Grumpy Best Friend

Violence was in play.

The factory was loud and dusty. I stepped in through the side door and looked around at the buzz of activity: guys building new machines, setting up new lines, packing stations, cooking stations, places to mix and store ingredients, all the little steps that went into mass producing baked goods. Jude came in after me, followed by a security guy named Hal with a thick head of brown hair and a square jaw like someone’d bent it out of metal.

“Looks like a totally different place,” Jude said, staring around her.

I had to agree. The place was empty the last time we stopped in, and already Nicky’s crew had it looking like a proper workplace. There was a lot of work still to go, but at the moment, I could almost picture the area packed with employees, each of them assigned to a different role, each of them following directions, pumping out little cookies by the hundreds, boxing them up, and shipping them out all over the country.

Factories were miracles. They were places were things were made, objects that folks needed. It wasn’t an easy job, doing factory work, but it was an honest job at least, and the pay could be pretty decent. I didn’t want this to be the kind of job that people dreaded, although I was aware that it was impossible to make a factory actually fun or meaningful. But there were small things I could do to make my employees happy and their workdays halfway decent, little tricks that I’d learned over the years, and I made sure that Nicky employed them all, like plenty of bathrooms spread out and easily accessible, music piped in over the intercom system, and a hundred other little quality of life things.

I hated being a boss sometimes, but if I was going to run a company, I was going to make sure it was the best possible.

“How much of this did you design?” Jude asked as we walked along, skirting the edges of the work. Nicky’s guys ignored us, though they definitely seemed to put more effort into whatever they were doing when we were watching. “I mean, I know you set these factories up, right?”

“A lot of it,” I said. “The layout’s all mine. The machinery’s not, but the machines are just one aspect.”

“I’m sure,” she said, and seemed impressed. That was a look I wasn’t used to.

We found Nicky and he gave us a tour. Jude stopped beneath the tower and stared up toward the top. Nicky’s guys were setting in support brackets that would help keep the vertical oven stabilized.

“In a few weeks, you’ll have cookies climbing up to heaven,” Nicky said, grinning with his arms crossed over his chest.

“And then coming back down to Earth,” Jude said.

“But imagine how good they’ll taste,” Nicky said, and Jude laughed. “All right, that about concludes it. What do you want to see?”

“I think that’s everything,” Jude said. “You’re doing a great job in here.”

“Hey, I try, and throwing a ton of money at me certainly helps.” Nicky laughed again, scratching at his head, and tossed me a wink. I smirked back at him and put an arm across his shoulders.

“You can thank me some other time for getting you this job,” I said.

“Ah, come on, you know I’m grateful. Your factory gigs are always my favorite. The guys like to give it their best, you know? Since other guys are gonna be in here, trying to make a living. Hell, maybe some of them will end up in here one day.”

“I’ll hire any of them. You can spread the word.” I steered Nicky back toward the loading bay. “I meant to ask, and this is kind of strange, but bear with me. Have you noticed any guys hanging around here lately?”

Nicky frowned, glanced over his shoulder at Jude and Hal, then shook his head. “Nah, not really. I mean, people are always around, you know? It’s a busy area. But nobody hanging around the building. Not like those guys that showed up the other day.” He frowned at me and I nodded appreciatively.

“Keep an eye out,” I said.

“You gonna lend me some of those muscles you’ve got tailing you two?” he asked. “We could use it.”

“What, a bunch of macho guys like you? No way, it’d only emasculate you.”

“Plus, it’s not in the budget,” Nicky said, grinning.

“Exactly.” I patted his shoulder then let him go. I turned and waved at Jude, and she hurried to catch up. “Come on, let’s head back to the office.”

Nicky chatted with Jude the whole way back, answering all her questions, and even made her laugh a few times. I liked that, seeing her relaxed and happy. Ever since the chair incident a couple days ago, she’d been on edge, and for good reason. I wanted her to enjoy this, as much as she could anyway. It was an incredibly stressful time, but I also knew that it was an exciting time, and she was on the ground floor of something special. I didn’t want that marred by some mafioso asshole thugs.