Peter, thankfully didn’t chase me down and try to walk with me. I might’ve been a little too tempted to push him out in front of a moving bus. It was only a ten-minute walk, so there was no point in taking the car, and it was hard to find a parking space around the café.

Finally reaching the entrance to Mode, I quickly snuck inside and waved to Jorge, who was making drinks today. Another girl was working the cash register, and another seemed to be assisting him with getting the long line moving. The line was so long it had spilled out of the door.

“Hello, Kirby. I’ll show you around. Brandy, can you handle this on your own for a little while,” Jorge asked the petite girl with cute glasses and spiky hair in a wide range of colors.

She nodded and took over. Her hands were moving fast as she dumped out one metal thing of coffee grounds and added what looked like a flavor shot into another.

“Come on, girl, we don’t have all night,” Jorge said and held open a portion of the counter for me to walk through.

Once he was on the move, I had to jog to keep up with him as he gave me the rundown of the inner workings of the café. Stepping into the kitchen, I saw three more people at work. Some were mixing batter. They had to be making delicious-looking treats in the front cases. They smelled divine. The third person was making sandwiches and filling soup bowls.

The three people never even glanced our way as we walked through. I had to admit I was astonished to see the synchronized dance they did to maneuver around each other and remain totally focused on their task.

“Don’t worry, dear. I’m not going to have you working in the kitchen other than to do some cleanup.” Jorge stopped and pushed open another door. “This is my office. It’s off limits unless we have a meeting, or you need to leave money and receipts inside.”

Jorge stepped into the moderate-sized space that was colorful as Jorge was and grabbed the simple black blouse and golf shirt off the desk. He looked me up and down before nodding.

“Yup, these should fit you.” He handed them over, and I took the offering as he quickly moved on.

“This is the changing room area for the women. Men’s is across the way. I suggest you don’t get them mixed up. That always ends up in a few screams.” He winked and gave me a warm smile as he joked. “They are not big, but you’ll find an empty locker you can use. The employee washroom is inside the changerooms. Hurry up and get changed, and I’ll begin showing you the basics of your job.”