Joke's on You (SWAT Generation 2.0 6)

It was great for business, but it also meant I had to deal with his stupid ass more than I wanted to.

He wasn’t an awful person, it was just like hiring a random person off the streets to teach a college-level algebra class. You had to have some general understanding of what was going on to make it work, and the councilman really didn’t have that general understanding at all.

“That was a bad week,” Booth admitted. “We’d gone on a SWAT call and the councilman had decided that he needed to be there at the SWAT call. Just to see how it all worked. And he almost got himself shot.”

Bourne chuckled. “And, sorry, but that was me who taught him that little diddy. I had to save the man’s stupid ass from getting shot and had sprained my ankle in the process. I wasn’t a happy person at that moment in time.”

I grinned.

“It’s funny now,” I admitted. “Then, while I was staring the man in the eyes? Not so much.”

“Why don’t you open your shop on the weekends?” Belle asked. “Statistically, you’d make quite a bit more money on the weekends since more people are able to get over there and buy donuts. In fact, I’d bet you’d make just as much on the weekends as you do on the weekdays.”

I shrugged. “I love my little donut shop, but I don’t want it to be my life. I want to be able to enjoy my weekends. If I have to work all day, then how will I do that?”

Belle frowned. “Then why not work only on the weekends and take the weekdays off?”

That idea had merit, but…

“Most people have the weekends off,” I admitted. “At the time, my thinking was this. If my husband worked the weekdays, and had the weekends off, and I worked practically the opposite, how would we spend any time whatsoever together?”

Belle nodded. “But the thing is, Booth works a rotating shift. He’s off one weekend and works the next. So, I mean, technically you can work whenever you want. But it makes more sense to just work the two days every weekend and have more time with him during his off days during the week than it does to work the opposite. During the week you’ll have three days with him. During the weekend, you’ll only have two.”

That was true.

“And, when you have kids, you’ll be off during the week to get them on and off the bus. Do homework with them. Take them to soccer practices and kid’s CrossFit like Booth does with Asa. It’s way more convenient,” Belle continued as if she hadn’t just mapped out my life for me.

“Also, I’ve heard that you have to turn a lot of work down on Saturdays for the specialized donuts. That’s almost triple what you make when someone buys a regular donut. That means you get to really do what you love, because then you’re decorating pretty donuts and not just making them. Which I know isn’t your favorite thing. Which means you’ll be happier and wealthier. Not to mention your kids won’t see you as stressed, and when Booth finally asks you to marry him—because we all know that’s where this is going since he’s been in love with you for forever—he won’t have to listen to you whine because you have to get up at three, five days a week, instead of at three, two days a week. I really don’t see any way for you not to switch your hours at this point. Plus, it’ll give you way more time to read, which is always a good thing. Right?” Belle looked at me then, almost as if she’d forgotten that she was addressing my life. “Do you want to go out to lunch next week to discuss that book? I’d like to ask your advice on a few things.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

“Jesus, Belle-Belle. You just changed her life and you expect her to be able to talk after that as well as make coherent thoughts? You literally just married her off to Booth, made her have kids, multiple in fact, and then you made her a millionaire,” Heath teased.

“I didn’t make her a millionaire.” She narrowed her eyes. “But, if you’re interested in becoming a millionaire off of making donuts, I know someone that’s more than willing to restructure your accounts to make it happen. But, he’s kind of finicky. His name is Barney. One wouldn’t think that he’d be so smart based off of his name, but the same could be said for me. Our parents named me Belle, and people think that I’ll be sweet and fun to talk to. But I’m not.”

My head was spinning with her words.

She was right.

If I worked two days a week, Saturday and Sunday, things would make a whole lot more sense.