Page 102 of Waiting Game

“You didn’t know?” Beanpole snorts. “Chuck always had to bribe them.”

Tiredly, I rub my eyes. “I refuse to cheat.” Inwardly, I curse Chuck before I continue, “Right, so a deep clean, some paint, and what type of memorabilia?”

“I think we should focus on two sports. I vote for hockey,” Jarvis chimes in. “Since the Liberties became the Stars, it’s getting more popular in the city.”

Ugh.

“Isn’t football more popular? You know Jason Griggs will be a pain if we settle on another sport.”

“Hockey fans are loyal,” Larry reasons, casting a look at Jarvis, who’s nodding eagerly. “You get them in here, they’re hooked for life.”

I tap my nails on the table. “Idolike the sound of that.”

“You could split the place down the middle.” Dionne points to the bar which, admittedly, is in the very center. It means that we have 360 degrees of seating. “You could have one half for baseball and one half for hockey.”

“But that limits the seating.”

Dionne frowns at Beanpole. “If that section is full, the other half can be the overflow.” Then, she rolls her eyes. “It’s not rocket science. I’m sure patrons wouldn’t mind.”

My lips curve at her tone—she tends to speak to everyone like they’re one of her kids. “I love the sound of that.

"We may have to throw some of the stuff on the walls away because it might crumble to dust after it’s disturbed for the first time in decades.” I tap my nails on the table. “Half the room means we can make up for the lack better. But what about the hockey memorabilia? I don't have much money to burn on the theming. Even I know hockey equipment is expensive so, in turn, the memorabiliahasto be costly.”

“I can scope some out for you?” Jarvis queries. “I love hockey so it’s no hardship for me to do that.”

“If it's online, do the scoping during quiet periods at the bar. I don’t want you working on your own time, okay?”

He beams a smile at me. “That’s fine. I’ll get started tonight.”

“Perfect. I have some money set aside for it, but, like I said, not much. So if you can focus on smaller, cheaper pieces that'll fill up the space then we can try to save up for something worth having.”

“Sounds great to me,” Jarvis confirms.

“We could go with posters too,” Beanpole adds. “Old ones and new. They’re cheap. We should stick to the Stars?—”

Words fading, he blushes bright red as Larry mumbles, “Way to go, Beanpole.”

I grimace. “It’s fine. It makes no sense not to be aligned with the city’s team, even if the new GM is an old member of staff.”

One I helped screw over.

Dionne and Jarvis peer around the table in confusion, which makes sense because she’s the one who replaced Gracie, and Jarvis came after.

Not wanting to get into it and aware they’ll gossip once I’m gone, I murmur, “‘Stars’ themed it is. As for the menu, I want to diversify some more. The monster burgers are selling, right?”

Beanpole gags. “They’re fucking disgusting. Who wants sprinkles on their burger?”

“It’s making a name for us,” I argue, ignoring the old curmudgeon. “We need to keep that up. Maybe we could start dedicating burgers to teams or players?”

“The Gehrig Gherkinator,” Jarvis throws out.

I snicker. “Yeah, shit like that.”

Beanpole mock retches. “I can’t believe people order that. I love pickles, man, but there’s such a thing as too much.”

“Stop bitching. People enjoy them. Right, let’s brainstorm.”

The meeting goes well despite running behind which means we open Chuck’s late.

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