Page 28 of Bad Daddy

“But–”

“Luis!” Antonio wailed in Spanish. “Did you finish the taco tasting plate?”

“Antonio–”

The plate of food was produced, and Antonio grabbed it. “C’mon!”

Danny sighed, not bothering to protest, and followed Antonio… back to the little table, which was still empty.

Antonio put the plate of food down—the taco tasting plate was Danny’s order, Danny remembered now—and waved a finger in Danny’s direction. “You will sit here. You will eat your food. You will not wait any more tables. And you will flag me down when you’re done. Capiche?”

“I thought you were Cuban, not Italian,” Danny mumbled, but he did sit. Now that his food was in front of him, he was hungry.

“Bon appetit,” Antonio snarked before running away.

Danny took his time with his food, trying not to inhale it. Normally he had leftovers from a meal at Grand Azteca, but this time he finished the entire plate as well as all the chips and salsa on the table. When he came up for air, he noticed that the restaurant was a little less busy.

Which made sense when he checked his phone and he realized in shock that it was almost ten.

When Antonio came back, Luis was in tow, and they both looked serious. Danny watched them nervously, wondering what in the world he had done that was so bad it had made Luis leave the kitchen.

Luis sat down across from Danny at the little table while Antonio hovered nervously next to them.

Luis shot Antonio a look that Danny could best interpret as annoyed but amused. “So,” Luis said, placing a piece of paper on the table. “Antonio told me he didn’t actually get you hired before putting you to work.”

Danny’s eyes flicked to Antonio. “Uh…”

“It was only going to be twenty minutes,” Antonio said, looking beseechingly at Danny. “I didn’t know he was gonna go all server-savant!”

Luis pointed to him. “You, hush.” To Danny he said, “You, I’m gonna need a social security number.”

“What?” Danny asked incredulously, not sure he had heard right.

“You’re hired,” Luis said dryly. “Otherwise Aubela’s gonna wring all our necks.” He pointed to the piece of paper. “Fill this out, bring it back tomorrow along with a voided check or whatever if you want to set up direct deposit, and we can work on getting you on some actual training and regular shifts. Normally we interview, but you did some fucking good work tonight, so I’ll vouch.”

Danny gaped at him. “For two hours? You could just like, comp my meal or something.”

Luis looked from Danny to Antonio, and then back again. “I’m sorry,” he said, smiling wide. “Did you just say Antonio put you to work and you weren’t even trying to work here?”

“I–” Danny’s mind whirled. He hadn’t held a job since he started school, because Clint didn’t want him working and Danny had too much school work to struggle keeping on top of that he barely had time for anything else anyway.

But his school work had been nothing this week. Danny himself had had no idea how to fill all his time. And a job could be such a good thing. It would let him save so much more, so much faster. It would give him such a bigger cushion for when Clint inevitably dropped him.

Clint was already aware of how much time Danny needed–needed– to spend on school work. There was no reason why Danny couldn’t just… fill some of his newfound free time with a job and not tell him.

What Clint didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

“No, um, sorry,” Danny said in a rush. “I was just… surprised? But yes, yeah, I-I’d love to work here. Please.”

Luis raised an eyebrow while Antonio gave two emphatic, slightly-hysterical thumbs-up. “Well, okay then,” Luis said after a moment. “Servers make eight an hour base rate because three dollars is fucking criminal, there’s family meal on days you’re on shift, your choice if you want to eat it or not, and you keep all your own tips. Can you come in tomorrow at like ten? Gives us some time before we open for the lunch crowd.”

“Yeah,” Danny said quickly. “That’s fine, sure.”

Luis held out his hand for Danny to shake. “Welcome aboard, kid.”

***

Danny’s thoughts were still going a mile a minute by the time he finally got home a little before ten. He wasn’t finished processing the fact that he had acquired a new job, three takeaway containers filled with food, and a pocket full of cash.

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