Ocean

Three

I sighed as I exited the seventh place I'd applied to today. Nowhere was looking for help! Except the places I wasn't qualified for, of course.

I decided now was a good time to take a break for lunch, so I headed to Subway and enjoyed a foot long meatball sub. When I was finished, I applied there as well and headed out. I took the long way home, hoping to unwind a little before I had to deal with any problems that may await me.

As I was driving, I noticed a brightly coloured diner just off the road. Pulling in, I saw that it was closing. I walked in and watched as a woman with turquoise coloured hair swept busily at the floor. She looked flustered and tired.

"Hey, can I help?" I asked. She looked up, startled and smiled.

"I would really appreciate that, thanks!"

I smiled and grabbed the broom she offered me. We worked hard and finished up in no time. "Do you want to get a coffee with me?" she asked.

"Sure," I replied gratefully.

"I'm Megan," she introduced herself.

"I'm Lisabeth," I said, "but you can call me Lisa."

So Megan locked up and I followed her to my favourite little coffee shop. Once we were seated and had ordered, Megan sighed. "I'm sorry to dump my workload on you today, I'm just so full on with the diner. I don't even want it!" she confessed.

I frowned, "Then why not sell it?"

Megan sighed, "It was left to me in my aunt's will, one of the requirements was that I have to keep the diner open and pulling a profit for a year. After that, I can do what I want with it."

I smiled at her sympathetically. The poor woman was stuck in a situation she couldn't get out of. And the worst part is that she was stuck alone. Suddenly, a thought struck me. "Megan," I said, "do you think if you had an assistant, you'd make more of a profit?"

"Hang on," she replied, pulling her phone out of her handbag and opening her calculator. Tapping a few numbers into the app, I watched as her eyes widened. "You wouldn't believe the difference in profit I would make."

I grinned, "Want to hire me?" I asked hopefully.

"Would you work for me?" she asked excitedly, "I mean, your pay might be minimum until profits pick up, so would you be willing to help me?"

I laughed, "Of course! What are friends for?"

~*~

I pulled up outside my house with a grin on my face. When Carson saw the happiness emanating from me, he wrapped me up in his arms and kissed the side of my head. "Good news, babe?" he asked.

I hugged him back and breathed his wonderful scent, "Yep. I got another job!" I announced.

"That's great!" he cheered, "Where?"

I extracted myself from his arms and made myself a mocha. "It's a diner a little out of the city. It's called Tia's Place. The woman who runs it inherited it from her aunt on the condition that she keep it open for a year before she can do what she wants with it."

"Well I hope things work out," Carson said. "Have you seen any more of this mysterious hooded stranger?" he asked, concern in his face.

I sighed, "No. I just hope that it wasn't Liam. I don't know if I could stand having him back in my life."

"You won't have to," Carson promised, still holding me, "if he really is hanging around, we'll get a restraining order on him. He won't be getting anywhere near you, Lisa."

I smiled, but inside I was worried. Liam wasn't the type of person to care about a piece of paper telling what he could and couldn't do.

That night, as we lay in bed, Carson and I tried again. We really wanted a baby and were determined to have one. No matter what it took. I fell asleep quickly afterwards, but my dreams were filled with expensive bills, hooded figures and empty cradles.

~*~

Waking up at 8am the next morning, I got dressed, pulled my blonde curls up into a ponytail and headed to Sweet and Sour.

Avery was already there, serving customers left, right and centre. "Hey, Lisa!" she called when I walked in.

"Good morning, Ave," I replied, heading out the back to check stock. Once I noticed that we needed more paper towel, cling wrap, strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate sauce, I rang Megan.

"Hey, Lisa," she answered the phone, "what's up? Please don't tell me you quit!" she pleaded.

I almost laughed. "No," I said, "but I have to make a stock run for the bakery before I can get to the diner, is that okay?"

"Oh," Megan sounded relieved, "yeah that's fine. Get here when you can. I can manage for an hour or so."

I thanked her and hung up, said goodbye to Avery and headed to the supermarket. Grabbing the stock we needed, I paid and delivered it to Sweet and Sour before heading straight to Tia's Place.

When I arrived, I found the place full of people. There were empty cups and food trays all over the place, several dirty tables and even a couple of spills on the floor. If this place was so popular, where were all the staff? It was impossible for anyone to handle this on their own!

"Megan!" I called out, "What's going on? I thought you said you could manage?"

Megan looked flustered and severely disorganised. "I tried!" she exclaimed, "But the place filled up so quickly! I didn't know what to do! I had no idea so many people knew this place!"

Sighing, I went out the back, tied and apron around my waist, grabbed several cloths and a mop and started cleaning.

By the time 6pm rolled around, I was exhausted. But I'd reached a conclusion: Megan was far better suited to be managed than to be a manager.

Hey everyone! So I know it's been absolutely forever, but it's finally up! If there's anyone out there still reading this, *cough* littlepitter01 *cough*, please vote and comment! Let me know if you still like it! Photo at the top is of Megan!<3