Jesse was particularly excited about the idea of the carnival night. It sparked his imagination, and he had been spending hours in the kitchen coming up with new ideas. When he came back a few minutes later with an assortment of fried foods made into miniatures, I invited him to sit across the table from me. He looked nervous when he lowered himself down into the booth.
“Is everything okay?” he asked. “Am I going too far?”
I laughed. “No. Not at all. I think everything you’re coming up with is amazing. Every single time we have theme nights, I hear so many people making comments about the food. They can’t wait to see what’s on the menu and try everything. I know you source some of the things from restaurants and bakeries around here, but you have also come up with some really incredible things on your own.”
He blushed a little and looked away. “Thanks. I’m really enjoying it.”
“So, I wanted you to be the first one I talked to about this. Other than Mason, of course. He and I have looked over the budget a few times and talked about some things, and we were thinking that we would hire another bartender so you could spend all your time in the kitchen rather than up front,” I said.
“Really?” he asked, sounding almost like he was afraid to be excited about it. “Do you really think that would work?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “The money is there. We’ve gotten so much business recently we can afford to pay somebody else, and if there’s another person behind the bar, that means you can focus all your time in the kitchen. And to help you out even more, Mason is thinking about hiring a cook as well.”
“That would be amazing,” Jesse said. “Thank you so much.”
“No, Jesse, thank you for being amazing enough to get us to this point. I can’t wait to see what else you come up with,” I said.
Just as he was jumping up and giving me a hug, Tom came in. Jesse greeted him and ran back into the kitchen. I laughed and Tom came to sit across from me.
“What was that all about?” he asked.
“We were just talking about some of the upcoming plans for the bar. I told him that the budget is looking good enough to hire another bartender so he doesn’t have to be behind the bar so much, and another cook to help him out in the kitchen,” I said.
“He seems really happy about that,” Tom said.
I nodded. “He’s been amazing in the kitchen. I don’t think he even realized how much he enjoys cooking until he was forced to do it here. But he has a lot of natural skill. And he’s unbelievably creative. His food is one of the highlights of our theme nights. As a matter of fact, these are some of the things he’s come up with for our next one.”
I gestured to the baskets of food in front of me, and Tom grabbed one of the little funnel cakes to try.
“That’s delicious,” he said. “What’s the new theme night?”
“Carnival,” I told him. “It’s going to be all decorated and we’ll have some games and things. It should be a lot of fun.”
“Can I see the plans you’re working on?” he asked.
I slid some of the papers over toward him and dug into the assortment of fried foods Jesse brought me while Tom looked over everything. He shifted the plans for the carnival theme to the side and went over the budget I had been working on. He nodded.
“This all looks really exceptional, Ava. I’m thoroughly impressed.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“So, I’ve been thinking.”
I gave him a questioning look. “Okay.”
“I want you to be the general manager here,” he said.
I leaned back, shaking my head. “Oh, Tom, I’m not so sure about that.”
“Why not? You already do all this work, and you’re clearly amazing at it. You’re perfect for the position,” he said.
“That’s not why I came to work here. I just wanted something to help me take care of my parents. Mason runs the place just fine with all the other guys helping him,” I said.
“That’s the thing. Mason isn’t supposed to be the manager,” Tom said. “From the very beginning, everybody’s been trying to split all of the duties between them. Mason just happened to be the one who was the best at numbers, so he handles all that stuff. But everybody’s cooperating. I’ve wanted there to be an official manager who wasn’t family from the beginning. And you’re exactly what this place needs.”
“Please say you’ll do it,” Matt said from behind me. I didn’t even realize he was standing there, and I turned around to look at him. “You’re perfect for it.”
“Seriously, Ava,” Tyler said, coming up behind him. “You’ve transformed this place. It wouldn’t be anything like this if you hadn’t come along. With you as manager, there would be no limit to what we can do.”