Page 49 of Trying Sophie

Chapter Fifteen

Sophie

“It’s goingto be busy tonight. You’ll want to put on more comfortable shoes.” My grandma glanced down at the ankle booties I’d donned this morning, her brows furrowed.

“What? I’ve worn these to work before.”

“For a couple hours, yes,” she acknowledged, shaking her head like I was a nitwit. “But you’re going to need to buy some more sensible shoes if you’re going to be taking longer shifts.”

I tried not to let the statement bother me, but I bristled all the same. I was doing them a favor by working for free and sometimes I felt like they were taking advantage of me. I knew it was an uncharitable thought, but when she made comments about longer shift without having discussed them with me first, it was hard to feel anything else.

Taking a pointed glance at her shoes, I groaned aloud. Regardless of whether I worked one hour or ten, no way was I going to wear something that looked like it belonged on the school lunch lady. Or a 70-year-old grandma.

“I’ll be fine,” I promised. “I walked all around Rome in these shoes. They’re comfortable, I swear.”

“Whatever you say,” she huffed, leaving to make sure Siobhan had wiped down her tables properly.

Sidling up next to me, Siobhan whispered, “I feel like I should be offended. You’d think I hadn’t been a waitress for going on 20 years, nor had I been here for ten of those, with the way she follows me around.”

“It’s nothing personal,” I assured her, all while trying to take my own advice. “With my grandpa being laid up, she’s just feeling out of sorts and trying to establish a normal routine for herself. Out here was his domain and she left him to it, but now I think she feels a lot of responsibility for making sure things are running as smooth as possible.”

“Isn’t that why they brought you out here though? To help?”

I liked Siobhan well enough, but she was a first rate gossip and I didn’t think it wise to tell her the real reason I was still in town. If she suspected I was hoping to talk my grandparents into selling the place, the news would spread like wildfire.

“I’m not going to be here forever,” I answered evasively, hoping it wouldn’t lead to questions about what my future plans were.

Because heck if I knew the answer.

“Well, if not, they’re going to have to hire someone else. Just between you and me, there’s no way they can continue to run this place as they’ve been.”

Interesting.

“Out of curiosity, what would you recommend?” I asked.

“You mean, aside from hiring someone to take over the day-to-day management of the place?”

“Yeah, aside from that.”

She blew out a breath and looked to the ceiling for a couple of seconds. “Okay, it’s probably dumb of me to say this to the owners’ granddaughter, but I think they should sell the joint.”

“Why’s that?”

She glanced over her shoulder to make sure my grandma wasn’t within hearing distance and dropped her voice. “Again, just between you and me, Colm’s not going to be able to work down here like he used to and it’s only a matter of time before Maureen’s too old herself.”

“And you think selling’s the right answer?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Siobhan fisted her hands on her hips in a defensive stance as if she expected me to argue with her.

Maybe it was because I was excited to finally have an ally in my quest to get them to see reason, but I decided to confide in the woman after all.

“Between you and me?” I asked, echoing her.

When she nodded, I continued, “I think that’s the right thing to do too, but I just don’t see it happening.”

I leaned against the bar to take some weight off my feet. I’d never admit it to my grandma, but yeah, they already pinched. It had to be the thick wool socks I had on because like I said, a week traipsing around Rome and I’d been fine.

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