His Curvy Fantasy, page 8
Joey’s face fell. He looked at the floor, his hair sliding over his forehead and hiding his face from me. He nodded. “Is it okay if I text her? She’s been asking me to meet her outside since it’s getting cold.”
The words could have been true, but last winter, she always came in. It was an excuse she was telling Joey so she didn’t have to admit she was avoiding me. One that was smart, like her. “Of course. When she gets here, we can go to my office.”
Joey nodded and pulled out his phone. He walked away while texting.
I was not looking forward to the conversation.
I kept myself busy for the next twenty minutes, waiting for Anna to show up. When the door opened and she entered, I felt like all the air was shoved into my lungs, like they were too full to contain it all.
Then I caught her angry gaze, and it all fled like someone stuck a pin in my chest.
Before she could berate me in front of all of my customers, I nodded toward the back hallway. She glanced around, still fuming, then followed me. I waved at Jonathan so he knew to cover everything and saw Anna motion for Joey to come with us.
I closed the door behind them and moved around the edge of my desk to sit. My ass had barely hit the seat when Anna started in on me.
“I don’t know how you run a business like this. You can’t even pay your employees on time? How can you expect my son, or anyone, to continue working here when you’re not going to be reliable with your paychecks?” Her anger was palpable, like I could reach out and touch it right there in between us.
“You’re right, and I apologize. It was an error that’s entirely my own. I’ve already spoken to the bank and they are in the process of correcting it. But I know that doesn’t help anyone’s situation right now.”
“You’re damn right it doesn’t,” she muttered.
Joey shot her a look, but she ignored him.
“If you aren’t going to pay him, why should he stay here?”
“I am going to pay him. This was not intentional. None of my employees were paid today. But, as I said, I’ve already spoken to the bank. Deposits will be processed tonight and paychecks should be pending in all accounts tomorrow or Friday, at the latest.”
“What if that isn’t good enough?” Anna barked. Her lower lip trembled. Her knuckles were white on the arm of the chair. Everything about her screamed fear.
“I’ve offered every single employee a personal check from me right now. Since Joey is a minor, I wanted you here for this conversation. The check could be made out to either of you. If you can’t wait until the bank processes the deposits tomorrow or Friday, I’m happy to pay him right now, and when the deposit clears, you can pay me back.”
“Are you kidding me?” she asked, her voice softer.
I shook my head. “Not in the least. I messed up. And I don’t want any of my employees to end up paying late fees or having checks bounce or any other issues because of my error. Same for Joey. Some employees have taken my offer, some have said they’ll wait, but each person was given the same offer because I value every single one of my employees. What happened was a rare occurrence and not something I foresee happening ever again.”
Anna stared at me. Glared, really. She was trying to decide if I was being honest or if I was trying to trick her.
I stayed still and let her evaluate me. I didn’t know her world, but a late check could mean the difference between having a roof and being homeless. It could mean the difference between buying groceries and starving. It could mean paying for heat or freezing.
I didn’t want anyone to have to deal with those things, but especially not her. The desire to help her was strong. Stronger than it had been with my other employees. And seeing her there, acting strong but looking scared, I wanted to make all her worries go away.
“Did the person who made the error take you up on your offer?” she asked.
I drew a breath. “I made the error.”
“You don’t have a business manager?”
“No.”
“You really should. This might not be a big deal to someone like you, but to most people, missing a paycheck is not easy.”
“I understand. Again, I apologize. I am doing everything I can to make it less painful for everyone.”
She chewed the inside of her lip and looked away. I missed looking into her eyes the second she took them away from me. I almost felt like I could tell what she was thinking when she looked at me, but now, I had no idea.
“We have to pay the electric bill today. It’s the last day. Joey’s check covers it for this week.”
I nodded and flipped open the checkbook I already had on my desk. I logged into my computer so I knew how much Joey’s pay would be and scribbled it on the check. I tore it off and handed it to Anna.
“I…”
“I am sorry for causing you stress. It was not intentional. I will make every effort to avoid this happening again in the future, but I respect your decision if you and Joey feel the best thing is for him not to return to work here.”
“Mom,” Joey pleaded.
“No,” Anna said. “He can continue to work here. He enjoys the job, and he doesn’t want to give it up. And this… It’s above and beyond.”
“It’s the least I could do after the error I made,” I admitted. I was not going to tell her I made the error because I was too worried about her. She didn’t need to know that.
“Well, thank you. I really appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll see you tomorrow, Joey.”
We all stood, and they nodded at me, then moved to the door. Anna glanced back, then let them out and disappeared.
I took a breath and closed my eyes. That went better than I expected. All except the part where I wanted to give them a check for triple the amount I owed Joey just so I could see Anna smile. That part was not good.
