Free Siren by Tricia Rayburn Page A

guess you were too busy wooing your customers to notice, but he let her help in the kitchen the other day, and she didn't break one thing. That's got to be some kind of record."
    I waited, feeling embarrassed, awkward, and also impressed. Zara was clearly used to running the show, and Paige was clearly used to putting her in her place when necessary.
    "You'll work as a team," Zara said finally. "Paige will lead, and Vanessa, you'll be her extra set of hands. As soon as a plate, bowl, glass, ketchup bottle, sugar packet, whatever, leaves her fingers and heads south, grab it."
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    "I'm off silverware?" Paige asked.
    Zara looked at her. "You let one thing hit the floor, your friend's gone, and you're back to Spoon Central."
    Paige squealed once Zara left, then took my hand and led me through the kitchen doors.
    "Paige," I said when we reached a closet in the back of the kitchen, "no offense, but if you're such a physical threat to Betty's, how are you still here? I mean, Zara kind of seems to have it in for you ... and if Betty's is so busy, and the reputation that important, then wouldn't they be a little hesitant to keep someone on who they think needs a lot in the way of--"
    "Babysitting?" Smiling, she grabbed an apron from a shelf and held it up for my approval. "Z's the only one who thinks I need to be monitored like a toddler in a roomful of electrical outlets. And since she's my older, control-freakish sister, I forgive her for it."
    I took the apron from her. "But you do break a lot of things, don't you?"
    "Of course!" She handed me a pad and a pen. "And would it be better if my fingers weren't quite so slippery? Maybe ... we'd save some money, that's for sure, but there'd also be a huge entertainment gap among the staff."
    I tied the apron around my waist and took the pad and pen.
    "But what most people care about is that I'm here at all. And by most, I mean everyone but Z." She leaned toward me. "I don't know if you noticed, but my sister is not the easiest person to deal with."
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    "Seriously?" I joked.
    She tugged on the bottom of my apron until it hung evenly. "The staff isn't very fond of Zara, but the customers-- male customers, especially--love her. Thanks to genetics and a certain charm, she can up-sell Coke drinkers to Corona, convince fathers to order something more expensive than grilled cheese for their picky kids, and get husbands to push their weight-conscious wives to take on brownie sundaes. All without making them believe they didn't think of any of it themselves." Her eyes met mine. "If Zara didn't bring in at least a thousand dollars in tips one night, then we were closed."
    "And you're never closed."
    "And we pool the tips."
    I nodded. "So the staff has to deal."
    "Through me. I'm the buffer, the filter, the translator, whatever. If Z comes running in here screaming about a slow dish, I come running in after her to calm her down." She paused with one hand on the swinging door. "I'm great at my job--that part of it anyway--but even if I wasn't, they'd still have to deal."
    "Why's that?"
    She grinned. "Our family owns the restaurant. Betty's my grandmother."
    Before I could ask any more questions, she was through the kitchen door.
    Thankfully, the morning passed quickly. I followed Paige's lead the whole time, noting how efficiently she moved despite her slippery fingers. There were only two near misses: a coffee
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    cup and bread dish, both of which I lunged for and saved from shattering.
    "How is it noon already?" I asked four hours later as we stood behind the bar, folding napkins.
    "Would you please go tend to your old-man friend?"
    Zara flew up next to us. My head throbbed instantly, and I wondered if I could be so anxious around a person that my frazzled nerves caused such an immediate, painful physical reaction.
    "Um, Z, kind of busy," Paige said.
    "Um, P--no one's busier than me. And I don't have time or patience today for that guy's stupid games."
    "You never have patience. And you just have