Our Story, Part 2

I'll never forget the first time I saw him.  I had been having some health problems, and had taken a long weekend off from work to try to get it under control.  It was Tuesday morning and I was not feeling great yet, but was well enough to go in to work.  The restaurant was located in Boise's downtown district, which meant parking was always an issue.  That particular morning, I was unable to find my usual (free) parking space, and had to use the pay for parking garage adjacent to the restaurant.  Couple that with not feeling so great, and I was grumpy.  I had just traveled down the elevator, and stepped out onto the street wearing my work uniform, red chili pepper line cook pants, chef jacket, and with my black baseball cap in hand.

 I'm not sure how I never got a full shot of my uniform, but these google images can give you a good idea of how extremely attractive I must have looked, lol.  At any rate, just then I noticed an admittedly cute guy parking his motorcycle in MY free parking spot.  He saw me and gave me a huge smile.  He was met with a less than stellar harumph, as I undoubtedly stomped past him to get to work.  I remember specifically thinking, "What's he so happy about?!?"  To hear him tell the story, he never noticed any of that.  I'm so grateful for his oblivion.

My job, as mentioned before, was as a line cook.  This meant I spent the majority of my days preparing a long list of recipes that contributed to the menu items for the lunch and dinner service.  Specifically, I was responsible for the appetizers, salads, and desserts, but I helped in other areas if needed.  Because I had been out a few extra days, my station was way under-stocked, and I had a million things to do.  So, I was quite exasperated when I was called from the kitchen out to the line.
'The line' as we called it, was the working kitchen which ran the length of the dining room, and had a chest-high granite counter that looked out over the dining room.  It was actually a really cool place to be able to work during lunch and dinner.  We were able to see the patrons, and they were able to see the hustle and bustle of  the kitchen, without seeing the actual mess it creates.  My manager, the owner's oldest son, and older brother to the aforementioned missionary, was wanting us all to meet the new busser.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

Oops, I had just scowled at this guy.

And there was that big gorgeous smile.  Gulp.

His name was Joel Hallberg, and if he proved capable, he'd be promoted to a server position, so we'd do well to get to know him.  I gave him a wry smile, and hustled to the back kitchen to continue my prep.  A few minutes passed, and Mr. manager was at my side.

"Did you meet the new guy?"

"Yup."

"What do you think about him?"

Blank stare from me.  And then he stalked off with a sly smile on his face.

"I don't have time for this" I mumbled to myself.  The next few weeks proved otherwise.