The kid looked a little familiar,” Jamie said. “I wonder if he’s the Rogers boy.”
I shook my head. “Nah. He’s only eight.” I knew that family well. Noah was the youngest and was small for his age. No way he would be mistaken for a twelve-year-old. “If you see the kid again, let me know.”
“You’re the boss.” With a nod, Jamie turned to greet a couple who had just walked in.
Sighing, I headed toward the kitchen.
“I’ll help Jamie get people seated,” Bella called out. At least that was something she could do with a baby on her hip. Plus, half of our customers would fawn over Hudson. The entire town loved him.
Rhett thrust plates at me just as I stepped through the swinging door. “Run these to table ten.” He turned back, grabbing the next ticket, hardly giving me time to position the plates on my arms. But years of practice gave me skills needed to balance them.
Unease hit me once again. We couldn’t keep going this way. Owners and managers should be running the place, not the food. I really hoped the guy who was coming in for orientation and paperwork this afternoon was a good fit because we desperately needed the help.
After running multiple orders out and then bussing a few tables, I headed toward Bella, who was waving at me from where she stood talking with a group of young guys.
“Need help?”
She shook her head, a calculating smile turning up her lips. “No. These guys were just telling me how they’re visiting from Asheville.”
“Oh?” Tourists from the city were pretty common around here. What was the issue? Were they hitting on Bella? Did she need a rescue?
Before I could come up with an excuse to pull her away, she waggled her brows at me. “Yeah, and they’re all single .”
Annoyance flared hot in my veins. I expected this from my siblings, but not from my sister-in-law. But I turned to the guys and smiled.
“Half Moon Lake’s pretty dull. What brings you out this way?”
I listened to their explanation about the team building exercise they were doing and how they were staying at the B&B on the water.
Finance guys from Asheville. It was hard to imagine Bella thought they were my type. But maybe I gave the vibe of loving aged-out frat boys.
For the next five minutes, I tempered my frustration and made friendly small talk, laughing about bad Wi-Fi and encouraging them to check out the local late-night bar.
“Hattie, got a minute?”
I turned, recognizing the voice instantly. Oh, thank God. Saved by the beer rep. I might not need anything special from Julie this week, but I would let her give me the rundown on every single one of her brews just for an excuse to step away.
After a twenty-minute conversation with her, I finally made it back to my office. Smiling, listening to Rhett entertaining Hudson next door in his office, I let out a long breath and dropped into my desk chair. If I’d known that I’d be helping in the dining room for over an hour, I would have put on my flats. Heels kicked off, I leaned back, picked up my phone, and clicked on a text notification from an unknown number.
Don’t throw those away.
Confusion whirled in my mind. Throw what away? I checked the time stamp. It had come through an hour ago. What had I been doing? Running food? I threw a lot of crap away. Wait…
The flowers . A chill ran down my spine, and all the breath left my lungs. What the hell?
Forgetting about my shoes, I hustled to the dining room on bare feet and scanned the patrons. No one paid me any mind. Things had slowed down considerably, but I recognized pretty much everyone here. All that was left was the regular Tuesday lunch crowd.
But an hour ago, I hadn’t been paying attention.
I shifted on my feet and forced myself to take a deep breath. Maybe I was reading too much into the text.
With a sigh, I pushed the uneasiness away. I was too busy to deal with this right now, anyway. I had calls to make and an appointment with a new hire later, and then I needed to take care of his paperwork before I could leave tonight.
Finally, after crossing off every task on my to-do list, I walked back through the dining room and toward the entrance.
“Hey, didn’t realize you were still here.” Rhett came out from behind the bar, his keys in hand.
“Yeah. I got stuck on the phone with the liquor store, then Waylon was late for his orientation. I just finished his paperwork.” I crossed my arms. “He’ll be great,” I added with an eye roll. I was under no illusion that he’d be a valued employee. Not after he showed up late and barely paid attention to a word I said.
For months, it seemed like we couldn’t find anyone who was both reliable and hardworking. Heck, we were lucky if we found a person who possessed either of those qualities.
Rhett chuckled. “Savannah said he was too busy looking at you to learn much of anything.”
I shrugged. I hadn’t paid the young guy much attention other than to help him fill out his paperwork. If he hadn’t listed a handful of past employers, I would have sworn he’d never had a job before. Weird.
“I have two more coming in next week. Hopefully they’ll work out better.”
“Yeah, hopefully.” It wasn’t his fault. He was at least trying to find more reliable, hardworking staff.
He headed for the front doors, and I fell into step beside him.
“Hey, it’s the Williams kids,” Michael hollered from the other end of the bar.
In unison, we turned back and waved at the small group of regulars.
“Did you tell Tyler to cut them off?” I asked as we turned to leave.
“Yeah, and I told them they better be walking home if they don’t sober up.” He held the door open and gestured for me to go first. “They’ve been here all afternoon.”
I didn’t understand how people could spend hours at a bar like that. I’d be asleep on the floor.
“Then I think it’s safe to say they’re too drunk to drive.” I shook my head as we crossed the parking lot toward our cars. “Wish we had reliable rideshare out here.”
We were parked side by side, as we often were, so at my bumper, I shuffled for the driver’s door while he continued on to his own.
As I was tossing my purse onto the passenger seat, Rhett called out. “Can’t drive on this tire.”
Straightening, I peered at him over the hood of my car. “Huh?”
“It’s flat.”
Randy promised I wouldn’t have any more issues out of this damn thing. Teeth gritted, I walked around the car. God, I hoped Rhett was just joking. Unfortunately, he wasn’t. I slammed my fists onto my hips. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’ll take you home. I’ve been here too damn long to deal with changing this tonight, and if I don’t get home soon, I’ll miss seeing the boys before bedtime.” He sighed. “I’ll pick you up in the morning and deal with it then.”
I huffed. “I can change a tire, you know.”
“I’m not leaving you in a dark parking lot to change a tire by yourself.” He ran a hand through his hair. “C’mon.”
That’s all it took to dissuade me. I was exhausted, and I’d argue with him over changing it myself in the morning. “Fine.”
He cocked a single brow. “That was easy.”
“This tire has been an issue for a while, and I don’t feel like dealing with it right now either.”
“Have you taken it to Randy?”
“Of course.” I held back the eye roll I wanted to give him. I wasn’t an idiot. “He just replaced it.”
“Hmm,” Rhett hummed, surveying the flat again.
Commotion from the entrance of the restaurant caught our attention, and we turned, finding one of the regulars who’d come in with Michael. I guess they were all calling it a night now that Tyler had cut them off.
“Josh, you’re not driving, are you?” Rhett hollered.
Josh. That was his name. Not sure why I thought it was Jason.
“Oh.” He shook his head. “No, no. I live right around the corner.” With a wave, he turned and walked away.
A moment later the other guys from the bar piled out of the restaurant in a loud, rambunctious group.
With a long breath out, I turned away and climbed up into Rhett’s truck.
It might not have been the most exhausting day ever, but it was pretty damn close. In fact, in these last two weeks, it had been one thing after another.
When it rains, it pours, I guess.