Page 26 of Drunk Girl

“That’s awesome, man. I know you’ve been wanting to get that done. Finding a woman who just fits into your life so easily is a plus. Sounds like she isn’t one of the high-maintenance ones nor a drama queen, who needs all the attention on herself.”

“Not at all. She’s so laid-back and easy to talk to,” I tell my brother honestly. I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket, so I pull it out to check who’s trying to reach me.

Ash:I got an interview this afternoon at 2. I’ll call you when I’m done. Wish me luck!

Nick:That’s awesome! Good luck, whoever it is will be lucky to have you. Can’t wait to hear how it goes. Where is it at?

Ash:It’s with the temp agency I called. They have a receptionist position they need to fill for a client.

Nick:That’s awesome, Ash! Good luck!

Ash:Thanks! ;) I’m rushing around trying to get ready for it. I’ll text or call you later.

I slip my phone back in my pocket and look up to see my brother staring at me from across the desk.

“Damn, boy, you are a goner.”

“So what. You’re the same damn way with Katie,” I tell him.

“Did I hear my name?” my sister-in-law says as she walks in the office, Starbucks cup in hand.

“Just reminding this one,” I say, pointing at her husband, “that he is putty in your hands. He’s giving me shit over a girl.”

“Oooh… tell me more,” she says, rounding the desk and sitting on Kaiden’s lap.

“I’m seeing someone, her name is Ashley. You met her the other night.”

“I got that much,” she muses. “Hey, hands off. You said you didn’t want anything when I offered,” she says to Kaiden as he tries to steal her cup.

“That’s because you always share with me,” he says, pretending to pout and she gives in, laughing as he takes her cup.

“Okay, can we get down to business?” I ask, breaking up their moment.

“Yep.” Kaiden kisses his wife quickly, then helps her stand and hands back her coffee cup.

“I’ll leave you boys to take care of things. I’m going to go get some stuff done at home. I want to meet this girl, get to know her outside of the bar. Make sure she’s good enough for you,” she says to me.

“I’ll see what we can do. Maybe the four of us can do dinner sometime soon.”

“Sounds like a plan. Wednesday night would work for us,” she says, pointing between her and Kaiden.

“I’ll see if that works for her schedule,” I say to her retreating back, then turn back to Kaiden, all-business. “Okay, so how was the weekend?”

“It was a good one. I’ve got the sales data already input into QuickBooks and am working on the deposits. We profited a few grand this weekend, a nice increase over last weekend, as we’ve successfully done the past six weeks in a row. We’re on par to more than double our income this year. I’m really happy with our success. The advertising we’ve done has really been paying off these last few weeks. We should have done it a long time ago, but we can’t turn back time now.”

“I’m glad to hear that this weekend was so profitable. It sure was busy in here on Friday and Saturday night.”

“I’ve started putting together the ad we talked about last week to start advertising for the open bartender position. I’d like to get that filled sooner rather than later, if we can. We might even consider hiring two new people, and another server for the floor for the busy nights.”

“Can we afford all that?” I question Kaiden.

“I wouldn’t be suggesting it if we couldn’t. None of those positions would be full-time, so no benefits would be provided. But I think having more staff will help eliminate the stress on us some and will allow us to serve customers that much faster, which will help us attract more patrons. Word of mouth will get out, and I think we’ll continue to see an increase in our profit, even with the additional payroll. We might take a hit at first, but I think it really is the best move for us.”

“You’ve obviously crunched the numbers, and you’ve never led me wrong with them thus far. So, I say we go ahead with your plan and look to add three new employees.”

“I knew you’d see things my way,” he says on a laugh.

“What are your thoughts on us looking into finding a space to start the brewery portion of our business? I was talking to Ashley about it a little last night, and that got me thinking about it again. I know we’d put it on our five-year plan, but with how well things are going, do you think we could move it up?”

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