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“Was that Jasmine you were talking to earlier?” Wesley’s mother asked him a few hours later when he came in for some lunch. He’d placed the order in the kitchen and was sitting at the bar waiting for it while he had a drink. He’d love a beer, but he was settling on soda. The beer would come later he was sure.
“What?” he asked, looking up from his phone.
“Earlier I saw you in the parking lot. Or almost in the parking lot. You were talking to a woman. I thought it was Jasmine.”
“It was,” he said. “Why?”
She took the phone out of his hand and put it on the bar. “It can wait, Wesley. Enough. You’re burning yourself out. We moved here so you could stop that and you aren’t.”
He didn’t need the reminder. He always put his job at the top. Not over Noelle. Or he tried not to. More so when she pointed out they didn’t see each other much.
But once she was gone, he threw himself into his career, as it was the only thing he had.
Noelle would be pissed at him and he knew. But now he was here and trying to make something she’d love come true and he didn’t want to disappoint her.
“It’s got to be perfect,” he said.
“It will be,” his mother said. “In time. I know you. You’re trying to do everything right so that Noelle would be proud of you. She already was. What you make of this place has nothing to do with that.”
He sighed. “I know.” If only he could believe it.
“We bought a business that was already thriving. We did that for a reason. We kept the staff and things are going well. You said so yourself. You’ve looked at the books and you understand it. We’re in a good place, right?”
“We are. Everything is equal to what it was last year at the same time. Even with the changes I’ve made. It’s all good. I just don’t want to lose business over new ownership.”
“Do you think that many people care about who signs the checks as long as their boats are in good shape and they get the services they were before? Didn’t you say Tess hardly talked to any customers? Not even her husband, Ryan, did?”
“Yes,” he said. “Those they did were just customers that had been around for years.”
“That’s right. No problems with the staff, correct?”
“No. They’ve been great. I expected some problems, but honestly, it’s been good. Some turnover, but I was told that happens anyway. I don’t have to do much more than manage, but I want to know what I’m managing.”
It had always been the way he’d done his job. He didn’t care his last job had VP in front of it. He wanted to know how things worked from the ground up. That was how he’d worked his way up so fast and so young. He wasn’t changing who he was at the heart of it.
“And I think they appreciate that. I’ve heard it before from several of the staff that come in to eat. They like they can grab some food at a discount too.”
He smiled. “The restaurant is doing better than it was before.”
“Because I’m awesome,” his mother said. “But we know some of it is the advertising. Don’t yell when you see those bills.”
He shook his head. “I know it’s needed and you’ve got a healthy budget for it. Why was Jasmine here? Do we have a wedding booked already?”
He knew that was going to bring in a lot of money and was shocked that Tess didn’t do it before. But they did put money into the place for this too. He was thrilled the outdoor dining had been completed and found that a lot of the boaters loved it so far, choosing to eat out there.
Hell, even the locals had been coming in, he’d been told, not that he knew a local from a vacationer.
“I wish,” his mother said. “Last minute baby shower. It’s in two weeks so it won’t interfere with the July Fourth holiday next weekend. Do you want to know what I’ve got planned for that?”
“No,” he said.
She playfully slapped his arm. “What happened to you wanting to know how everything was done from the ground up?”
“This is your baby. You wanted the restaurant and that is the reason I agreed to this. I wasn’t sure I could handle both. You know I’ve got complete faith in you.”
Trisha, the bartender working, laughed and came over to fill his soda back up. “Your mother is great. She gives us the freedom to do our thing while staying in the rules. I think structure is good and it’s working. Personally, I can tell you the specials are a huge hit. We’ve had them before, but this is different and it’s better. It’s getting people here for a drink and some snacks rather than having to purchase a whole meal. We should have been doing that before.”
“People are coming in off the boats and don’t always want a full sit-down meal. Sometimes they want a cocktail and nachos.”
