Academy Shorts

Dessert Menu

Dessert Menu

"Is there a toaster up here?" Luke asked me as he rummaged through the shelves under the counter the register sat upon. He moved all the spare napkin holders to the side, swept his hand in the space behind them, then shoved them to the other side to do it again. "Oh hey. Looks like we're running out of the backstock of straws up here. Remind me to grab another bag before our shift ends, Sang," he said as he stood up straight and moved my tip jar to look under it.

"Why are you looking for a toaster?" I asked him with furrowed brows. He worked at Bob's Diner regularly. His very own uncle owned the establishment. Shouldn't Luke know where the toaster was kept?

Our conversation took a pause as I had to ring up a family of three for their early evening meal. I was getting better at the customer service thing and managed to ask with a confident smile if they all enjoyed their meal. The six year old girl nodded enthusiastically and informed me she especially enjoyed dessert as her parents paid the bill and signed the credit card receipt.

Luke leaned down onto the countertop to look the little girl right in the eyes. "Just you wait until next time, little miss. I'll have a brand new dessert that will be extra yummy for you to try." He gave her his extra wide grin, and her eyes sparkled in awe and curiosity. Her parents giggled and ushered the girl out the door after bidding Luke and me farewell.

"That's what I want the toaster for," Luke said to me after the door closed.

"What?" I was having troubles connecting the dots in his conversation. I shook my head for a mental reset, making some strands of my hair fall out of the clip on the back of my head. "Why don't you just start from the beginning?"

Luke chuckled at me and swept one of the loose locks behind my ear. The feel of his fingertip across my cheek felt nice. "Uncle said I can come up with something new for the dessert menu. He wants something unique to put the diner on the foodie map."

"How does a toaster fit into this?"

"It's for my new idea. Uncle, North, and Silas didn't like my first pitch," he answered.

I found that odd. Luke was a foodie with a bit of a sweet tooth, but he generally had good taste. The only person to ever say no to him was his brother North, and that was more for a concern for Luke's dietary health. For both Uncle and Silas to put a veto to Luke's idea was really odd. "Dare I ask what that was?"

"No. You can't ask, because I'm telling you anyways. It was BBQ Cupcakes."

My stomach turned on itself. I understood perfectly why Uncle didn't want that on the dessert menu.

"I figured," Luke continued, "that if other places are putting bacon in desserts as a fad, I might as well keep going with the meat and grilling motif."

"No, Luke. Don't use that motif."

"Aw, Sang! You're breaking my heart!" He held his hands over his heart and stumbled back a few steps, nearly crashing into the soda machine. His grin gave him away, letting me know his feelings of betrayal weren't genuine.

"That still doesn't explain why you can't find a toaster."

"I can't find a toaster because I'm usually waiting the dining room during breakfast hours, and North or Uncle are the ones to take it out or put it away." He was bending awkwardly to look behind the soda fountain as he explained that to me.

Why was he searching out here? His efforts reminded me of the times he would try to find new hiding spot to stash his secret supply of candies and chocolate chips at our various houses so North would not confiscate them. But Luke wasn't the one to hide the toaster, so it stood to reason the small appliance would not be hidden in an odd spot, such as in a ziplock bag in the toilet tank (yes, North did find that bag of jolly ranchers within a week). "I doubt it will be out here, Luke. I'm sure Uncle isn't trying to hide it."