Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

S ure, Ashley thought somewhere just shy of Christmas, go for it, cuz. No problem. You've got this aaaaalllllll under control. Christmas was around the corner, and two months of managing the Thunder Bear Brewpub had been…

" Challenging, " Ashley said beneath her breath, rather than choose one of any number of other words she would have liked to describe the situation.

She'd known going in that it was going to be work, but Ashley wasn't afraid of hard work. There was a good crew working at the brewpub, and the one guy who didn't like the idea of taking the pub in a queer-friendly direction had quit when she'd called a staff meeting and explained her vision. They were better off without him, and she knew it, but it still stung.

Everybody else had been comfortable with it, and the only significant visual change around the pub were the Pride flags that now hung on the walls along with the traditional American and Colorado state flags. Ashley was anticipating a lot of fun during Pride the following year, but that was months away, and they had plenty of groundwork to lay first. Aside from that, the biggest change was auditory: her aunt and uncle, who had started both the brewery and the pub, were really into jazz and easy listening styles of music. Gwen Booker's explosive entrance into the Renaissance music scene had turned the pub into a rock-and-roll destination overnight, and Ashley was more than happy to lean into it.

She just wished her wretched cousins would take their jobs at the pub more seriously.

Ashley had known—Bill had mentioned, and she'd seen it herself—that neither Jon nor Laurie, the two youngest Torben brothers on that branch of the family, were particular self-starters. Not when it came to the pub: they were both great at the Renaissance faires they spent half the year working, but they both seemed to regard the rest of the year, and their jobs at the actual pub, as sort of…voluntary. Oh, they did what they were asked. Bill had made that clear, but they didn't do much they weren't specifically asked to.

After six weeks of that, Ashley was both amazed Bill had lasted four years trying to run herd on them, and that he hadn't killed them. It was now less than a week until Christmas, and if she had to tell them to pick up the slack one more time, Ashley was fairly certain her head was going to explode.

Her poor bear gave her a distressed look. Maybe we should sleep.

"Can't sleep, clowns will eat me," Ashley breathed. The bear felt even more worried, and Ashley sighed. "No, clowns aren't going to eat me, but I'm afraid hibernating isn't really an option. I'm going to have to Talk to them."

Even the bear could hear the capital letter in 'talk.' It gave the impression of nodding solemnly before providing an image of a sow swatting a couple of unruly cubs with a big paw.

Ashley chuckled. "Yeah. Just like that." She went into the staff office, which was small and dark and, she realized in that moment, rather comfortingly den-like. Maybe she could just curl up under the desk and sleep through Christmas.

We're not fat enough, her bear informed her mournfully. We'd have to get up to eat.

"Oh well. It was a nice thought."

"What's a nice thought?" Laurie, the youngest and possibly prettiest of her pub-owning Torben cousins, came into the office a few steps behind her. His long, sandy blonde hair was back in intricate, elf-like braids, and his smile was infectious as he threw himself into one of the uncomfortable office chairs. "And what can I do ya for? I'm supposed to be over at the leather-working shop in half an hour for the next class, so I've only got a minute."

A flare of real anger sparked in Ashley's chest and she had to take a deep breath to quell it. "You're supposed to be on shift this evening, Laurie."

He waved a hand gracefully. "Jon said he'd cover it for me."

"Jon is already supposed to be working tonight," Ashley said through her teeth. "He's large, but he's not two people."

"Oh, it'll be fine. If I don't get this class finished I'm not going to have the new garb ready for March?—"

"We have a holiday party with eighty guests in the event room tonight, Laurie!"

Her cousin blinked at her. "Don't we have extra staff on for that?"

"You and Jon are the extra staff!"

Laurie eyed her. "Is this about our beef, Ash? Is that why you're freaking out?"

