Page 14 of Ethan

“Denver has made me some large serving bowls. Lance is right now making me glass vases to put on each table as well as water carafes. The rest of the family has been kicking in to helpme out as well. If nothing else, I feel like this has been the biggest family project we’ve ever done.”

Jack walked around with Bailee to make sure that all the places were up to par. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he realized that he was going to be serving his first customers, even though they were family, in about an hour. The kitchen was ready for them.

Everything on the menu had been cooked several times already. It had been scary to do that, just to make sure that there wouldn’t be any problems. The shelter had enjoyed the food, too. And then there were cakes and pies that he was giving away to anyone that was close enough for him to hand them one. The grocery store, glad that he was buying directly from them, had offered to sell off the desserts for him that might well have gone to waste. It thrilled him to no end that they were going out of the store faster than he could put them in there.

It was just the kind of restaurant that he’d always dreamed of. Nothing at all like the places that he used to work. Where it would cost the world for a small serving of lamb over a quarter of a cup of cooked rice. He worked there, yes, even for one just like it back home. But he never ate there. It was too costly even for being half price for the employees.

He was serving comfort food. And it would be served in a family-style setting. There were no two tops, tables that would only hold two people, but all of them six tops. If you were a party of two, then you might well end up sharing a table with people you didn’t know. Or two other couples.

“So meat is the only thing that they get to choose from.” Jack told Bailee that they had a nice variety of meats, too. Counting in that beef, pork, and chicken. There would be seafood when it was in season but he didn’t see that being much of a choice around here. Where seafood was something that most families ate daily being so close to the ocean as they were.

At a quarter till six, his family began to show up. Grannie and Grandpa were going to be there too and he was feeling great when Grannie told him how lovely the place looked. He’d even had some of his family art hanging on the walls for sale. Like he’d thought, all a family business.

Ronan and Brook were coming as well, along with the rest of their family. It was a great many people and he was glad that Bailee had suggested that they all sit around the tables and eat what they wanted of the platters as they came out. That way, the servers who were there to help out wouldn’t be overwhelmed on their first real night of being a waitress.

He had figured that there would be somewhere in the neighborhood of seventy people on his first night. All of them coming at one time. He’d been all right with the number of people, but he was worried about him being able to keep up. However, he thought that he’d had that under control as well.

Everything that could be prepared had been done. He’d done all the chopping and mixing of things earlier today. Bread, Parker House rolls, and large loaves of bread had been sitting in the warmer for about twenty minutes now. Salads of different kinds were ready in the bowls just waiting for dressing. Even the soup, two different kinds, was set out in the restaurant so that if you wanted it, it was there for them. He only hoped that someone would taste them both so that he knew if it was good or not.

After thanking his family for coming, he headed to the back room. It took him a moment to realize that he was the only one back there and that all bowls and pans were askew on the surfaces. Looking around, he saw the reflection of someone in the lock-in cooler that reminded him a great deal of Shamus. Going to the big walk-in, he yanked the door open just as the man was tying his employees up in a large rope.

“What the hell do you think that you’re doing?” He knew theman but couldn’t think of his name. “Do you have any idea what is going on here tonight? I’m too busy to fuck around with you. Perhaps some other time I’d get really pissy with you, but right now, I have a dining room full of people and I—”

“I want you to get my mother for me. I know that she’s here. Get her so that I can get things straightened out with her.” He asked him, knowing full well who he was talking about, who his mother was. “Damn it. How many mothers can there be out there? Shawnie Farley. Get her now.”

Instead of engaging with the man, he punched him in the face, using a bit of his lion to help knock the man to the floor. His employees all of them stared at him with open mouths. Didn’t they—of course not.

“Get what you need for dinner then please leave here. If you think that you might need it, then take it out. I’m going to—what are you waiting for. Chop-chop.” They started moving then.

Getting everything out of the cooler and some of the things that he knew weren’t on the menu. As soon as they told him they were ready, he closed the door and locked it from the outside. The fool would either catch a cold, or he’d murder him for messing with his one chance to make a good first impression.

