Chapter Thirteen #2
“Oh, yeah,” I said, cringing internally because I hadn’t mentioned any of this to Major.
In my defense, I had been a bit preoccupied since the meeting.
All the nights we spent together, playing cards and talking, came to mind, and guilt filled me.
I could have told him. Then again, he could have told me he was an amputee and not let me figure it out for myself.
“I’ll text him and see what time works for him. ”
“Great. Let me know how it goes.”
Major handed me the container and pulled out his wallet, but Ivy waved him away. “Consider it payment for helping her with the cookies.”
He tucked his wallet away, knowing arguing with Ivy Lund was futile, and offered her a smile. “It wasn’t a hardship.”
“Eating that pie won’t be either,” Ivy said, waving as we headed for the door.
As it closed behind us, he leaned into my ear. “Looks like I’m not the only one keeping secrets.”
With a sigh, I pulled the door open to the diner again and stepped inside, glad it was nearly closing time.
“You’re back?” Ivy asked. “Where’s Major?”
“He got a call from the hospital. They need his help, so I sent him on his way.”
“The life of a doctor, I suppose,” she said. “Is he returning for you?”
“He doesn’t know how long he’ll be. I told him to go, and I’d beg for a ride,” I said, folding my hands the best I could by my chin.
“Sit,” she said, laughing. “I’ll get you some pie since there’s no way you had time to eat it already.”
“I sent it with Major as payment for helping with the cookies,” I said, sliding my butt over the stool, and she slid another piece of pie in front of me.
“You two are spending a lot of time together,” she said, leaning against the counter as she pretended to wipe it down.
“Ives,” I said as a warning while I stabbed at the pie with my fork.
I wanted to ask her if she knew he was an amputee, but since I didn’t know for sure, I refused to spread rumors or worse, reveal something he didn’t want known.
He hadn’t told me, which gave me the distinct impression he wanted it that way.
“I’m just sayin’,” she said, holding her hands up as she laughed. “Do you have everything you need? Are your bills getting paid?”
“I have everything I need and then some,” I promised. “You’ve been so generous in providing food for us while I recovered. As for bills, I haven’t seen any yet, but it hasn’t been that long.”
“It’s my understanding that you shouldn’t see any bills between the two policies, so if you do, bring it to me.”
I nodded until I swallowed the first bite of pie, which made me whimper a bit at how good it was. “I will, and come to think of it, I’d better stop over at the post office. They’re holding my mail. I haven’t picked it up in a week.”
“Why are they holding your mail?”
I tapped my fork on my plate. “I didn’t have an address to forward it to.”
“You do now. Just have it forwarded to Major’s.”
“That feels weird and oddly permanent, Ivy. I can keep picking it up from the post office until I get an apartment. It’s not out of the way.”
“Except that you’ll need an address to rent an apartment,” she reminded me. “You can’t use the old house when you haven’t lived there within thirty days.”
“See,” I said, shaking my head. “This is why people can’t get a damn apartment when they’ve been unhoused.”
“But you aren’t unhoused, so don’t make it harder on yourself.”
“I’ll do it Monday,” I promised. “Unfortunately, our mail will mix, and that feels weirder, but it will be what it is. Thankfully, I don’t get a lot of mail.”
“Glad we worked that out,” she said with a smirk. “Will you be able to return to work next week?”
“You can count on it,” I promised. “The new splint works great. I only get sore toward the end of the day, but I’m no longer taking pain medication. I should be good to go, except that I’m not sure how much I can carry. It might be smart to schedule me for shifts that aren’t as busy.”
“Do we have any of those?” she asked, feigning shock.
“Fair,” I said with a chuckle. “But you know what I mean.”
“I do, which is why I hired two new servers.”
“Two? I know Chloe took over for Eve. Who else is leaving?”
“Well, you are,” she said, blinking several times.
My fork clattered when it fell from my fingers onto the plate. “Not until spring, Ivy. I need this job.”
Rather than defend herself, she raised her hand and walked to the door, locking it and lowering the lights, a sign to everyone that they were closed for the night.
“We talked about you taking over as manager of the food truck come spring, but that work will begin long before the snow melts. I thought you understood that.”
“Maybe a month or two, but this is only November. Even then, it’s not going to be a full-time job.”
“Which is why I’m hiring people now.”
“Ivy, what is going on?”
Ivy blew out a breath and sighed. “Why can’t you just be like, sure, Ives, whatever you say, Ives. I’m happy to, Ives.”
What was going on? Something was up, so I gave her the out with it motion. “Fine,” she huffed. “I don’t want you to serve anymore. I need you to be healed before we begin the changes at Evergreen Acres, and that means attending physical therapy. I know you won’t let me pay you to do nothing.”
I lifted a brow as if to say, ‘You think?’
Her snort was comical. “That’s why Cameron and I discussed it and decided it was time to move the server training portion of the school-to-work program here.”
“It’s a bit fast-paced for that, Ivy. You know how this place can go from quiet to overrun in one minute.”
“I do, and they won’t transition here until they’ve worked at the farm with our training supervisor for a certain number of hours. They’ll have to pass a specific task-oriented checklist as well as work several test shifts with their trainer.”
“Okay, since you’re the one in charge of that, I’m still not sure how I’m involved and why you’re replacing me as a server.”
To say I was hurt was an understatement. Up until the accident, I’d given the business my all, ensuring that every customer who walked through the door felt appreciated and cared for while within these walls. I’d done a good job, but it stung that my boss didn’t feel the same way.
Ivy blinked at me several times and finally shook her head. “Apparently, I do have to spell it out for you.” She grabbed a paper placemat and a pen, writing something across it before she turned to me.
“You are the new training supervisor,” I read aloud. “Wait. Me?”
