Page 46 of Happy Harbor
“Is that surprising to you?”
“Well, yes, to be honest. Miss Adeline wasn’t big on change. She used to say that if something works, you keep doing it. No need to mess things up by changing them.”
Josie smiled because that sounded like Nana. “I’m sure she said that, but y’all have to realize that I’m not Adeline. I loved my nana with all of my heart. She raised me. She was my mother.” Diane shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll do everything like she did. This place needs to move into the future, not be stuck in the past.”
“So, what are these changes?” Diane asked.
“First off, we’re going to stop serving the buffet on Sunday.”
“What? But that’s our biggest tip day of the week!” Diane said.
“It may be, but we’re losing money on the buffet. People come in here and eat as much as they’d eat in an entire week for less than ten bucks. We can’t keep doing that, not with the price of meat the way it is.”
“So, what will we do on Sundays?” Tabby asked.
“We’ll just serve our normal menu, except I want Bear and Juanita to come up with some new dishes that are only available on Sundays. What was most popular on the buffet?”
Bear thought for a moment. “The meatloaf was pretty popular. Oh, and the chicken pot pie.”
“We’ll put those on the Sunday menu only, and we’ll increase the price by twenty percent. We’ll make them meals with cornbread or biscuits, plus a dessert. Something cheap, like peach cobbler or pound cake.”
“We’re just going to be like every other restaurant around here without the buffet,” Diane said. “We always got the huge church crowd on Sundays because it was so reasonable. Surely there’s another way?—”
“This is what we’re doing,” Josie said, cutting her off. “I brought you here to inform you, not to ask your opinions.” As soon as she’d said it, she knew it was the wrong approach. Everyone stared at her like she’d just removed all her clothes. “Anyway, that is the first big change.”
“There are more?” Juanita asked.
“Yes. Starting this Friday, we will be open for dinner on Friday and Saturday nights. We will close at ten p.m.”
“I can’t work that late!” Juanita said as everyone else said things that Josie couldn’t make out. “I have kids!”
“We all have to make sacrifices to make this work,” Josie said, trying not to make eye contact with anyone particular. “On Fridays and Saturdays, we’ll also have karaoke set up over there in the corner. And we’ll start doing trivia nights on Wednesdays, but we’ll close at eight on that night.”
“Josie, you can’t be serious about all this,” Diane whispered loudly.
“I’m very serious. Listen up, everybody!” she yelled over all the frantic talking. “I don’t like change any more than you do, but the fact is that this restaurant needs growth. Keeping things the same won’t work. These changes are for y’all as much as they are for me. You’ll get more tips and more hours.”
“We need more people then,” Juanita said.
“I just hired an additional server.”
“I mean in the kitchen. How are we supposed to cover all these hours?”
“I will rework the schedule to accommodate the additional hours. You’ll see it on the bulletin board by the end of today. In the meantime, let’s get ready for the morning rush.” She stood there looking at them until everybody finally stood up and walked toward the back. Diane remained sitting.
“You’re going to drive these people away.”
“What do you expect me to do? If I don’t make changes, this place won’t succeed, and then everyone will be out of a job.” She walked behind the hostess stand and put her clipboard on the shelf.
Diane stood up. “Little changes wouldn’t be a big deal, but you just turned their worlds upside down. Bear has little kids he hardly sees now, yet he’s supposed to cover more hours and stay later? Donnie cares for his elderly uncle. He can’t afford in-home care, Josie.”
She sighed. “I can’t be responsible for everyone’s problems, Mom.”
Diane froze in place, her breath audibly catching in her throat. It took Josie a moment to realize what she’d said.
“You called me Mom. I haven’t heard you call me that in so many years,” she said quietly, her voice shaking a bit.
“It was an accident, I assure you,” Josie said. “Nana was my mother. You know that. It was just muscle memory.”