He started filling the bowls with food as soon as they told him that the soup bowls had been removed. They had salad next but he was going to start dishing up so that everyone would get their food at one time. Just as the first family style food was going out, he heard Shamus—he only just remembered his name—start pounding on the door. Ignoring him, he continued on with his work to get the dinner served. In addition to that, he kept up a steady stream of compliments to the people working behind the line with him, as well as the staff on the floor.

“I have two orders for fried chicken if there is any left.” They had progressed quite nicely to the main course when Shamus started pounding on the door less and less. “Also, Ms. Brook saidthat the tea is fantastic and that she’d like to know how much sugar to tea did you put in it.”

The staff was coming back with all kinds of compliments. The only complaint that he’d had was about there not being enough mashed potatoes that he’d need a bigger bowl. He made a mental note to ask his brother for larger bowls. Or just double up on the bowls. He would talk to them about it later.

The dessert trays had been set up prior to the meal. There was plenty enough to go around and when someone came back for the second and then the third tray, he took off his apron and joined them in the dining area.

He was embarrassed when they all stood up and applauded. Sitting down with them, he told them to behave. It was just comfort food. When they started handing him notes on the pads that he’d put out for just this purpose, he decided that he’d look at them later. Having a piece of lemon meringue pie, he had a cup of unsweet tea with it. He thought that the sugary taste of the pie was enough for him.

“Oh, before I forget. I have your son in the cooler.” Everyone turned to look at him when he told Shawn about Shamus. “He showed up just as we were ready to serve and I knocked him out then locked him in the cooler. I checked on him a couple of times. He’s made a mess in the cooler but nothing we can’t—why are you looking at me like that? I didn’t kill him. Just got him out of my hair for a while.”

“You actually locked him in the cooler?” When he nodded, Shawn laughed. “Thank you for that. Your staff didn’t say a word about it. I can’t believe it, Jack, I never would have thought that you were having any kind of trouble back there.”

“Really, I didn’t have any trouble with him. He was in the cooler tying my staff up, and I knocked him down and got out of there with everyone. He’s awake and making noises, but we pretty much ignored him for the fun we were having. And wewere, too. Having a great deal of fun.” They laughed with him. “He does seem to think that you’ve done him wrong, Shawn. I have no idea what he’s upset about other than he wanted to speak to you. However, if you want to leave him in there overnight, someone is going to have to hire a crew to disinfect the place. I believe that he thinks that having himself a little fun in there is going to get anyone to do what he wants.”

“I’ll go and talk to him.” Everyone stood up when Shawn stood to go to her son. “I can do this. I promise you if I get in over my head, I’ll call out to you.”

“As much as I think you can do whatever you have your mind set to, he’s really digging himself into having trouble with you. None of us will intervene unless it’s called for. I, for one, don’t want you back there alone. He’s desperate and dangerous.” Everyone agreed with Ethan. “Please, just let some of us go back with you in the event that he tries to hurt you. Or worse yet, do something that makes one of us have to kill him.”

“You’d do that for me? Kill a man because he’d hurt me?” Every one of them nodded their heads including the women that were there. “I can’t thank you enough for that. It makes me feel so good to know that. All right. Some of you can go back with me, but make sure that you only help me when it looks like I’m in over my head. Deal?”

“Deal. But all bets are off if he tries to touch you.” Ethan kissed Shawn and turned to the others before speaking again. “I’d like for you guys to remember, too, that he’s a human. Anything that we do to him, we have to remember that more than anything. I don’t want this place to become a crime scene any more than the rest of you do. This is going to be our go to place when we want to get together from now on. At least if Jack will have us?”

“Of course, I’ll have you. Just give me about a week to stock in some food for you guys. I was terrified that I was going to runout of food a couple of times there.” Slapping him on the back and laughing with his brothers, Denver and Ethan headed to the kitchen area with Shawn.

“Someone needs to call the police. If we need them, which I’m thinking that we will, then I want to make sure that they understand what is going on before we have to do anything about this on our own.” When they disappeared into the kitchen, Jack thought of all the things that he had to do yet before leaving tonight.