I Just Want You(3)

"Why are you not at work?"

"Got rained out. How are things coming along?" He surveys the room.

"Good. I met with the contractor when I got here this morning and everything is on schedule."

"You settle on a name?" he asks.

"Yep." I click the file on my desktop and pull up the logo. "Club Titan," I say, spinning the screen so he can see it.

"Hell yeah!" He grabs my laptop to get a better look at the logo. "This is sick, man."

"The designer nailed it. Actually, I'm glad you stopped by. There's something that I've been meaning to talk to you about."

"Shoot," he says, handing me the laptop.

I close it and put it back in the case. "I want you to come work for me."

He opens his mouth, but I stop him by raising my hand. "Just hear me out. I've known you my entire life. I need people I can trust along for the ride in this adventure. No matter how hard I've tried to hide my inheritance, word gets around. You have your choice of capacity. Security, bar, overall management. I don't care."

"Do you even need all those positions?" he asks.

I shrug. "Honestly, I have not the first fucking clue what I need at this point."

Zane throws his head back and laughs. "Count me in, my man. You name it and I'm there."

"Yeah? Why don't you go ahead and put in your notice and you will be the first official employee of Club Titan. We can work out the specifics of your position as we go."

Zane doesn't hesitate; he pulls his phone out of his pocket, taps the screen a few times, and places it next to his ear. I hear a deep voice pick up on the other line, and Zane tells him he's giving his notice. The voice on the other end gets louder, but I can't make out what they're saying. Zane gets a huge grin on his face as he hangs up.

"Well?"

"Marty, the dick that he is, was pissed. Said not to bother with two weeks and that he would mail me my last check."

"Looks like you start today." Reaching into my laptop case, I pull out the legal notebook I was working on last night. I rip off a corner of the top sheet and write his new salary. "This is what I was thinking. Salary, of course. I'm working with an agency to get a full benefits package, so that will come later."

"Crew, this is . . . a lot of zeros."

I try not to laugh. "It's a six-figure salary. For you, my right-hand man. I'm really going to be relying on you, so I need you to be well compensated."

Zane studies me for a minute. He must realize that I'm not budging on this. "All right," he concedes. "Where do we start?"

"Staff, I think. Construction will be finished in two weeks, at least that's what they tell me. At that point we'll need to get the place furnished and staff trained."




 

 

"You have an opening date in mind?"

I've thought about this long and hard, and after talking to the contractor, I settled on a date. "Yeah, Halloween weekend. The thirtieth is on a Friday. My hope is to have an invite-only soft opening the weekend before."

"That's just under two months away."

"Right. All the more reason you starting today is a good thing. I'm thinking we run some ads in the local papers. Maybe put some fliers up at the college."

"Okay. I'll get something made up today and start getting the word out."

"I have an appointment today to meet with the city to finalize my liquor license. The designer is supposed to be here at three. You can sit in on that too."

"Done."

I nod. I wasn't kidding when I told Zane he was going to be my right hand in all of this. I have a ton of shit to get done in a small amount of time if I want to meet my opening night of Halloween weekend.





THE RAIN FINALLY stops, but it's still dreary outside. My shift ends in ten minutes, which I'm sure will feel like an eternity. This has been the longest day ever. It's been slow and boring-well, unless you count the visit from Mr. Super Sexy Beard. He's been on my mind all day. I've never seen him in here before, but I can only hope that he becomes a regular. That will most definitely be the highlight of each shift.

I stare at the clock on the register, waiting for it to flip over to three. Two more minutes. Pulling out my phone, I text my roommate and best friend, Maggie.



Me: You at home?



Maggie: Yep.



Me: Barry?



Maggie: Yep.



Me: Takeout?



Maggie: YES!



So she does know how to spell something other than 'yep.'



Me: Harold's?



Maggie: Yum! The usual for me and B.



I knew that's what she would say. I slide my phone back in my pocket and look up at the register just as the time ticks over. Three o'clock-finally! Hopping off my stool, I untie my apron and quickly type in my code to clock out. Carrie, my boss, looks up from her book and gives me a nod. She's working on her master's in something or another, so her nose is always stuck in a book. Not that I mind; as far as bosses go, she's pretty cool.