“Are you sure you aren’t still taking the pain meds because you are having a hard time grasping that you’ve been promoted to full-time manager. You’ll be wearing several hats to do it, but I know as much as you enjoy serving, your business talents will serve us better as the businesses grow.”
“Ivy, I don’t know what to say. When you and Cameron offered me the chance to run the food truck again, I was thrilled that you trusted me with it, but this is an entirely different level. Are you sure?”
“Yes. I had planned a sit-down meeting with you on your first day back, and we will, but I didn’t tell you for one reason: I wanted you to focus on resting and healing without worrying about the new job.
Now that you’re ready to come back, I’ll schedule a half-day meeting with you and Cameron to plan the program changes.
Once the scheduling is settled, it will be up to you to develop a training plan that suits your needs.
Currently, I work with kids interested in serving, but I don’t have a specific plan in place.
I should, but there aren’t enough hours in the day.
That’s why I haven’t actively built the serving aspect of the school-to-work program.
After seeing how successful the kids were with the food truck, we decided to make a change.
You’re the woman to do it. Of course, you’ll still have time for the food truck, but this will fill your hours when the truck isn’t active. ”
I stood and walked around the counter to hug her. “You know how grateful I am for the opportunity, right?”
She patted my back as an answer until I pulled away and sat again. “You earned this opportunity, Jaelyn. This isn’t a handout. We reward loyalty and dedication, two qualities you possess in abundance. With it comes a significant salary increase.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You’re already paying me for the food truck managing.”
“We are, but you won’t be serving anymore, so we have to replace that income.”
I rubbed my temple, embarrassed I hadn’t thought of that. “Right. Sorry, I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”
“Understandable,” she said, grinning. “We’ll get into it more when we sit down together, but your salary will reflect your responsibilities and will be significantly more than you’re making now as a server.”
“I could cry,” I whispered. “That will help me pay off Yaya’s debts so much faster.”
“Have you heard from Lance?” Ivy asked.
“I have a meeting with him on Monday. He said he had finally gotten everything together, and we should meet to review it. I’d be nervous, but worst-case scenario, I still have to pay back every penny that was left, so there isn’t much to be nervous about.”
“A good way to look at it,” she agreed. “What time is the appointment?”
“I made it later so I could work my regular shift,” I explained. “It’s at four.”
With a nod, she grabbed her phone. “Good, we’ll meet in the morning, and you’ll be back from the farm in plenty of time.”
“My head is swimming,” I admitted, the pie long forgotten as I considered the magnitude of what she’d offered me tonight.
A managing position in one of Ivy’s businesses would allow me to get ahead for the first time in my adult life.
It also provides an opportunity to utilize my degree in a way that could positively impact others’ lives.
A small part of me worried she’d given me the position because she felt guilty for the accident, but I also knew that wasn’t how Ivy Lund worked.
The injury may have hastened her decision, but she was already planning to make it; otherwise, she wouldn’t have pulled the trigger so quickly.
“With good things, I hope,” she said, to which I nodded. “Good, because I have one more request that you may or may not groan over.”
“Whatever you need. Something tells me I won’t be groaning about it.”
She leaned on the counter with her forearms. “We were hoping you’d spend a Saturday afternoon in the bakery teaching them how to make the tortilla cookies.
I swear that people can smell them from a mile away because the second you make some, they’re gone.
Like, we can’t even keep them in the case for more than an hour. ”
My grin was broad. I couldn’t help it. I loved that my neighbors and friends enjoyed the cookies as much as I did when I was a kid.
“It’s fun to get comments from people when they come into the diner and tell me they just bought out the case, or those who come in grumpy because they missed out on them by minutes.
It always makes me want to run down and make more. ”
“Now you understand how the front-end workers feel,” Ivy said, laughing.
“Yes, which is why we made ten dozen cookies tonight. That’s a lot of tortillas, in case you were wondering.”
“I can only imagine,” she said, tapping the counter. “What do you do with the leftover pieces?”
“I leave them for the donut fryer. She fries them up and bags them as salad toppers. We can’t sell them as chips since the pieces aren’t uniform, but people love to buy them for their salads.”
“Wow, now there’s something I hadn’t thought of!” she exclaimed. “We could use them here on our taco salads.”
“You could,” I agreed. “Especially if you plan to make the cookies regularly.”
“I’m adding this to the agenda for Monday if you aren’t opposed.”
“Add away,” I said, holding my hands up near my chest. “Far be it for me to stop progress. They aren’t hard to make. Mel could teach the kids in a matter of minutes.”
“She could, but you know all the little tips and tricks to making them, and you tell fun stories about growing up with the cookies and how you and your yaya always made them together. It’s important to teach them not just how to make them but why it’s important to put love and care into each item we sell to our neighbors. ”
“I couldn’t agree more,” I said, grinning like a fool and not even caring. Life was looking up, and I owed that all to her.
“Good, then eat your pie so I can take you home. You’re still recovering, young lady, and I need you at full power. The tree lighting is in ten days!”
My laughter filled the air as she dashed into the kitchen to let the cook know she’d closed the diner and would be leaving for a few minutes.
I took a bite of the pie, the tart lemon even more vivid on my tongue than it had been just minutes ago.
The new position would require time and dedication, but I was excited to start.
The second bite of pie brought the thought that I couldn’t wait to get home and tell Major the good news.
The same thought made me pause when I remembered his whispered comment to me earlier.
Dr. Major Warren is not interested in you, girl, I scolded myself. He’s offering your sorry butt a place to stay because he has the space, and doing so buys him goodwill with the community. Just ignore the part where he said he’d date you if you agreed.
Chanting that on repeat in my head as I finished my pie and climbed into Ivy’s SUV, I couldn’t convince myself. The reason? The way he looks at me when he thinks I’m not looking.