Read Online Mustard on Top by Wanda Degolier - Free Book Online Page B

touched her shoulder, and Emma turned. She handed her a ketchup-red T-shirt to match her bra. “Put this on.”
    Emma held the shirt out and beheld the dancing hot dog on the front. “Ewww.”
    “We’re professionals now. Run the front line. I got the register,” Helen said.
    Emma looked disgusted but she wriggled the shirt on.
    Ben reappeared in his relish-green T-shirt that looked two sizes too small. Stretched across his chest, the dancing hot dog appeared to have gained weight.
    “Can you bus the tables?” Helen asked.
    “Sure.”
    When he turned away, Helen caught herself watching him go. Annoyed, she smiled at the next customer. “Sorry for the delay. What would you like tonight?”
    “Two Inferno Franks.”
    Helen offered the range of sides. She’d worked through a few customers before realizing the orders weren’t coming out as quickly as she was taking them. She investigated the delay and found Theo hovering over the hot dog maker he’d built. “What’s going on Theo?”
    “This damn, I mean darn, cooker keeps seizing up. That’s why we’re behind. I think she’s overheating.”
    “Larry!” Helen called. “Start our backup hot dog cooker.”
    Larry, who’d been assembling the orders, gave her a thumbs-up then hurried out the back door toward storage.
    “I think we need to let her cool down. She’s been running nonstop,” Theo said. “I’ll need to make another one if we stay this busy.”
    If anyone could fix the hot dog maker, Theo could. Although her nerves were jumbled, Helen returned to the register and smiled at the next customer in line.
    “Busy night,” Seth said from where he sat at the counter near the register. He wore a sleeveless tank top that showed off his physique.
    “Yes it is.” Helen said then apologized to the next person in line for the wait.
    “Twelve days and you’re mine,” Seth interrupted. He pointed his finger at her as if he were shooting a gun and cocked his thumb.
    The stupid bet had not one of her finer moments. “You’ve really gone two-and-a-half months?” She raised her eyebrows and looked at Seth, trying to extract a confession.
    “Oh, trust me. I’ve gone seventy-six days.”
    Seth looked past her, and his eyes took on a steely glaze. She glanced back to see Ben.
    “What do you want me to do now?” Ben asked.
    “See if Theo needs help with the hot dog maker?”
    After apologizing again to her waiting customers, Helen made sure the other hot dog cooker was plugged in and warming up, then went to her office and grabbed a stash of free hot dog coupons.
    Agatha would, no doubt, chastise her for using them. As Helen distributed the coupons, she found the downtime doubly frustrating knowing how much money they were losing.
    When ten minutes stretched to twenty, Helen grew anxious. The old hot dog maker handled many fewer hot dogs than Theo’s model. If Theo’s didn’t get the cooker working soon, they’d have to turn customers away.
    Theo’s arms were crossed over his chest. He was leaning on the wall, staring blankly at the hot dog maker while Ben held a fan inches from it. Theo’s cooker churned out hot dogs similar to the way a pizza oven churned out pizzas. The hot dogs were fed into holes in one end and when they were finished cooking they came out on a rotating piece on the other end.
    “How’s it going?” Helen asked.
    Theo shrugged. “She overheated is all I can guess.”
    “It’s all those Inferno Franks,” Ben joked.
    Neither Helen nor Theo laughed.
    Theo leaned in and touched the metal. “I’m going to test it now.” He flipped a switch and the machine rattled, but didn’t start.
    “Oh come on,” Theo grumbled.
    Helen checked on the other cooker. It wasn’t ready.
    “I’m going to get my toolbox out of the car,” Theo muttered as he charged by Helen heading for the back door.
    “He’s a smart kid,” Ben said. “He’ll figure it out.”
    Helen went back to handing out coupons and apologizing.
    Schlepping a