9
“How do you forget to do something like pay your staff?” James asked Thursday at guys’ night. Besides being one of my closest friends and a local cop, he was kind of an ass. But he was the kind that made you laugh because he only acted that way with the people he was close to. He was also compassionate and understanding. He caught Joey stealing two years ago and instead of hauling him off to jail, James gave Joey a second chance and a year later, helped me hire him.
I rolled my eyes. “It wasn’t on purpose.”
“You’re lucky no one quit,” Nico said. As a fellow business owner, I knew he got it. Nico owned the cancer clinic in town and employed almost twenty people.
“I know. I really expected someone to. Anna threatened to have Joey quit, but she didn’t force him to.”
“She said she knows how much he likes working here. But she’s always worried about money.” Trent knew Anna better than the rest of us combined. Even though Finley said Anna didn’t engage much, Trent had a way of pulling people out of their shell, whether they liked it or not.
“Why don’t you have a business manager that handles all of that for you? When Melody was doing it, you said it made your life easier, but you never replaced her when she started her business.” Ramsey hated it when his wife worked for me, but he got over it when he realized she only came to me because she thought she needed a job before he divorced her. Thankfully, they worked it out, and she created a business that made her happy, but he was right. My life was harder without her working at O’Kelley’s.
“Hiring people isn’t easy,” I said.
“You hire people all the time,” James interjected. “You have a new server every other week.”
“Yeah, but that’s different. They’re not handling my entire business. They’re bringing food and drinks to people. If I hire someone who ends up skimming money off the top, I’ll never figure it out. Not until they disappear and I lose the bar.” It was my worst fear. To lose everything I’d worked my ass off to create.
“Why would you think that would happen?” James asked.
“Because it happens all the time to people. When Melody marched in here and said she was going to work for me, I wasn’t worried about her running off with my money because I know her. But hiring someone off the street to do all of this… I can’t even imagine that.”
They all looked at me like I was insane. They didn’t get it. Maybe I was being overly cautious, but it took me twice as long to make sense of numbers as someone with a normal brain. I flipped them around constantly and still made mistakes after double and triple checking my work. My accountant reviewed my business transactions every quarter before I paid my taxes so I knew everything was done correctly. I didn’t trust myself, but even less than that, I didn’t trust a stranger who could take advantage of my dyslexia and steal from me.
“You could promote someone who already works for you,” Nico suggested. “My business manager started out at as a receptionist. She was good at it and got promoted to business manager. When she came to me, she had experience that matched what I was looking for. If I’d had someone already in my office who could do the work, I would have pulled them up first, though.”
I glanced out at the bar and my servers hurrying around. They smiled at customers and chatted with them. They made suggestions and upsold lots of food and drinks over the course of the night. But Nico was right. A few of them had the potential to do more. If they wanted.
“I might have to think about that,” I admitted.
“Good. And while you are, you can tell us who you’ve met on the app so far,” James said.
“How the fuck…? You know what, never mind.”
James smirked, the shithead. “I knew you would meet someone. Who is it?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. The whole point is not to use names.”
“Okay, well, how long have you been talking to her?”
“A little over a week. She messaged me one night when she’d clearly been drinking. She sent me the same thing six times, introducing herself. She thought it was going to different people.”
James’s brows shot up. “And you still talked to her?”
“Sure. We’ve all done dumb things when we were drinking. And the whole point of the app is to meet people. Why am I going to get upset that she’s talking to people when I am, too?”
“Who else are you talking to?” Nico asked.
“No one as regularly. The one woman is funny and smart, but she’s busy with kids and a job and life. The others all feel young to me. Some of them are pretty shallow, from what I can tell. I feel like a dirty old man.”
The others chuckled. “Well, you are kind of old,” James said.
“Fuck you. I’m not even a full year older than you are.”
“Still older.” James lifted his glass and finished his beer. He was smart enough not to ask for a second one.
“I’m going to ask Laura to marry me,” Nico blurted.
“Yeah, we know,” James said. “Congrats, man. Marriage is pretty damn great.”
“How the hell do you know?” Nico asked, turning to glare at James.
“You’ve been with her for a year and a half. I’m kind of surprised you haven’t already gotten married.” James wasn’t entirely wrong.
“Did she say something? Is she pissed?” Nico sounded worried.
“Not to me, but I doubt she’d say something to me.”
“Has Trinity said Laura’s mad?”
“Nico, don’t stress,” Trent said. “Laura worked for you for years before you got together, right?”
Nico nodded.
“And she has a lot of patience. And she loves you. Don’t let anyone else make you feel bad for when you ask the woman you love to marry you.”
Nico nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right. It’s no one’s business.”
“It’s not. When I asked Finley, people thought I was crazy. We barely know each other, but I know everything I need to know about her. And I love her. The rest is easy.”
Ramsey snorted. I had to admit, I did, too.
“What?” Trent barked, glaring at both of us.
Ramsey raised his brows at me, but I shook my head so he could speak instead.
