Chapter 1
I stood in the street sopping wet. I had an interview, but do you think I could take a second to take a look at the weather forecast, of course not.
So here I stood, drenched to the bone, the interview is in twenty minutes and it was too late to go home and change.
I went into the restaurant, hoping I could dart into the washroom before the interview to try to clean myself up a bit, when a hostess stopped me at the door.
“Welcome to Marly’s!” She said enthusiastically. “Table for one?”
She was a cute woman, looked like she was in her mid-thirties, with straight brown hair, and pretty blue eyes.
“Ah no, I’m so sorry, I’m here to interview for the restaurant management position, but I got caught in the rain, do you think I could use the washroom for a quick second. I doubt this look is going to go over well, I don’t think an owner of a beautiful restaurant like this would have much of a sense of humour, they rarely do.” I rambled on with a small chuckle trying to make light of my situation.
Seeing as though I could be her boss in the future, I want to have a good relationship with the employees here.
Her eyebrows raised and a small knowing smile was plastered on her face. “Right over there. Come get me when you are finished, I’ll let her know when you are ready.”
“Thank you.” That was kind of weird, but I made my way to the washroom.
I looked into the mirror to see something that looked more like the image of a drowned rat. My curly red hair stuck to my face, my mascara ran a little down my cheeks and the only business attire I owned was drenched to the core.
I quickly grabbed paper towels and began wiping my face and chest, trying to dry off what I could. I luckily brought some makeup in my bag in case I needed touch-ups, I’m going to have to go for more of a subtle look this time. I pinned up my hair, seeing as though my hair was now no longer straightened the way I had intended, and I ran over to the dryer in hopes of drying up my clothes a little bit. It worked for a while, but I took look at my watch and I was definitely out of time.
I walked out of the washroom smoothing my jacket and skirt the best I could and walked back to the hostess. When she was done seating a couple she turned back to me.
“Well, that’s a lot better.” She exclaimed when she saw me.
“You think so, I really had to pull out all the stops trying to fix myself up.” I smiled at her comment, I was getting nervous, I wanted to make a good impression.
“No, it looks pretty good. Although it’s hard to say, the boss is pretty stuffy.” She rolled her eyes.
“I know how that goes, I’ve been on a few interviews now in this city. I never realized that money could make people so uptight.” I said half-heartedly. “So, if you could let Ms. Wyndham know I’m here.”
“Sure.” She stood and smiled, I was waiting for her to move, and she did not. Just held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Ms. Wyndham, you must be Callie.”
My jaw dropped and I must have looked white as a ghost. I slowly held up my hand muttering almost incoherently “Nice to meet you.”
She accepted my hand with a silly smile on her face. “Right this way Callie.” She turned and began walking to a quiet place in the restaurant, while I followed closing my eyes and shaking my head in complete embarrassment.
We sat down in the corner of the restaurant where there was plenty of privacy. There were not too many patrons, which I suspect was the reason why she had scheduled this time to conduct the interview.
I fidgeted with my resume and tried to calm my breathing since I had already made a fool of myself. I now needed to figure out a way to change her mind about this fumbling idiot that has just walked through her door.
“Callie.” She put her hand on mine to stop me from fidgeting. “Relax, I was just messing with you. Believe it or not, not all us richies have something stuck up our ass.”
I gave a little nervous laugh at that, relaxed a little bit, but still uneasy that I inadvertently insulted her to her face.
“Let’s start over, I’ll tell you a little bit about myself and my baby here,” she began gesturing the restaurant, “then you can tell me about yourself.”
I nodded my head in approval with a smile.
“I’m afraid you are not entirely wrong about the money thing, my family is known around here,” she began with a wince, as though she was embarrassed to say it, although I didn’t know why. “The Wyndham’s are all in the restaurant business, some are a little more known than others, my cousin for instance is quite the business tycoon. I, on the other hand, wanted to have a more modern establishment, and I wanted to go at it alone.”
I began to admire this woman. She was confident and proud of her accomplishments. She was everything I wanted to be.
“I did of course have the start-up money, but I didn’t want it to be connected the Wyndham name, that’s why I called my restaurant Marly’s. I wanted people to come here for me.” She finished with a proud smile.
“That is amazing, you must be very proud, this place is beautiful, and has a great reputation.” I gushed, I only wished she thought I belonged in such a place. “Where does the name Marly’s come from?”
“That’s my first name, Marly Wyndham. So that’s enough about me, tell me about you, Callie. I already know that you have a long extended history in the restaurant business in your hometown, tell me a little about that, then we will go from there.” She gestured for me to begin at that point, and my palms began to sweat.
“Well, like you my family has owned a restaurant since before I was born and it was my whole world back home. I started with dishwashing and moved up to waiting tables, and before I knew it, I was working every position they needed.
Cook, clean, serve you name it, I did it. Eventually, I was helping my parents manage the restaurant alongside them.” It was surprisingly very easy to talk to this woman. Usually, I would stammer about my work history. I came from such a small cottage town, and the restaurant I ran would not even compare to how classy this one is.
“It sounds like you were well established there, why did you leave? I don’t mean to get personal, but wouldn’t your parents want you to take over the business?” She asked politely, wincing a bit maybe thinking she is crossing a line.
“No that’s ok, it’s not too personal,” I quickly answered appreciating that she didn’t want to pry. “It’s not that much different from you actually, I not only had bigger dreams when it came to what kind of restaurant I wanted to run, but I also wanted to go at it alone, eventually create something I could be proud of.”
She smiled, seeming happy with that answer. “Well, the only other thing I was going to touch on is your education. It’s not quite what would be considered acceptable for this position, but your work history does speak volumes, so I am of course considering that as well.” She paused. “I’m not a big fan of interviews Callie, you may have noticed. I don’t like to ask a bunch of inconsequential questions and I like to go by my gut. I have a feeling about you, and I think you would do great here. We can help each other out, I need to have someone run the restaurant while I am away, and you can learn more about the restaurant business in the big city.” She was already beginning to stand at this point. “If you don’t mind I would like to just make a few phone calls to your references, but besides that, I would like to offer you the position if you will have it.”
I was completely dumbfounded. “Are you kidding me, yes of course!” I responded way too enthusiastically. I stood up and shook her hand. “Thank you so much, you won’t regret it.”
She smiled in response. “I’m sure I won’t.”
She began packing up things when the restaurant doors opened, and Ms. Wyndham’s attention was drawn to the person who had just stepped in. “Miles! What are you doing here? It’s pouring rain outside.”
I was gathering up my bag and resume and just smoothing out my dress on a permanent high from landing the job.
“I can’t miss my Monday lunch at my favourite cousin’s restaurant can I?” The most melodic voice answered, knocking me out of the revelry in my head.
Ms. Wyndham laughed at his response. “I think you could have missed one day given the weather for crying out loud. Come here, I want you to meet someone.”
They walked over to me just as I was making my way towards the door. “Callie, this is my cousin Miles Wyndham, the big business tycoon I was telling you about. Miles this is Callie Martin, I just hired her to manage the restaurant for me.”
I looked up and locked eyes with the most beautiful man I had ever beheld.
Brown silky hair, dark brown eyes, his alluring scent permeating the air around me, invading all my senses. His large build towering over me and the most charming smile. You would think I would fall at this man’s feet, but I fail to mention, I had met him before, and I am not at all happy he is before me now. I despise this man to my very core.
