Chapter 5 - Amber’s Secret Burden
I closed the restaurant for the rest of the day, paying the few dining customers their checks on the house and sending the back-of-house crew home with full day's pay. I took a quick shower in the back office executive bathroom, shaved off the scruff, and changed into a clean flannel shirt and jeans I kept in my locker.
When I walked back out to the dining room, Amber was sitting alone at a booth, sipping a glass of water. Her hands were still slightly trembling.
I sat down across from her and placed a warm mug of fresh coffee in front of her. "Drink up. You’ve had quite an afternoon."
She gave a small, tearful smile. "I still can't believe it. I thought I was going to be evicted next week."
"Tell me about yourself, Amber," I said gently. "How long have you worked here?"
"Four months," she whispered, looking down at the table. "I moved here from Ohio after my mother passed away. I have a six-year-old daughter, Lily. She has severe asthma, and her medications... they take up almost half my paycheck. Kyle told me last week that if I didn't stop asking about the missing tip money, he'd cut my shifts to nothing."
She wiped away a stray tear with the back of her wrist.
"I was so desperate, Mr. Vance. But today, when you walked in... I saw your hands. My grandfather was a steelworker, and his hands always had that deep, honest wear. You looked cold, and you looked tired. I remembered how many times my mom had to skip dinner so I could eat. I thought, *even if I get written up, I can't let a human being walk away hungry when there's hot soup in the kitchen.*"
A lump formed in my throat. I opened the black ledger Kyle had left behind. I flipped to the server tip deductions and ran my finger down Amber’s column. Over four months, Kyle had stolen nearly $4,800 from her alone.
"Amber," I said, leaning forward. "First of all, you are getting every single penny Kyle stole from you returned, with interest, out of my personal account by tomorrow morning."
She gasped, her eyes going wide. "Mr. Vance, no, that's—"
"Second," I interrupted with a warm smile, "I don't have a general manager anymore. And more importantly, this restaurant has lost its soul over the past year. I need someone who understands what Rosie’s was built on. Someone who treats every person who walks through that door like family."
"What are you saying?" she breathed.
"I’m saying I want to train you to be the assistant general manager of this restaurant," I told her. "Full salary, full health benefits for you and Lily, and a starting pay of sixty-five thousand a year."
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Amber froze. She stared at me for five full seconds, her lip quivering, before burying her face in her hands and sobbing. They weren't tears of fear anymore. They were tears of a mother who had carried the weight of the world on her shoulders, finally feeling the burden lift.
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