“Marriage is tough. It’s conflict and trust and joy and pain all rolled up together. Love isn’t always enough. But it’s the best place to start. I hope you and Finley stay together, and I hope you and Laura stay together. But if anything happens to your marriages and things start to fall apart, the only advice I can give you is to go back to right now. Think about how much you love them when things are good, easy. And find your way back together.”
“What he said,” I agreed.
“You never had any challenges in your marriage,” James said to me.
“Sure I did. But we dealt with them. Hillary was low on conflict. She was always agreeable. I let too many things go when I knew it wasn’t what she really wanted. I regret that now, but it’s too late.”
“Do you think your next marriage will be different?” Nico asked.
“I’m nowhere near thinking about marriage. I’ve only barely started being willing to talk to women.”
“Yeah, and we all know how that went,” James said with a laugh.
I flipped him off.
James snickered.
“Every relationship is different. And every relationship has its challenges. Nico, if you need anything, let me know. As the most recently married one here, I’m trying to be helpful.” Trent rolled his eyes at James, Ramsey, and me.
“We’re trying to be helpful,” Ramsey said. “We’re just trying to be real.”
“That’s not always helpful,” Trent said.
“I think Hudson should tell us more about the woman he’s talking to,” James said, drawing everyone’s attention back to me. “I want to see him all twisted up.”
I groaned and walked away. The perks of owning the place.
I spent the weekend working and trading occasional messages with MyFriendsMadeMeDoThis. She was funny and self-deprecating, but in a way that made her relatable. A part of me wanted to meet her in person, but I wasn’t quite ready for that yet.
Every shift through the weekend, I considered which employees might be able to shift to business manager. The job was one that would have to come with benefits and a salary, so it would be a bump in pay for whoever took the job. In my head, I made my list, and in person, I triple checked everything I was doing so I didn’t risk messing anything else up.
By Monday, I was completely on board with hiring someone. When Finley came in with George for lunch, I decided to talk to her about it. Maybe she’d have some advice.
“Hold your Godson,” she said, handing him over while she unloaded everything and parked the stroller he’d been in.
The baby looked up at me with big brown eyes. Something deep within me stirred. I tucked him against my body and smiled at him. He reached up for my beard and tugged on it. His gummy grin always made me feel like I did something right, even though I was sure it was just his way of saying he recognized me.
Finley and Trent welcomed me into their family like I was a part of it. It wasn’t easy to get to know Trent, but we were making it work. Finley loved him in spite of the way he treated her at first, and George was the most perfect baby ever.
He made it hard to let go of the dream I’d always had of having my own kids.
“How are you?” Finley asked, finally sitting down. She didn’t reach for George, just let me hold him.
“Good.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, why? What do you think is going on?”
“Nothing. Anna told me about the paychecks last week. Sounds like she gave you some shit about it.”
“I deserved it. I messed things up for everyone. People had every right to be mad.”
“Yeah, but you fixed it. And you paid everyone out of pocket. Most employers wouldn’t do that.”
“It was the right thing to do,” I grumbled. I didn’t want her thinking I was going above and beyond. If I’d done everything right in the first place, I wouldn’t have needed to fix it.
“You’re an amazing boss, Hudson.”
“With a messed up mind. I need to hire a business manager.”
Finley shrugged. “Not a bad idea. Got anyone in mind?”
I looked around the bar. “Nico suggested promoting a server.”
Finley followed my gaze. “Too bad Piper no longer works here and has her own business to run. But yeah, promoting someone isn’t a bad idea. What if no one wants the job?”
I hadn’t thought about that. Why wouldn’t someone want to make more money? Have benefits? “You really think that?”
“Yeah. It’s possible someone will say yes, but it’s also possible no one will. What are you going to do then?”
“Shit. I was trying to decide who to talk to first because I didn’t want to piss anyone off.”
“Maybe you should talk to them as a group. Tell them what you’re looking for and ask people to speak to you if they’re interested.”
“How do I decide who to hire?”
Finley laughed. “You hire the best candidate.”
George gurgled and tugged on my beard again. I looked down at him. Life seemed so much easier from his perspective. Eat, sleep, poop. It was a damn good life. He was loved and taken care of and never needed anything. He had amazing parents and a good home. Something too many kids grew up without.
“I’ll start talking to people today. This is complicated.”
“No, it isn’t. You just don’t like pissing people off. You’re a softie. You just don’t show it.”
I rolled my eyes and handed back the baby. “Lunch?”
“Yes, please.”
“Burger and fries?”
“Yes, please.”
“Anything to drink?”
“Yes, please.”
I chuckled. “Are you going to eat whatever I bring you?”
“Yes, please.”
I laughed. Finley had a way of making me feel better. She eased all the tightness inside me. It was funny because I’d never been attracted to her, but damn, I wish I could have been.
In contrast, her employee was haunting my dreams and always wound me up tighter than a rubber band.