"Our—" Ashley broke off, bewildered, then groaned. " No , you twit, it's not about your dumb 'beef' thing that isn't even real. This is about you and Jon?—"

"Did I hear somebody taking my name in vain?" Jon came in just as Ashley was building up a head of steam, and whistled at his brother. "Lookit you with the fancy braids." Like Laurie, he wore his hair long, although his was loose right now, and a darker blonde than his brother's. Otherwise, they looked stunningly alike, even to Ashley, who'd grown up with them and knew they weren't twins. Laurie's features were finer, his jaw a bit slimmer, and Jon's voice was a solid octave deeper, but they were made from the same mold.

Laurie tossed his elf braids, looking smug. "It's gonna be part of my new character for Faire. Which is why I need to finish the leather-working class, Ash?—"

"Do you two understand you actually work for the pub? That you get paid? That you're expected to show up and fulfill your shifts?"

Jon dropped into the other office chair with an expression that might, if Ashley was generous, be considered faintly guilty. "Well, yeah, of course, but?—"

"No, Jon, there's no 'but' after that." Ashley took another deep breath. "Look, I love you two, but you need to listen to me, okay? I get that the faire season is a lot more fun than a nightly shift in a bar, but neither of you two take the off-season part of your jobs seriously. If you're scheduled, you're expected to show up. Bill spent years covering your asses?—"

Both the brothers looked offended. Ashley raised her palm, cutting them both off. "He did. He worked shifts you didn't show up for. He did a lot of detail work you should have seen and done yourself. He?—"

Laurie burst out with, "We help out when we're asked?—"

A sound erupted from Ashley's chest. Not a sound she would have let herself make if there had been any true humans nearby, but there were three shifters in the room and the door was closed, so she didn't modulate the startlingly deep roar that broke through Laurie's protest. Laurie and Jon both straightened, wide-eyed, and Ashley could see Laurie just about bristling, as if he might go so far as to shift in the middle of the office. "You help out when you're asked, " she agreed strenuously, before he could object any more. "But you're both grown adults who have been working at this pub since you were old enough to serve beer, and at the faires since well before that. You're perfectly willing to pick up slack at the faires. I've seen you do it thousands of times. If something needs doing there, you do it. I expect you to do the same damn thing at the pub!"

Jon, still sounding more guilty than Laurie did, said, "But Bill—" and Ashley interrupted with another of those near-roars.

" Bill worked himself to exhaustion because he was the only one doing the job around here! He expected you to pull your own weight and when you didn't, instead of confronting you about it, he just did everything you weren't. He expected you to behave like responsible human beings, because he knew you could do it, but neither of you ever bothered. You only do the minimum around here, and that's part of why the pub damn near went under!"

A little to Ashley's surprise, that shut both her cousins up. They exchanged glances before Jon said, "The pub what? But we're doing really well?"

Ashley looked upward like she would gain strength from the ceiling beams, then mashed her lips flat as she stared at her cousins. "Are you serious right now?"

"Are you serious?" Laurie's voice rose. "The pub nearly went under ? Why the hell didn't Bill say anything? Why do you know that and we don't? That can't be right!"

"Would you have listened?" Ashley asked softly. "Bill asked for help over and over again, guys."

"Not that kind of help! Not 'the pub is going under' help! He—" Laurie broke off as Jon cast him an uncertain look, and, less confidently, said, "He never said he needed that kind of help."

"Because every time he asked you for any help at all, you did exactly what you were asked to do and nothing else. Your brother was doing two peoples' jobs, Laurie. Both your parents used to run this place and the brewery. When they retired Bill picked it all up by himself. He hired me?—"

"Because he found his mate and wanted to be able to spend time together!" Laurie said.

Ashley sighed. "Because he needed somebody else to manage the pub. Finding Gwen is probably the best thing that ever happened to him, if for no other reason than it gave him some perspective on that. You two are incredible at running a pub. You do an amazing job of it six months out of the year, all over the country, during the Ren Faire season. But as soon as the season is over, you come home and spend the rest of your time screwing around and doing whatever the hell you feel like instead of helping out around here. And now that I'm running this place, you're either going to shape up or ship out."

