Just starting

It has been two weeks since I reopened my inherited Cafe, it's been pretty wild with rushes from the town coming to get a taste of my coffee and food. It's been pretty wild with everyone from town coming to get some of my homemade drinks and coffee for themselves. This put me in confidence that I should have kept in check because week two, has been relatively slow with only a few regulars in the morning and at noon.

Today was calm and not a soul in sight, well except for the Siblings Mary and James, who came today to clean the dining area. I could tell neither of them liked me very much since I kind of changed after being successful. I was more about making that money and I lost a bit of my kindness as the weeks went on. Today though I saw how the first two weeks were just a footnote in what I could take this Cafe. It was getting around about noon when I heard James talking about how I had changed. "He was so kind and generous but he's become a man obsessed with money, I think that's why it's been slow today."

I was upset by what he said then I saw what I had changed in the Cafe, instead of making pots of Tea and Coffee I've been making nothing but small portions. "As of tomorrow, I will go back to how I was, money is not important here," I said slapping myself in the face when Amy came into the Cafe and saw me slap myself. "Jacob are you ok, why did you slap yourself?" She asked me and I looked over at her and asked. "Do you think that success changed me a bit, I feel like, and what I heard from James that I've been collecting on cash rather than what I set ok to earn."

Amy patted my back and then told me, "You have changed but money will do that, it's good you found this out now before you lost yourself." I smiled and vowed to keep my Grandparents Cafe the same but with my own spin. "I can't be them but I can be a healing hand if people in this town need a healing hand. After I talked to her for a while it became 2:00, I walked into the kitchen and confronted James and his sister. "Hey I've been listening to what you two said, and you're right James, I've been chasing that money. I vow today I will be going back to the way it was but I can't do it alone will you two help me?"

James looked spooked at me saying that I heard him but he smiled after a moment, "Yes sir we can help you keep this place, the town needs you more than you know." We closed the Cafe for the day and we all went home, I had my bike today so I took a long way home. I ate the dinner Ma made for me then I took a long shower thinking about what is next for me. "What should I do next, I have the Cafe and the respect from James and his sister.

I went to sleep early and then had that dream of me having a family, also I was in the Cafe was full of friendly faces. Before I knew it I was waking up with the sun, I sat from my bed and looked at myself in the mirror. I had gotten a bit doughy so I got up all the way and I headed down to the front yard. There I started a workout I had been doing when I was in college, after I dropped out of college I had stopped to focus on the Cafe. When I talk to the Dean of the College about why I was dropping out she said to me, "Kid you have a bright future with happiness, if there's a good reason to drop out this is a good one. I wish you the best of luck and keep a cup of coffee waiting for me if I'm ever in that area."

I started to jog around the property for a while till I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was a message from James, "Take your time today getting to the Cafe, We can handle it till you get here." A smile crept across my face then I went inside after replying to him and told him I'd be there at 10:00. I found the paper and sat in a chair in the kitchen, I sat there and read it for a while till it was 9:00 and I got a text from Amy. "Hey do you want to meet me at the Cafe soon, I have a couple of things for you." The text said and I got off the chair and I headed for the door, mom stopped me and said to me, "Have a good day son, your father will need your help when you close the Cafe today."

I hugged her goodbye then I headed to the Cafe, the ride was nice and peaceful, even when I got to the Cafe it was nice. Nothing was odd or troubling it was just normal, like when I first started taking over the Cafe. I got into the Cafe and saw James was cooking in the back and Mary was filling out a couple of orders. I could smell that James was cooking a classic my Grandma used to make, I sat down at the corner of the counter waiting for Mary to notice I was watching them.

She was a practiced hostess, she saw me right away and came to me, "Sir I didn't know you were coming in till 10:00?" She asked me and I laughed a bit, "I'm supposed to meet Amy here for something, but you know how she is, very cryptic." I said to Mary and she agreed about how Amy was, she is not a simple woman. Back when we were kids I thought she was a boy till she came to church in a dress.

I sat back in the chair and I remembered how she was back in the day, always getting into trouble with the local bullies and never listening to her Grandpa. There was a moment in grade school were she punched another girl in the mouth for making fun of me. I had a stutter when I was little and it took years of speech therapy to overcome. She hatted people that made fun of it and she was quick to anger and fight people on my behalf. It went both ways, if anyone teased her about being a tomboy I'd just say, "At least she is not afraid to get dirty like your sorry city boy butt." To some of the guys who had never worked in a field for a whole day.

Amy came into the Cafe and saw me just sitting at the counter drinking a cup of ice tea. Then she saw it wasn't busy at all, but there were still customers, "Shouldn't you be working with them, Jacob?" She asked me and I pulled up a seat next to me and she sat right down to my right. "Yeah I would be but James told me to relax and to come in at 10:00. Though you asked me to be here now and they are doing good right now, so what did you want to talk about today?" I responded to her and she brought out a clipboard from her bag that she brought in.

"I'm here to talk about what I can get you for produce and better coffee from a local source and not from thoughts that are too expensive."She showed me everything that cost me more compared to what she could get me for half of the price. I looked over the products listed on her clipboard and then asked her, "Can I see these for myself, I can't make a good decision based on price alone." She had me follow her to a small box truck in the front of the Cafe. I opened the back and jumped into the truck looking at everything, I checked every box and create.

I looked at her and I grabbed my checkbook, right there I wrote out a check for the truck and told her to bring me product every week on Monday. She accepted the check and I brought in all of the products myself. James saw the product was different than the usual stuff, but he liked what he saw. "Sir these are pretty fresh, where did you get them, these can't be all from Amy.' He asked me and I just shook my head, Then I had an idea that I said out loud. "Maybe I should hire a couple more people to help out so the Park siblings can work the front of the house more." James looked at me and thought that might be a good idea too, for it got very slow in the middle of the week. Maybe they could get a day off if I employed a couple more people.

For the next couple of days, I put an ad for new positions at my little Cafe, other than that I spent most of my time watching from the counter. I only jumped in to help when I was needed, it was like I actually a business owner. No one accepted the ad but I continued on hoping that someone would come to help us. Day in and day out, I'd spend my time in the back coming up with new tea ideas and James would cook as his sister would take care of everything up front. some days right at noon when no one was in the Cafe but me and my employees, Amy would come in to spend some time with me.

I usually would be sitting at the counter drinking the last cold pitcher of tea, she would sit down with me and show me the pictures of her animals. She managed her Grandpa's farm and was a manager at the place where I got my produce. I loved that time with her but I thought she was getting too close to me, this was fine though. I've been close to her since I was a kid so this was like old times but a lot different since we are adults now. After she left I would head over to the church's graveyard and spend a moment telling my Grandparents how my first three weeks being back were. Some people who passed by saw me talking to myself and then saw I was talking to the graves in front of me. "I hope you guys watch over me for the remainder of the time I own your Cafe, I still don't know if I keep what you built."