His stomach twisted. His dad worked in the Gabron factory. He had no idea what they
manufactured. He shot Casey a sharp look.
“No,” he said. “I, um, work at a factory two towns over.”
“Which factory is that?”
William glanced at Casey, who bit her lip, trying not to laugh.
“Um, it's, um, a Bagel Bite factory. Well, imitation Bagel Bites. Not the Totino's
ones,” he stammered.
“So, you make Bagel Bites?” the waitress asked.
“Well,” William hesitated. “I don't make the whole thing. It's an assembly line.”
The waitress nodded, clearly expecting more. Casey’s face turned red.
“I put the sauce on the bagels.”
“One at a time?” the waitress asked.
“No.” William gave her a serious look. “The machine does it nine at a time. I pull
a lever, it squirts the sauce on, and then it moves to the cheese section.”
“Are they any good?”
“They aren't quite as good as Totino's but if you're drunk enough, you can barely
tell the difference. I guess that's what caused my problem with alcohol. I just
wanted my imitation Bagel Bites to taste like the name brand.”
The waitress blinked. “Okay. I'll go put the app order in and be back in a few
minutes to take your order.”
As she walked away, Casey burst into laughter.
“Imitation Bagel Bite factory?” she asked between fits of laughter.
Luckily, she didn’t add much more to their fake backstory during dinner. She
mentioned their daughter’s name would be May and William hadn’t changed a single
diaper since her birth. William tried to sound sincere, promising to help out more.