I Give You My All {n.h.}

Chapter One

Brooke Spencer

Smiling at the table of four, I gather menus and silverware before approaching them. As I place the menus onto the table, I take a moment to greet the family. The woman smiles at me and so do her children. The man however, has a deep scowl on his face and doesn't even look in my direction. 

"Can we get chocolate milk for both of the kids? I'll take a coffee with creamer please." I make a mental note of this and await the man's response.

"I'll just have a water." His voice is gruff, his expression remains stoic and he still hasn't even looked at me.

"Absolutely, I'll be right back with those drinks and to take your order."

I make my way into the kitchen and begin filling a mug with coffee and a glass with water.

"Oh good gosh! Where did that thing go?" I turn my head to look into the office, but can't see anything from where I'm standing.

"Norma, are you alright?" No response. I only hear quiet mumbling from inside of the tiny room. I quickly finish filling the children's cups before taking a look. I feel my eyes slightly widen at the mess in front of me.

"Norma?" The little old lady turns around with a wide-eyed glance and a rather unruly expression. "Is everything okay?" She places her hands onto her hips and huffs.

"I was just signing a check to our flour distributor and I dropped my pen. When I sat back up, the check disappeared!" Stepping closer to her, I scan her messy desk and immediately notice the check sitting there in plain sight.

"It's right there on the desk." She looks down to where I'm pointing then back to me and huffs again.

"Well, would you look at that. I guess my mind is really starting to go. I suppose I need to start doing more crossword puzzles everyday." She laughs before taking a seat. "How is it out there?"

"Not bad. I've got a new table and the other one that's been here since one." I begin to head out when I hear her sigh.

"I'm afraid we're beginning to lose business, hun. Perhaps I should begin to consider letting go of the bakery." My brows furrow.

"But you love the shop. I'm sure we could find a way to drive in more business. It's not that difficult."

"Brooke, I am almost ninety years old. You know very well that I am not going to be around to run this thing forever." I shake my head.

"We can talk about this after hours. Keep your head up for now." I send her a smile before carrying the drinks out to my table.

"Alright, so we have two chocolate milks for the kids." Two young voices tell me thank you and I give them both a smile. "A coffee for you and a water for you, sir." The woman kindly thanks me. "Okay, are you ready to order or do you need a few minutes?"

"We're ready now." The man's words are even more harsh than before and the woman gives him a disappointed look. The man ignores her gaze and begins barking his order to me. My brows lower as I carefully take the order and focus on restraining myself from writing a note to our cook to spit into his food. That would not be a great way to drive the business.

Once I finish, I give the order to Mike and make my way to the front desk. I check the cash and today's sales before approaching my table from earlier. Once I get their tab checked out, I clean their table and then deliver the food to my table of four.

"Brooke, dear, can you get these checks ready to be sent off?" Norma comes through the doors and hands me the stack.

"Sure, I've only got one—" The bell on the door chimes as another group of people walk in and I correct myself to let her know that I'll finish those up as soon as possible. I call out to let them know that they can sit anywhere they'd like while I grab a few menus and silverware.