65. Chapter Sixty-Five

Chapter Sixty-Five

Jack

A fter lunch, Enzo and Arrow clear the plates so Beth and I can get started on her plans to make this place everything it should be. I kind of love that she's the one who figured out what was wrong, and it's even better that she seems so excited to get started.

This is what a fated connection feels like.

Unseen forces brought us together for a reason.

Nothing could have prevented this.

It's undeniable.

She takes a notepad out of her purse and sets it down on the table.

"What's first?" I ask, as she brings out a pen and opens the notebook to the first filled page.

Wow. That's a big list.

"Well, we need to fix those windows and the signage, but there's no point in doing that until we re-organise the interior," she tells me, giving me a wry smile. "The dining room should extend to the front of the building, for starters. People outside need to see a busy restaurant inside when they look over here. Not an empty reception area."

"Makes sense," I agree. "But where would people pick up their takeout food?"

"Well, that's where my floor plan comes in," she says, flipping through a few pages to show me.

She uses the tip of the pen as a pointer as she explains, "Reception would be here, because we have a direct route to the kitchen that's independent of the dining room here. And we would have a bit of a partition wall at this side of the door to keep the atmosphere and block the cold spot from the door opening and closing the whole time."

"So, we gain space for another six tables or so, and we lose absolutely nothing."

"You lose the hotel buffet atmosphere," she says. "Which is kind of what you have now, with the way things are set up in here. We also need to talk lighting and arranging the tables for better flow, and I would think about putting in a bar here, at the back near the kitchen doors, so the wait staff can prep drinks and get them out to the tables quicker."

"Holy shit. Are you sure you've never done this before?"

She smiles. "I've always loved going to restaurants. When I was a kid, I would be a pain in my parents' asses wanting to get up every five minutes and look out a window or bug a waitress or whatever, so my dad got me paper and pencils and told me to make a note of all the good things and bad things in the place. He said if I did a good enough job of noticing things, he'd take me to the park after dinner. I always wanted to go to that park. They had all kinds of cool climbing stuff and mini ziplines and there was a popsicle stand. It was awesome."

"And that's how you learned to do this?" I ask, kind of amazed.

"It's what got me interested in business management. I've read some books on it over the years, watched some TV shows and documentaries. I talked about running my own bakery for a while, then my own ice-cream parlor, and eventually a pizza place. Only one problem, I'm not good at baking, or making ice-cream or pizza. I'm not great at cooking in general."

"Well, that's probably a good thing. Enzo does not like other cooks in his kitchen."

She laughs. "He has nothing to worry about. The food is one of the best things about this place."

"It's not the number one thing?"

"The people are always the number one thing," she tells me. "If you've got the right people, half the battle is already won. And you definitely have the right people. You might need a few more to help you out, once it's busier in here. That's my only suggestion on staffing."

"That was the plan, actually," I admit. "We should have been seeing the turnover to justify hiring a bunch of waiters, but it just hasn't happened."

"Well, it will if we make these changes." She taps her pen off the page.

I take my phone out of my pocket, and she raises her eyebrows.

"Just getting ready to start making calls."

"We're jumping straight to that?" She sounds surprised.

I give her a smile. "Gio and Enzo want to get this place up and running ASAP. We've already been open too long without the customers we need to keep the business going. I have full authority to get this stuff started."

"Okay, great," she says, nodding. "In that case, you might need this list."

She goes through the pad and pulls out a page.

"Unless you already have a signage guy, this company has good reviews locally and they can get something up within a few days for a rush fee."

"Wow. You really did your homework last night."

I'm seriously impressed. This is definitely her forte.

"It's better to use local companies. I'm not sure who did what you already have, but if they're not nearby and able to work quickly, I'd go with someone else."

"Whatever Gio's paying you, you should ask him to double it. No, triple it."

She rolls her eyes. "If you got in an actual consultant …"

"He wouldn't do half as good a job as you are."

No one would. This was what she was meant for.

Not just to be ours, but to do this kind of work.

"We'll see how well I've done once we re-open."

"Yes, we will, and Gio will be falling over himself to give you a nice fat bonus check."

She blushes. It's cute how easily she colors at a compliment.

I don't think I'd get the same shyly sweet reaction over telling her how good she looks.

I'm sure she's more than aware of that. With her bright smile and those amazing curves, she's probably got more guys chasing her around than Arrow had back when he was single.

Certain people just attract others to them, and she has that energy.

"I'd call someone to fix the interior stuff first," she suggests. "Try to get them out tomorrow. Then move onto the windows and signage. If they say they're booked up, ask them what their rush fee is and offer to pay it up front."

I unlock my phone's screen and get started.

The sooner we get the work done, the sooner she'll see I'm right that she's good at this stuff.

She's not going back to that course that she's bored with. That's no way to live.

This is what she's supposed to be doing, and I'm going to do everything I can to help her see that.