Laurie's jaw fell open. "You're firing us?"

Ashley smiled thinly. "I'm putting you on an employee probation plan. If you don't start taking your jobs here more seriously, then yes, you'll be let go."

"But Mom and Dad own this place!"

Ashley stared at the youngest Torben cousin. "Then that would be embarrassing and awkward for everybody, wouldn't it?"

"Jon, she can't—" Laurie shot a look at his brother, decided maybe he wasn't going to get as much support there as he thought, and flushed angrily. "Fine. I'll call Miguel over at the leather shop and see if I can squeeze into the Saturday morning class, if that won't interfere with your schedule for me," he snapped at Ashley, then rose and stalked out of the office.

Ashley tried not to flinch as the door slammed shut. Her bear glared after Laurie. You should swat him for real .

If we weren't in a pub surrounded by humans…

"Has it really been that bad?" Jon asked quietly. He'd barely said a word, or maybe hardly gotten one in edgewise, but his deep voice was apologetic and worried. "Have we really been that bad?"

"Yes." There was no sugar-coating it, and even if it had been possible, Ashley was too mad right now to try. "On both counts, yes."

"I didn't know." Jon leaned forward in his chair, studying his hands. "Probably because I didn't want to know, or bother to. I know the brewery is doing well. It didn't occur to me the pub might be in trouble. Bill's so…"

"Responsible," Ashley said shortly.

"Yeah." Jon looked up. "I'm sorry, Ash. I'll do better. And I'll apologize to Bill. I didn't mean to…you're right, though. I take the Faire stuff really seriously because it's how I see myself, me and Laurie both, I guess, as helping out. Advertising, making people aware of Thunder Bear Brewery, getting new contacts, all of that. But I do totally think of the rest of the year as my time off, time to get all the detail work ready for next year's Faire circuits, and that my job here is just helping out, not really work. I didn't know I thought about it that way until you just pointed it out, but I totally do. I just—" He hesitated, holding the hiss sound in his teeth. "I wish Bill had said something earlier. I get why you didn't. You were waiting to see if we'd shape up once somebody else was managing the place. And we didn't. You must be really disappointed in us."

"I am. You two are closer to my age than anyone else in this family." In fact, Ashley was sandwiched between the two youngest Torbens, nine months younger than Jon and nine months older than Laurie. "We were the Three Musketeers when we were kids."

Jon laughed, a quick quiet sound. "Literally. I actually found those costumes again earlier this year. We were pretty cute. No wonder we were so popular at the Faires. But you kind of outgrew the whole Faire thing."

"I didn't outgrow it, Jon. I just didn't have a family business to fall back on during the off season, so I couldn't dedicate half my year, or even just my summers, to it anymore. You guys still have that, so, you know, don't screw it up. The pub's doing better after the boost from Gwen's band, but I don't have time to hold your hands, and you're thirty years old. Nobody should have to be holding your hand to walk you through your job."

"Yeah. You're right. And, again, I'm sorry. I'll do better," Jon said again. "Laurie probably will too."

"Don't make promises for him, or pick up his slack," Ashley warned. "Just…yeah. Do better." She sighed. "It really would be embarrassing to have to explain to Aunt Heather and Uncle Pete why I fired their two youngest sons from the pub they own, so don't put me in that position, okay?"

"I won't. Things will change, Ash, I promise. You won't believe how smoothly things are going to go from now on." Jon gave her a hopeful smile that Ashley couldn't help returning, and she sat there at her desk a minute once he'd left. Maybe he was right. Maybe things would turn around. She thought she might let herself believe that, at least for a little while.

"Yeah," she said aloud, mostly to her bear as she readied herself to get back to work. "Yeah, things are gonna go smoothly for a while."

Feeling confident, at least for the moment, she walked back out of the office, and right into Penny Partridge, her fated mate, and proof that things were not going to go so smoothly after all.