Read Second Hearts (The Wishes Series) for Free Online Page B

shooing a fly. Gretchen sprang to life. She reached behind her back, whipped off her little apron and threw it at him.
    “You can stick your job, Paolo! I’ve put up with this for months. I don’t need your stupid job.”
    She’d made it almost to the door by the time her angry rant was over. Paolo liked to get the last word in. “Gretchen,” he snarled.
    I expected to hear him tell her she’d never work in this town again. New York seemed like the perfect place to hear someone scream those words.
    “I want your name badge.”
    The look she gave him while she unpinned it from her blouse was blistering. He held out his hand and she slapped the badge in his open palm.
    Quickly glancing around the kitchen, I noticed that not one person had paused to watch the fireworks. Perhaps it was an everyday occurrence they were all used to. Did I really want to work in a place like this? Of course I did. I was desperate.
    “What do you want?” he asked, turning back to me. It was as if the last minute had happened only in my head. He didn’t miss a beat.
    “I wanted to talk to you about a job.”
    “There are no vacancies. We’re not hiring.”
    “Yes, you are,” I insisted, following him as he walked through the kitchen to a small adjoining office. Paolo sat at the desk. I went no further than the doorway.
    “You’re pushy. I like that.”
    I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
    “You’re also annoying. I don’t like that.”
    “Please, Paolo. I really need this job,” I begged. “I’ll work just for tips.”
    Paolo leaned back in his chair, so far that I thought it might tip backwards, and wondered if I’d laugh if it did.
    “There is no job.”
    “I want Gretchen’s job,” I replied, thinking on my feet. “In case you misunderstood her intentions, she just quit.”
    He leaned forward again, resting his elbows on the desk. “Do you think you’re going to enjoy working for me?”
    I shook my head. “No. I think I’m going to absolutely hate it.”
    He laughed, a light chuckle at first before throwing his head back in a roar of guffaws straight out of a horror movie. “Fine,” he said finally composing himself enough to speak. “You start tomorrow. You’ve got the breakfast shift.”
    I grinned. “Thank you. My name is Charli, by the way.”
    “Not anymore, it’s not.”
    “Excuse me?” As much as I hated my name, I wasn’t planning on changing it any time soon.
    Paolo pulled open a drawer, took out a container filled to the brim with name badges and thumped it on the desk, dropping Gretchen’s badge into the mix. No wonder the kitchen staff hadn’t reacted to her meltdown. They’d seen it many times before. My mouth fell open as I watched him rifling through the pile.
    “You’re now known as Priscilla,” he announced, sliding the badge toward me. “I want to see how you work out before I spend two dollars on a new name badge.”
    I stepped forward and picked it up, studying it closely for bloodstains or other signs of trauma. “Priscilla? Really?”
    “It’s Priscilla or Walter.” He waved the Walter badge at me. “You don’t look much like a Walter. Take it or leave it, kid.”
    “Fine,” I grumbled. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    “Don’t be late,” he warned, shooing me out the door.
    I didn’t care that he was a monster. He’d given me a job. There was a skip in my step as I walked back to my apartment. I was hopeful that Paolo was the gateway to my new brilliant life.
    ***
    Working for Paolo was every bit as horrendous as I expected it to be. It was as if his sole purpose in life was to make his staff miserable. But his constant criticism, screaming and shouting bounced right off me. I just didn’t care. Slowly but surely, a whole new world was opening up to me and I was running with it.
    It was easier to get to know the regular patrons than the people I worked with. Other than retrieving plates off the servery, the kitchen was a no-go zone. It was mayhem in