"Can't you make more?"
"Sorry, but we're closing." I glance at the clock on the wall. "Actually, we closed a half hour ago."
She sighs. "But I really need those brownies."
"You could come back tomorrow."
"Where's Lou?" She stands up and talks to her friend before I can answer. "Bree, I'll have to call you back."
Katie walks past me, straight through to the kitchen. What the hell?
About a minute later, she comes back out, on the phone again. Lou is behind her.
"Callie, can I speak with you a minute?"
"Yeah," I say as Katie returns to her seat.
Lou and I go in the kitchen and he says, "I told you to be nice to her."
"I WAS nice. Why? What did she say to you?"
"She said you were rude."
"I was NOT rude to her. If anything, she was rude to me. I kept trying to talk to her but she wouldn't get off her damn phone."
"She said you refused to take her order."
I throw my hands up. "Because we're closed! And she's been here enough times to know that. She asked for brownies and I told her we're out. That's not being rude."
"If Katie Kryer wants brownies, we will make more brownies."
I huff in anger. "Are you serious? I just scrubbed the entire kitchen. Everything's put away. And now we're going to get everything out again to make twelve brownies because we can't say no to the little princess?"
"Quiet! She'll hear you."
"I don't care if she hears me. She's a spoiled brat, and if she doesn't know that, then someone needs to tell her."
"Callie, stop it right now." He holds my shoulders. "This is my business and I can't have you getting me in trouble."
"I'm not getting you in trouble. I just don't understand why—"
"This is how business works. You suck up to the people in charge and try not to make waves. Otherwise they put you out of business. I'm not a rich man, Callie. If I lose the business, I won't be able to pay my bills."
It infuriates me that a handful of people have so much control, but I can't do anything about it and I'd never do anything to hurt Lou or his business.
I nod. "Okay. Got it."
He steps back and ties his apron, which was hanging loose because he'd just put it on. "You can go home. I'll finish up."
"But I still have a half hour left. And I'm not done with the tables."
"I'll do the tables. I don't want you out there with Katie."
"I promise I'll be nice," I say, even though I already was nice. "You get started on the brownies."
As I leave I hear Lou behind me. "Callie?" I turn back and see the stern look on his face.
"Yes. I'll be nice. I promise."
I return to the dining room, smiling at Katie as I go back to the table I was wiping down. She doesn't even notice me, her hands waving around as she talks to her friend.
"You should've seen him," she says. "He was so hot, in that blue collar type of way. All muscular and tan." She laughs. "My father would hate him." She nods. "Yeah, I told him I'd get him a membership." She listens, then laughs again. "I have a feeling he's definitely good at that. Maybe I'll find out tonight." She smiles and twirls a strand of hair around her finger. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. I got us that spa appointment at..."
She keeps talking but I tune her out and focus on wiping tables. I finish all of them except for Katie's table. She's got her purse on it and she'll probably get mad if I make her move it.
I stand by the counter, feeling uneasy, my hands tapping my sides. I need to clean that table. It's part of my routine and if I don't finish the routine I'll feel anxious the rest of the day and night. Dammit. I close my eyes and wish for her to disappear or just move to a different table, but when I open my eyes, she's still there.
That table has to be cleaned. It has to. I take my rag and walk over there. She ignores me, still on the phone. I wipe half the table.
"What are you doing?" she yells, grabbing her purse. "You almost got my purse wet!"
"Sorry, I just wanted to clean your table." I quickly wipe the other side.
"It's clean," she says, shooing me away.
At least I finished the tables. Now I can go home.
"Bye, Lou," I say, dropping the wet rags in the laundry bin.
The brownies are in the oven and he's making the frosting.
"Any plans for tonight?" he asks.
He knows I never go out, yet he still always asks me this, hoping my answer will change.
"Just the usual," I say.
He whisks more powdered sugar into the frosting. "You still have that invite to dinner."
"How'd you know about that?"
He gives me a funny look. "Because I was the one who invited you."
When he mentioned dinner, I thought he meant with Nash. I forgot Lou asked me to dinner.
"Yeah." I let out a nervous laugh. "I was just kidding. I can't go. Sorry."
He eyes me. "Who else invited you to dinner?"
"No one." I rip my apron off and add it to the laundry.
"Was it your new neighbor?"
"What new neighbor?" I grab my purse from the drawer.
"The one you had lunch with." He walks toward me while whisking the frosting in the bowl.