“What?” That made no sense.
“Merrell fuckin’ Barrett just bought out the Bowens.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“Emergency meeting, buddy. You need to get your ass in here.”
I felt like I was going to throw up. If I didn’t suffocate first.
There were handwritten signs on the doors: Closing Early Due to Emergency. We were always open until one, and it was only midnight now, so the guys who weren’t ready to adjourn to the dive bars and the strip joints yet were complaining as they were shown the door.
Cleanup had begun, so I pitched in, as did Cheyenne. We were still helping when Rita stepped into the kitchen and told us to come out front and take a seat.
Everyone was there, people from the morning shift I seldom ever saw, as well as the new guy, Brent, who came and introduced himself.
“I’m sorry about this, man,” he professed. I didn’t know him well enough to tell if he was being sincere or not. And what the hell was he sorry about?
Once we were all seated, Rita stepped in front of us. She had envelopes in one hand, and I felt the pit of my stomach go cold.
“As some of you have probably heard, we’ve been in talks with the Barrett family, or I should say, with Merrell. He’s been wanting to purchase the five-mile strip of land we own for some time now, and to bring several new businesses here to Barrett Crossing.”
Of course Merrell would want to revitalize the town; that only made sense. He’d been away, living in the city. Why on earth would he want to come back and be the mayor of a little Podunk town when he could bring everything he loved here?
“Several retailers have agreed to come to our town,” Rita continued, “and bring with them new growth opportunities, along with many new jobs.”
It was clear she was trying to put a nice spin on the fact that even though we were all out of jobs, we could get shiny new ones just in time for the holidays.
“What’s happening right now?” Cheyenne spoke up, and everyone who had been talking went silent. “Because it’s about two weeks from Thanksgiving, and Christmas is right around the corner, and I need to know what the hell is going on, Rita.”
All eyes on Mrs. Bowen.
“I know you’re all worried,” Rita acknowledged, “but you don’t have to be.”
And without fanfare, right on cue, Merrell Barrett walked in, smiling as big as he had in all his campaign commercials, on the public benches, on the shopping cart placards, and on the billboard at the edge of town.
“It’s so great to see you all,” he announced loudly.
There were lots of questions yelled at him. I was glad I’d sat near the back, beside Ronnie and Kyle.
“You’ll all be glad to hear that Kingman’s will stay Kingman’s,” he assured the room, “though there will be some managerial changes. We’ll also be implementing some new software, which I hope will make everyone’s jobs so much easier.”
Scattered groans and more questions were flung at him.
“You will end your tenure as the Bowens’ employees tonight, so Rita is paying you out through the end of this week, as well as for all your accrued vacation hours.”
I had ten weeks of vacation time accumulated because Rita had let it roll over year after year. She’d never encouraged any of her employees to take time off, since she needed her restaurant to stay open. Not many people had as much as I did, though. It wasn’t like I had a family to take vacations with. So the check would be big, but it would also be my last. And there was no way in hell I would ever work for Merrell Barrett. I felt it then, like a knife in my gut, the end of a part of my life. Kingman’s had been my home when there was no other, and now that too would be gone.
“When you come in tomorrow, you’ll officially be working for Barrett Enterprises. I will be closing the restaurant down over the Thanksgiving holiday for renovations, and will plan to reopen the first of December.”
I tuned out, because I had to figure out where I could go. There weren’t a lot of options in Barrett Crossing, so it might be time to make a move to Sacramento. Betty had been asking me to make changes to my schedule at The Mission, preferring I work three days in a row instead of every other day, so this was probably the time to do that. I could look for a part-time job close to school, and hopefully find an apartment I could afford.
“I know this is short notice, you all,” Rita was saying when I came back from my wandering thoughts. “But you will all still retain your jobs, though the management positions will need to shift around a bit.”