“The Surf Club is already doing it. Angel went over to talk to them about it the other day, but he said they didn’t offer too much information.”

Sal walked toward their back office with Sarah. This was where he spent most of his time, when he was here. “Yeah, they’re not going to. Angel’s better off asking the cruise services.”

“Well, that’s where he is now. It makes me nervous. Anything goes wrong, and we’ll be responsible.”

Sarah was right. Maybe he could get Carlos, his godfather and the family’s longtime attorney, to look into the details. “I’ll look into it.”

“Good,” Sarah smiled. “So how many people are you interviewing today?”

“Three, a cook, a waiter, and a bartender.” He took the seat at the desk.

“I heard about your new bartender. Oscar was over here yesterday. He said she’s really good,” Sarah smiled. “The way he went on and on about her, I think he may have crush.”

Sal pretended to be into what was on the computer screen, but he had to ease up on the mouse in his hand when he heard a cracking noise.

“Hey, dude.” Angel walked in. He kissed Sarah as she walked out.

Sal glanced at him in time to see Angel pat her behind.

“I hope you’re not gonna do what you’ve been doing at Alex’s place.”

Sal turned to him with a frown. “What’s that?”

“Be all picky and shit, about the hiring. I just need help. We keep getting swamped, especially on Sundays.”

“You have to be picky, Angel. You can’t just hire anyone.”

“Yeah, but,” Angel said, taking the seat next to the desk. “you don’t understand, Sal. People start getting pissed when the service is so damn slow and we’re moving as fast as we can. The last thing I need is for the word to get out that the service sucks.”

Sal stared at him and scratched his forehead. “That bad, huh?”

“Yeah, I had a few people walk out last week.”

“Shit. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’m telling you now!”

Sal turned back to the computer and clicked on a different screen. “I’ll see if I can get a few more people in today to interview. I didn’t realize how bad it was.”

Angel sat back, pulling the pencil out from behind his ear. He tossed it in the air in front of him. “Oscar told me about the new bartender over there,” he grinned. “Said she’s real good—in more ways than one.”

“How the f**k would he know?”

Angel stopped tossing the pencil. “Easy!”

Sal gulped hard but refused to look at Angel.

“He said she knows what she’s doing and she fast. He didn’t say anything bad.” He tossed the pencil up again. “But he did say her cute accent goes with her personality.”

What did that even mean? Sal wouldn’t ask. He clenched his teeth and continued scanning through some of the other applications he’d dismissed that morning. “What’s more crucial right now? Waiters or cooks?”

“Both,” Angel said. “But I’m short on waiters. I have one on maternity leave and Sofie’s going back to Alex’s today.”

“I can have her stay and help if you need her.”

“Nah, we should be okay today. I have one back from vacation and Debbie who was out sick most of the week came back yesterday. I just need some new hires now, so they’ll be good and trained for the summer when things really start kicking up.”

“I’m on it.”

“Did Sarah tell you about the dinner cruises?”

“Yeah, I’ll have Carlos look into it first. I’m sure there’s a lot of red tape involved.”

Angel stood up and put the pencil behind his ear. “Some of the restaurants are thinking maybe booze cruises, just on the weekends.”

Sal laughed. “I’ll tell you right now. You’re probably looking at a small fortune on the insurance alone for something like that.”

“Well, ask Carlos anyway.”

“I will.”

Sal spent the rest of the day interviewing. In light of what Angel had told him about customers walking out, he found himself lowering his standards a bit. At least when it came to the amount of experience he normally was comfortable with. If he had to be there to train the less experienced himself, he would.

In spite of staying busy most of the day, his mind kept wandering back to Grace and her two boyfriends. What the hell was that about? He reminded himself, that her personal life was none of his business yet the annoying thoughts continued to plague him through out the day.

~*~

Another day of showing up to work and finding out Sal wouldn’t be there. Nearly colliding with him last night, being that close—touching him, had Grace feeling things she knew she shouldn’t. She’d nearly forgotten all about it when she got home and her mother dropped the news about Frank on her. But as soon as her head hit her pillow those thoughts were in high gear again. So much, she actually dreamed of him—talking to him and staring in his eyes, like she was never quite able to do in real life, without looking away.

As disappointing as it was that he wasn’t there, it was better that way. This infatuation, if that’s what she was going to call it, was beginning to get out of hand. The man didn’t even care for her, much less see her in that way. Even if by some miracle he ever would, Melanie had told her about his love-em and leave-em tendencies. He seemed perfectly content with his bachelor status. In the short time she’d worked there, she’d witnessed his action with the ladies first hand. She knew better than to get caught up in that web.