AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No,” she said. “It wasn’t anything special. Everything I owned was cheap and several years old. Nothing was worth keeping. Trust me. When the time comes that I can get back on my feet and get out on my own, I’ll buy what I need. Unless there is a limit I can stay here?”
“Heavens no,” her mother said. “This place has sat empty for years. It’s given your father something to do the past few weeks sprucing it up for you.”
She always stayed here when she visited. Her parents' place had two bedrooms and was nice, but it was small. This gave them more privacy.
“It looks nice, Dad,” she said. “You painted everything.”
“I did,” her father said. “We did some work in the kitchen too. We know you like to bake.”
She’d noticed that too. There were new counters and the oven, though small, looked brand new. She was hoping maybe the old one died or something, but she had a feeling it was more like they wanted this to feel like a home to her.
“I do,” she said. “I miss baking.”
“I bought a bunch of staples for you,” her mother said. “And look. When they installed the new counters they put this table in for you.”
Her mother walked over to the wall, pulled down what Hadley thought was a big piece of art. She realized now that it was a wooden table with the art on the bottom of it so it could be flipped out of the way when not in use and still look nice.
“Wow,” she said. “That is clever. And it will come in handy.”
It explained the two stools up against the wall too.
“We wanted you to feel comfortable here,” her mother said.
“I know,” she said. “I appreciate that.”
At least her family would always be there for her. The best she could do would be to not let them down.
3
Wanted Perfection
“Hi, Stan,” Duke said early Tuesday morning. The pub was closed on Mondays. A lot of places did that during the slow time, but he’d be opening it up once Memorial Day hit at the end of the month.
It’d been two months since Kelsey came into his restaurant and told him about Southside Pub and what the Breatons were offering.
One thing he did in his life was move fast.
He’d looked the information over his sister sent him that day, came here to eat the next day, got a feel for the place and reached out to the owners.
They came to terms verbally while he called his cousin Hailey to get it all down legally. Maybe he added a few clauses himself. The last thing he was doing was letting anyone walk away with his reputation if he decided he didn’t want the place. If he walked away, they couldn’t continue to run the business as he set it up, his menu and recipes included. Everything was specific. And if it did continue using his setup, then they’d face off in court.
He didn’t want to be a dick, but he’d worked hard for where he was in life and though he thought this was a great deal, some things do happen to be too good to be true.
The Breatons put their conditions down too and they came to an agreement should he decide to buy the pub officially.
And since he moved fast, he was in here one month later and had been managing the place for about three weeks now.
“Thanks for meeting me,” Stan said. “I know you’re busy and not here all the time.”
“I’ve been here a lot,” he said. “I need to get things set. But it’s going well.”
He’d kept the menu the same. One menu only with some dinner specials.
There were three chefs and a few line cooks. He had them prepare every single item on the menu and then he showed them how he wanted it done. The way he cooked and dressed and plated.
There didn’t seem to be any issues with that, but no one was warming up to him either and he wasn’t sure why.
He knew he could be a bit loud in the kitchen and strict. Some called it controlling, but it was his name and reputation on the line and he wanted perfection.
