Page 25 of Knot That Serious

Eli

Eli really loved her career.

That’s what she kept telling herself as she watched the middle-aged woman weigh her options and change her mind again about the number of baked goodies she wanted.

Which, fine. The more she bought, the better for them.

“Do you have any sugar-free options?” she asked, for the second time.

Eli smiled. “No, ma’am, but I have gluten-free and vegan options.” She pointed to the items through the back of the glass case. “These with purple signs are gluten-free and the yellow signs are vegan.”

All of this information was printed on the sign in front of the display case, but Eli refrained from mentioning so.

See? She was nice.

“Oh, no, that just won’t do,” the lady said, shaking her head. “You see, Angela just started her diet, so I was hoping to surprise her with something to cheer her up.”

“That’s sweet of you,” Eli responded when the woman stared at her hopefully.

The woman continued to stare, and Eli floundered.

“Can’t you make something sugar-free?”

Eli blinked. “You mean, right now?”

“Yes, obviously,” the woman drawled. “I am a paying customer.”

Eli glanced at the single other paying customer behind the woman, who winced and avoided her gaze.

“I’ve already finished baking for the day. If you’d like to place a custom order, you can go to our website and—”

“But I’m right here, requesting a custom order.”

Eli felt her cheeks grow red. “Yes, I understand. However, I need advance timing so I can stock the ingredients. At this time, I’m only manning the front half of the store.”

“It’d be so easy for you to just go back there and work on it between other customers,” she argued, peeking over her shoulder to the person behind her. “You’re not even that busy.”

Eli gritted her teeth. No, they weren’t that busy… in the store front. Most of their income was garnered from online orders and delivery.

“I’m sorry, it’s simply just not possible at this time,” Eli finally said.

“Not possible, or you don’t want to do it?” she snapped.

The woman was a beta, so she didn’t even have the excuse of an upcoming heat or an alpha temper to excuse her behavior.

No, she was just a bitch.

So shocked by this lady’s nerve, Eli couldn’t even look away as the bell jingled.

“That’s simply not how you run a business, young lady,” the woman continued.

The thing was, Eli didn’t have to justify how she chose to run her business to this random lady.

If Eli had a bit of Jack’s attitude, maybe she’d be brave enough to tell the woman to fuck off. But Eli? Eli was a people pleaser. She wanted to keep everyone happy, including this awful customer, even though as the minutes passed, she realized what an impossibility that was.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Eli settled for. “I can’t offer sugar-free at this time, but I’ll take your feedback into consideration for the next time I switch up the fixed menu,” she said politely, but hard, brooking no more arguments. Eli’s heart was pounding.

When the woman just glared at her, Eli tried to smile. “Did you pick out everything you wanted? If so, I’d like to ring you up so I can get to the next customer.”

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