The Lion Sleeps Tonight

"We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope."

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

OOOOOH...EEEEEH!

On her first day at work, Kady was abruptly roused from her sleep by animal cries blasting from some close but unknown source, and when she heard a boar snorting from somewhere her room, Kady shot up in her bed, her disoriented gaze sweeping her surroundings.

What was happening? Where am I?

Brick walls, a super comfy bed with fluffy white covers, and a window that showed the outline of the wooden hand-carved sign of Redwood Cafe .

Oh.

Right.

But—-

? A-WEEMA-WEH. A-WEEMA-WEH. ?

A moment later, she heard a masculine and completely vivid voice roaring from down the hallway. "For fuck's sake, Farica ."

The music was suddenly placed on pause, and Farica's laughing voice came in loud and clear. "Rise and shine guys, training starts right after breakfast today. And now, back to regular programming: by The Nylons."

As the still-loud but strangely soothing chants of 'a-weema-weh' resumed in the background, Kady's continuous but somewhat befogged search for the source of Farica's audible antics finally bore fruit: a Dolby surround-sound speaker, mounted on one of the upper corners of her bedroom's walls.

A small-town cafe with its own P.A. system?

This new job just kept getting weirder and weirder...

And thank God for that, Kady thought happily.

She couldn't help humming along, couldn't help smiling and reminiscing as she made her bed up and rummaged through her clothes, which were already neatly hung inside the antique whitewashed armoire next to the vanity dresser.

Last night had been pretty amazing, with Kady wanting to constantly pinch herself as the two extremely beautiful owners of Redwood Cafe carefully went over the ins and outs of the business, like she was already an integral part of it.

(Almost like you're family.)

Supper (both of her employers had taken pains to explain that supper was for evening and dinner was for midday meals) had even been more peaceful, with Mr. Wyndham having to leave for some meeting.

(Don't forget the part when the boss winked at you on his way out!)

Finally, Farica had taken Kady upstairs, and she had been unable to help gasping in awe at her first glimpse of her bedroom. It had a pink rocking chair next to a small fireplace and its window boasted of magnificent town views of Hartland.

(But isn't the most exciting thing about this was Slade Wyndham sleeping right next door?)

Kady caught her reflection in the vanity mirror and gave herself a good, hard glare. Shut up, Bad Kady. Her sly-as-a-fox inner imp had been on a roll since last night, but it was time to put an end to all those dangerously stupid thoughts.

Eric, who had confessed to liking Kady, had still ended up with another (prettier) girl. That should be lesson enough for her: boys out of her league would always stay out of her league .

By the time Kady finished with her shower, Farica's playlist had already blasted out two other versions of , and it was now *NSync oohing and eeehing in the background as Kady slowly ran her hand over the leathery texture of her brand-new apron. The new chapter of her life officially began now, and while the thought still filled her with trepidation, she simply started chanting more of John Wayne's wise words in her mind as she changed into a shirt and jeans.

A man's got to do what a man's got to do.

Farica was seated by the bar when Kady came down, chatting and laughing with a young couple, who - Kady couldn't help noticing - also happened to be as extremely attractive as the cafe's co-owners. And come to think of it, wasn't the man on horseback she saw yesterday just as good-looking?

Kady tried not to grimace as she considered the possibility of all of Hartland's locals to have somehow descended from Aphrodite .

Seeing that the couple was also wearing the same apron she had on, Kady realized that they were probably the two other employees Farica had told her about last night.

Farica caught sight of Kady hovering at the foot of the steps and waved gaily at the younger girl. "There you are." Seeing Kady's shy look, she said with a smile, "Come here and join us. I promise we don't bite—-"

"But I do," Slade purred, standing right behind their newly-hired waitress, and when he started to lower his head as if about to take a chunk off Kady's shoulder—-

Farica did her best to smother her laugh as Kady virtually tripped over her own feet in her haste to get away from the billionaire. And Slade being Slade, the conceited oaf didn't even appear the tiniest bit bothered as Kady seemed to dither like a headless little chick, bumping into tables, chairs, and even into their huge-ass-jukebox before finally arriving at the bar, looking dazed and exhausted.

Poor Kady. It just wasn't like Slade to have such fun torturing a girl like this, and Farica was doing her best not to think why it was so.

Slade deliberately avoided Farica's disapproving look as he sauntered forward and took the bar seat that would once again place adorable little Kady between him and his business partner. His proximity had the younger woman practically wilting in her chair, and Slade nearly smirked. A less experienced man could've easily mistaken this as a sign of Kady's secret attraction to him, but Slade had fucked too many women to harbor the same delusions.

Incredulous as it may seem, Kady was immune to him, almost as if the billionaire didn't even register as a man in her eyes.

The realization chafed somewhat, but since he needed her waitressing skills more than he needed her presence in his bed...

Kady tried her best to ignore the way Slade Wyndham seemed all too fond of staring at her as Farica introduced her to the two other members of their team.

"This is Elizabeth, our sous chef—-"

The brunette gave her a smile. "Hey there."

"And this is our head cook, Arden—-"

"Howdy, ma'am," the other guy greeted her with a grin.

Kady was just about to smile back when it hit her, and her eyes widened.

She was Elizabeth...and he was Arden?

Everyone suddenly burst into laughter, and when Kady blinked in confusion, Elizabeth raised her hand as if admitting to a crime. "You can put the blame on me," the other girl said cheekily. "When he transferred to my high school, and I found out his name was Arden, I kinda thought to myself, wouldn't it be funny cool if I ended up with this guy?"

"And now we live happily ever after," Arden finished mockingly.

Everyone started snickering, and even Kady, despite still feeling shy and not quite a part of their gang yet, found it impossible to hold her smile back. This really was the life, she thought blissfully, and as conversation turned towards cafe matters, Kady was content to simply listen and take everything in, doing her best to learn as much as she could.

As Slade and Arden discussed next week's debut of their fall menu, Farica couldn't help but notice how Kady was studiously following the men's conversation as if determined to mentally store every collected byte of data. She looked every inch the diligent apprentice and nothing at all like her predecessor Penny, who, at her first sight of Slade, had not stopped throwing herself at the billionaire at every opportunity.

Most girls should have been, at the very least, crushing on Slade by now, and even Farica had to grudgingly admit that she herself might not be as immune to her friend if not for long having lost her heart to someone else—-

"Oh my God!" The words, followed by Farica's gasp, had everyone turning to her in surprise. "I just figured it out," Farica exclaimed.

Slade regarded his friend dubiously. "If this is going to be another infatuation-fueled commentary on Steel—-"

"I'm actually talking about you," Farica retorted.

The billionaire arched a brow at this. "You've figured out something about me ?"

"Technically, it's you and Kady—-"

All eyes swung towards her, and Kady could feel her cheeks turning red under their scrutiny.

"I've been wondering why she seems to find you as attractive as a toad—-"

Slade grimaced while Arden choked and Elizabeth suddenly found her nails a fascinating object to study. Kady, however, was valiantly trying for the impossible as she willed herself to shrink into nothing.

"I mean, it totally makes sense now..." Farica, oblivious to the impact of her words, was still busy mulling her thoughts out loud. "If you consider Elizabeth and me...it just figures." She swung her seat around to face Kady, and eager to find out if her theory held water, she didn't bother gently leading up to the matter and simply blurted her question out. "You're in love with another guy, aren't you?"