Page 31 of Semi-Rejected Life

“My delivery guy, Cory, just called off for the night.”

“Oh… is that my fault too?” Vince furrowed his brows in confusion. “I mean, because he had to take care of his friend that I scared away.”

“No. I don’t think you scaring his friend gave him a cold.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “He wanted to come in, but I can’t have a sick person making food. I’ll be without a delivery driver tonight, so things are gonna be messy.”

“I could deliver,” I offered without having a single thought beforehand. “I know how to drive.”

Vince just stared at me. “Do you know how to make pizza?”

“No.”

“Have you ever worked in a restaurant?”

I shook my head.

“Do you know the area well?”

“I have navigation on my phone.”

“Have you ever worked retail?”

“Nope.”

He seemed perplexed. “Have… have you ever had a job?”

I bit my lower lip and shook my head again.

“Oh boy…” He reached up, squeezing the bridge of his nose. “Look River, don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t think this–”

“I can do it,” I cut in, my tone insistent. “I’m a quick learner and I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you’re business stays open.”

“Okay, well I’m not gonna get foreclosed upon for missing one night of deliveries, so let’s just calm down a little.”

“I can deliver this pizza,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I was. “How hard could it be? You put the box in the car, you drive to the house, and you give the box to the person. Easy. No sweat.”

A mischievous grin pulled at Vince’s lips. “So you’ve never had a job?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, tonight is your lucky night then.” He held out his hand. “You’re hired for the night.”

I lightly shook it. “Thanks, boss.”

Vince grabbed his bag and stood up. “Well, get to the shop. I’ll need to give you a crash course in pizza making.”

“Wait… I have to cook? I thought I was delivery?”

“You’re both.” And as he turned away I heard him mutter, “I can’t wait to see this train wreck in action.”

If he hadn’t been so right, I might’ve been offended.

Chapter Fifteen: Vincent

River knew nothing about working. And that was putting it lightly.

River was literally bad at everything. Even though I got him in the shop early, we didn’t even have time to get through stretching dough before the first orders came in. Thankfully most of them were walk-ins, so I had some time to work through how to place toppings while I took over stretching the dough out. He picked up that part alright, but I definitely had to be the one to put the pizza in the oven. That actually took some finesse.

And even though River was practically useless, he seemed to be having a great time learning it, regardless. He was always smiling and laughing as he slipped sauce everywhere or spilled cheese on the floor. The man was a menace. But he liked it, which was better than having someone standing next to me complaining all night. And his smile was infectious.

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