Page 125 of Stay With Me

“Okay.”

“All right,” she said, then seemed to pause. But the pause was long enough for him to figure something out, as she’d told him to do in his drug induced dream on Friday morning.

“Take care of yourself, Nick.”

“Samantha, wait.”

She exhaled loudly. “What?”

“Come work for me,” he blurted out.

She paused again. “Huh?”

His gaze shifted from side to side as he weighed what seemed to even him like kind of an absurd idea. But it was worth a shot so he went with it.

“I’ll hire you.”

She scoffed. “I’m not exactly desperate enough at this point to wait tables, Nick.”

“Not as a waitress,” he explained. “I have zero semblance of an HR department or office management. And things have been picking up a lot so I have to hire more waitstaff. With everything else I have to focus on after being out for that long, I have too much on my plate to personally deal with scheduling, and processing payroll, and, you know, keeping people in line. They’ll all need training and alcohol service certifications and all that. Kimberly is doing a lot of it, but it’s not her job and she’s already got a lot going on since she’s about to start her senior year. And you already kind of know everyone so, what do you think?”

He tapped his teeth together and bounced one of his legs while Sammie seemed to pause for a lifetime.

“Are you serious?” she finally said.

“Absolutely,” he replied with a bit more confidence. “The restaurant would benefit from your expertise and commitment to professionalism. And since it was my fault that you lost your job, it’s the least I can do.”

“You have no concept of conflict of interest,do you, Nick?”

“No, I do. I wouldn’t bother you, I promise,” he assured her. “It would remain strictly professional, I swear.”

She didn’t respond so he continued.

“I’ll give you ten percent more than whatever you were making, plus full benefits including vacation time. And you can set your own hours,” he offered.

“Ten percent more than what I was making is seventy K, Nick,” she retorted. “Don’t you think that’s kind of an expensive way to placate your conscience?”

“The value you would bring is more than worth it,” he assured her.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, at the least, you could work for me until you find something else,” he suggested.

She remained silent for a while.

“How about this,” he went on. “I have another week before I go back in. Maybe keep looking for work, but if you don’t find something by next Monday, come on by and we can discuss it further.”

“This is a terrible idea,” she remarked.

“Please think about it,” he begged sounding too desperate for his liking.

She was quiet for even longer, but eventually she sighed loudly. “I’ll think about it.”

“Thank you,” he replied.

“I need to go now.”

“Okay. I’ll, uh, talk to you soon.”