“Have to stay here, yes,” Remy said, nodding.
“That’s not going to work,” Myles said at the exact same time as I spoke.
“We can’t both be here at the same time.”
“Why not?” Remy asked.
“Because we both take turns managing the store,” I told him.
“Has there ever been a time when the two of you both couldn’t go to work for a couple days?” Remy asked.
“Yeah,” I said, nodding.
“When we had the flu,” Myles explained.
“Did the place fall apart?” Remy asked.
“No…” I said, not liking where this was going.
“Well, you both have the flu,” Remy said, shrugging.
“It’s not even flu season,” I insisted.
“You really think your employees are going to question you?” Remy asked, shaking their head. “They will probably be happy to get a few days without the bosses watching over their shoulders.”
“Hey,” I grumbled, a little hurt at the idea of the rest of the people at the shop thinking of me that way.
“We’re fun bosses,” Myles said.
“You’re still bosses,” Lou piped in. “I’m with Remy. They will likely be happy about it if you have enough employees to cover your shifts.”
Myles and I looked at each other, both of us rolling through the employee records, coming to the same conclusions.
If we shuffled some schedules around, yes, we had more than enough employees. Especially since Myles had just hired a guy from the list of applications because, as he said, “He came in to check on the status of his application, and that is go-getter type shit.”
Sure, he would be new and green and need a lot of training, but many of our employees had been around at least a year. They knew the ins and outs. It would all shake out.
“They know they can call or text anytime,” Myles said, speaking my thoughts out loud. “And we have the cameras if we are that worried.”
“That’s true,” I agreed, nodding, but my whole body was still tense.
“What’s still got you worked up about it?” Remy asked as he moved into the kitchen to unstack the bowls I had put next to the sink from the dogs’ dinner, and putting them into the sink, running the water, then putting in some soap.
Like it was his job to do.
I wasn’t, you know, accustomed to men who just… took charge. Who did what needed to be done. At least in my personal life. At work, Myles did as much work as I did. But with old partners, I always had to hint at or ask someone to do something. It was almost like they somehow didn’t see the overflowing garbage can until I requested they take it with them when they were heading out.
But Remy?
Remy just saw a task that needed to be done and… did it.
What was that about?
“Is it your parents?” he asked when I moved closer, ready to insist that I could take care of the bowls.
“I… well… yes.”
“They left you in charge, didn’t they?” Remy asked, glancing over at me. “They trust you. So at this point, it seems like you need to learn to trust yourself.”