Page 73 of Just Trouble

“I’m not sure. We could go down and ask Merrie. Maybe you can book an interview with her.”

“Excellent!” Noah forgets to be cool and indifferent for a moment and I smile. “But first, you.”

“First, me.”

I wasn’t ready for this, and in a way, Noah is a great reality check. Success, in my experience, doesn’t just happen on its own. It doesn’t alight on your shoulder like a blessing from above. Maybe that happens to other people. Me, I’ve always had to work for it. I had to do the research, put in the time, go out and coax good things into happening.

And I haven’t started that with this venture yet. As I’m thinking, I reinvigorate my socials, which have been languishing for over a year. The band’s stuff is off-limits for this, a personal project, but I have my own accounts. Some people will unfollow me, inevitably, but some might be interested. It can’t hurt.

I get Noah’s info and link to him, and he links to me. I make a mental note to ask Chelsea, who managed social media for the band, for some advice, then do a search on The Carpe Diem Café. Ha. Merrie is ahead of me. She has a website, still bare bones, but it’s there and it’s searchable. I hook Noah up with it and feel like we’re rolling.

“The story,” he says firmly. “I want the story.”

“All right. Let’s do it.” He holds out his phone as I try to choose where to begin. “I’m Luke Jones. I grew up in Empire and after I left, I started a band called Mad Bad & Dangerous 2 Know with my friend Taylor Tate. You might have heard of it.”

Noah nods, his expression hinting that I’m in his mental file of historic personages, like Abraham Lincoln and Queen Victoria. Columbus. Well, I am setting sail for new worlds.

“When Taylor died, just over a year ago, the band stopped touring and recording. I’ve been trying to think of a way to honour his memory, to pay tribute to what a terrific person he was, and that brought me back to Empire.”

I wasn’t entirely sure what I’d say to Noah, but once I find this thread, it makes perfect sense and I follow it. I’m not going to talk about Sierra and Sylvia. I’ll leave them out of the official narrative to protect their privacy, and focus on The Carpe Diem Café. I send Merrie a text to let her know that we’ll probably be over, and she replies with a thumbs-up emoji.

“You see, Taylor was all about making the world a better place and leaving it in better shape than how you found it. It seemed to me that Empire, and some of the people in it, could use a little help with that. You wouldn’t recognize the town I knew when I was your age, and I hardly recognize this version of it. There’s a lot less going on, as well as less opportunity to support neighbours and friends, to act locally and make a difference.”

Once I choose my spin and start talking, the words flow easily. It’s always been that way for me and I’m glad I haven’t lost that bit.

“That diner, for example, was run by Leon and Dotty, and it was busy all the time. It was where we all went, not just to eat but to hang out and talk. We walked there or rode over on our bikes. We didn’t have to drive to Havelock to get an ice cream cone. I have good memories of that place.”

Noah nods. “It’s been closed for a long time.”

“Since Leon and Dotty retired. I knew that if I’d brought Taylor here, he’d be as saddened by the changes as I am. I was trying to figure out a way to make a difference when I met a chef whose restaurant was closing in Toronto. She wanted her own place, so I had this idea. What if she opened her dream bistro here, in Empire? What if that diner got a new lease on life? Whatif everyone in Empire had a great place they could go for lunch, or dinner, or just to meet up with friends after work? What if Merrie achieved her dream? What else would that change?”

“Maybe nothing,” Noah says. “Maybe a lot.”

“Exactly. I’m hoping for option number two. Come on. Let’s go over and meet Merrie. You’ll be the first in town to talk to her.”

And just like that, an amazing afternoon of promotion comes together. Merrie has prepared for us. The first thing I see is the sign, carved from wood and hanging from the eaves over the door. The Carpe Diem Café. I explain what that means to Noah who rolls his eyes that I could be so dense as to think he doesn’t know. “Google is my friend,” he informs me loftily and I’m glad to hear big tech has some pals.

We step inside and I can’t believe the transformation. The place looks a billion times better than it did on Friday. Willow is there, in overalls with her hair tied back, busily painting. There’s a guy installing sheets of hammered copper on the surface of the bar, which is about two feet higher than it was. The base is being painted matte black and what’s done looks fantastic. The linoleum floor has been pulled up, revealing wide-plank pine floors beneath, which seem to be in great shape. The walls that Willow has painted are a vanilla shade, and she’s making the long wall deep burgundy. The kitchen area is having its stainless upgraded and there are two guys working on a fireplace that I didn’t know was there. (Maybe it wasn’t. Just because it looks original doesn’t mean it is.) I do wonder what it’s all costing me, but I’ll ask later.

“First peek,” I remind Noah and he starts taking pictures, beginning with Merrie’s signage. Meanwhile, I spot Sylvia at the back. She takes a call on her phone, gives me a dismissive glance, then walks out the back door.

She knows I can’t follow her. Not now.

Later, though. In the morning when I have the docs from Daph.

Merrie, meanwhile, walks Noah through the space, talking about her plans, and I love how she takes him seriously. They pause for a while in front of her vision board, though she asks him not to photograph it. She uses it to describe her plan, though, and he records her doing that. She also has an agenda, something I see when she guides him right to a big ass map on one wall of the back room.

“That’s Empire and surrounding area,” Noah says.

“My grocery store,” Merrie says with pride, urging him closer. “The whole point of farm-to-table is to cook seasonally, with what’s available locally. So, my first quest is to find suppliers.” There are push pins in the map in different colours and she points to one. “Red is for meat and fish. This is a farm raising boar and heritage pigs; this is a farm with Angus beef; this is a rainbow trout farm. Look how close they all are to Empire. This place is ideally located for cooking fresh.”

“Green is produce,” Noah guesses. “That’s the main Cavendish Enterprises greenhouse.”

“It is. Here’s a market farmer with heritage potatoes, and other root vegetables like parsnips and beets. Here’s one with rhubarb and blackberries, blueberries and strawberries. Here’s an orchard with apples, pears and more by season, and here’s an organic mushroom farm.”

“Lots of green pins,” Noah says.

“Lots of research for me to do. I’m loving it. Yellow is dairy. Here’s a goat farm that makes their own chèvre and also sells the milk. Here’s an indie dairy that makes butter and cheese from local milk. Lots of people with free range eggs—” her fingers fly over the map, touching a sequence of pins “—and chickens raised organically. I love how many farms are selling at their gates. Blue is for other ingredients.”

---