Page 27 of Happy Harbor
Nana hadn’t updated the restaurant in many years, and even when she did, she stayed with the same odd theme. Scottish/seafood/Southern. A weird combo, for sure, but one that had worked for decades. Part of her wondered about changing some things, but she also didn’t want the community to abandon the restaurant. And she didn’t want her grandmother to haunt her for eternity either. Those decisions could be made later. Today was about spending time in her new restaurant, meeting some of the staff, and looking over the books.
She walked into the kitchen to get an idea of the layout as well as what they had to work with. She couldn’t even identify some of the equipment, but that wasn’t her job. Her job was to manage the people who knew what they were doing. As much as she was leery about staying in Happy Harbor, she was glad to have a staff that knew how the restaurant already ran.
After walking around the kitchen and the bathrooms, she stood in the dining room again. It was a good-sized restaurant, and the views of the harbor were second to none. There was an outdoor seating area out front, but only a few tables. She thought about bringing live music to the venue at some point, but they wouldn’t be able to fit it outside.
“You Josie?”
Startled, she turned around with her hand against her chest. A large man was standing there. He must’ve been at least six foot five, and he looked like a linebacker. His shaved head set off his variety of colorful tattoos.
“Who are you?”
“Bear.”
“Your name is Bear?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “My momma called me Bear when I started getting bigger, and it stuck.”
“You work here then?”
He nodded. “I’m the lead cook.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Oh, near about five years now. I was sorry to hear about Miss Adeline. She was a good boss and an even better friend. She gave me a chance when nobody else would.”
“A chance?”
He sheepishly looked down at his feet. “I was incarcerated for a while, and nobody would hire me. Miss Adeline took me in, taught me the ropes, and gave me a career.”
Her stomach knotted up. Incarcerated? For what, she wondered, but she didn’t dare to ask. She decided to keep an eye on him, and maybe at the six-month mark, she’d let him go and find someone more appropriate for the restaurant. Given her grandmother’s rules, she had to wait that long, anyway.
“So, how many cooks are there?”
“Just me and a couple of helpers, really. Donnie comes on the weekends to help me with the rush, and Juanita usually works the weekday lunch shifts.”
“What about waitstaff?”
“I think there are two servers right now. We lost Staci when she moved to Florida a few weeks back. You might need to hire more.”
“Thanks for the advice,” she said.
“Well, I’d better get out of here. I don’t get many days off, so I’m going fishing.”
“Good to know,” she muttered. “You’ll be here tomorrow?”
“Yep,” he said, before turning toward the door.
“Oh, hey, Bear? What are the servers like?”
“Dee Dee is great, and the customers love her. Tabby is kind of an airhead, and she messes up a lot, but she’ll get there. That’s what Miss Adeline said, anyway. She believed everybody could turn their lives around.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t. People are who they are. I’ve rarely seen anyone really change.”
He smiled slightly. “No offense, but I’m glad Miss Adeline didn’t believe like you. Anyway, have a good day.”
“You too,” she said as he exited the building. Her grandmother had been the eternal optimist, always giving people the benefit of the doubt even when they didn’t deserve it. Josie’s mother was the main person Adeline always forgave and always believed would turn her life around. It never happened, and Josie wondered what that felt like to Adeline in her last moments, to know her own daughter was nowhere to be found and was probably passed out drunk on someone’s couch, if she was even still alive.
Josie turned her attention to the stack of binders behind the front desk. Adeline was old school, so all of her receipts and pertinent numbers for the accountant were stored in thick binders. She opened the first one and three receipts fell out. She bent to pick them up, and then heard the bell on the front door ring, signaling someone walking into the restaurant.
