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can get better acquainted.”
    Her breath caught in her throat, and her heart accelerated as she twisted her arm trying to extract her hand.
    He tightened his grip.
    Her stomach constricted, and nausea rose to her throat. “Please excuse me. I have other customers.”
    The man’s laughter drove chills down her spine, and he reeked of whiskey. “We was gonna order dessert. Maybe you can”—he cast a surreptitious glance over his shoulder and leaned toward her—“offer some suggestions.”
    She yanked her arm free and took a step backward. “Our dessert menu for today is”—her voice trembled—“apple pie, chocolate cake, or raisin pudding.”
    “Tessa!” Mr. Kilgore’s voice boomed across the dining room, and every patron in the place turned in his direction.
    Tessa scurried over to her boss. “Yes sir?”
    “I’m not paying you to stand around and chat. If you can’t attend to your duties, I don’t need you.”
    Tessa felt every eye in the dining room on her as she stood under the lash of Kilgore’s upbraiding. Her face burned, and she couldn’t gulp enough air to satisfy her lungs.
    “I’m sorry, Mr. Kilgore. I tried to—”
    “If your trying isn’t good enough, I’ll find someone else. Now get back to work, and don’t let me catch you lollygagging again.”
    Her tongue seemed stuck to the roof of her mouth. She’d listened to Papa’s tirades for as long as she could remember and survived them. Subjecting herself to Mr. Kilgore’s abuse wasn’t any different except that Mr. Kilgore was paying her. She needed this job.
    She took orders from two other tables and scurried to the kitchen to find Flossie at the sink pumping water over her hand and groaning. “Flossie, what’s wrong?”
    The cook growled under her breath and continued to pump water.
    Tillie spoke up as she filled the orders Tessa left on the serving counter. “She spilled hot grease over her hand. I told her to pour cold water over it.”
    Tessa peered over Flossie’s shoulder. Angry blisters already formed on the inflamed skin. Tessa grimaced, imagining the pain.
    Flossie dipped her head to one side and wailed. “What am I gonna do? If I tell Mr. Kilgore I can’t work for a few days because of this, he’ll fire me. This job is the only thing keepin’ us goin’ since our wheat crop got flooded out last year.”
    Tessa’s heart broke for the woman. Her hands mechanically filled coffee cups and cut slices of pie as she tried to think of a way to help Flossie. Sympathy shuddered through her as she left the kitchen with her loaded tray.
    As she set two plates of apple pie before a lady and a gentleman, an idea gradually formed in her head. She cleared off adjacent tables and hurried back to the kitchen where Flossie leaned forlornly against the big worktable, holding her hand in obvious agony while Tillie applied goose grease to the blisters. “Flossie, I’d like to help you.”
    “Why?”
    Tessa blinked. Why indeed? Maybe the way Gideon helped her had something to do with it. When everyone in her world had left her, Gideon stepped forward. She remembered the verse about having friends he quoted to her. Mama taught that verse to her when she was a little girl afraid to go to school for the first time. Gideon brought it back to her memory.
    She smiled at Flossie. “Because the Bible teaches if we want friends, we must first be a friend.”
    A furrow dented Flossie’s brow. Maybe she wasn’t familiar with the scripture, or she simply didn’t trust Tessa. Perhaps both.
    She’d have to show Flossie she was serious. “When do you usually do your baking?”
    Flossie cast a doubtful look in her direction. “Early in the morning, before the breakfast crowd starts coming in. Why?”
    Tessa looked at both Flossie and Tillie. “If we work together, I think everything can still go smoothly and Flossie can keep her job.” She turned to look directly at the cook. “Flossie, you can still cook. It will just take you a lot longer