Nothing Good Gets Away

Chapter 7

ROWAN BASS

The bakery is in full swing with my team working hard to test both my recipes and equipment in the kitchen, and my full staff is in the front of the store getting acquainted with the iPad Point of Sale system I had installed with the cash register. I made the ultimate decision that their only uniform requirement is to wear all black, but their style was otherwise their own.

They seem happy, I think. I did my best to make every one of them feel welcome with me, but I had to have a long conversation with my business manager about what it means to be a boss and a business owner. Katherine isn't the warmest person I've ever met, but she's not necessarily a tyrant either. Needless to say, I took her advice with a grain of salt and mostly turned to my dad for his wisdom instead.

As a four-time restaurant owner who has spent years building the best team and learning how to be a successful boss, he told me that the best thing I can do is be approachable, be a good listener, understand what's important to me, and be myself. Given his Michelin stars, I trust him.

"So? How are you feeling?" Katherine asks me as I watch my employees mingling with each other behind the counter.

"Oh," I sigh and glance around the place, "I'm feeling good, yeah. I'm excited."

"Well, you're all set up for success here," she smiles tightly and gestures with both arms. "You did a great job with marketing as well, so it seems like plenty of people are excited."

"I hope so," I chuckle faintly as I peer over my shoulder to see the people curiously looking in from the outside, but then my phone starts to buzz sporadically in my back pocket.

3:00 PM
HARRY'S COUCH DELIVERY

"Oh, shoot," I silence the alarm and grab my purse from the table beside me, "I have to go, but you'll be here until 9:00, right? I'm sure I'll make it back by then, but my neighbor asked me to be there when his couch is delivered, and it's supposed to–"

"I'll be here," she gently cuts me off, seemingly exasperated by my rambling.

"O-okay, great, thank you," I turn to leave and find my car parked on the street.

Harry texted me this morning to let me know that he gave the delivery service my phone number as a point of contact, but they haven't reached out to me yet by the time I parked my car in the complex's garage. While I'm waiting, I promptly take Scout outside so he can use the bathroom and get some time in the sun and fresh air.

"I might have to find you a puppy-sitter, huh?" I ask him as I crouch down to give him some attention. "Think I'm about to have some long days and late nights if the opening even goes well. And I think it will, but you never know with these things. Could be a total bust for all I know."

Scout just blinks at me and rolls over onto his back to let me scratch his belly. It's then that I get the phone call from a number I don't have saved in my phone, so I answer to hear a man's husky voice on the other line.

"Is this Mrs. Styles?"

My eyes widen as I open my mouth, taken completely off guard by the unexpected question. "Uh...no, this is Rowan Bass. I'm Harry Styles' neighbor...the one who's supposed to get his couch for him?"

"Oh, my bad. Thought he said it was his wife, but we've been making a lot of deliveries today. Anyway, we're about five minutes out from the apartment complex. Just wanted to let you know."

"O-oh, okay," I glance at my phone screen with another incoming call from none other than Sienna. "Okay, just park in front of building one and I'll let you guys in. Thank you."