Over the Moon

Goldie & the Bear - 2

Goldie opened the door to the diner with her key. The other employees will be arriving soon. She had to make sure everything was in order for today was the monthly meeting of the Preservation Society, which is run by the Boar brothers.

Goldie loved the three brother builders. She was thrilled when Red and Hunter hired them to build the diner. The place was awesome, a masterpiece in wood and brick. Those three really knew their stuff and had a real appreciation for architecture too.

Bailey, Forest, and Clay were triplets. The brothers were prominent builders in Chicago. Clay had knocked on the door and Goldie came over to it.

"Sorry we're not open yet," she teased and he gave her snort of derision.

What was it with grumpy men this morning? Something in the air? A full moon maybe?

She opened the door for him. "Come on in, Clay. I was only joking. You know our door is always open to you guys."

"It should be... we installed it," Clay said moodily but then relented.  "Sorry Goldie. It's been a rough morning. Our guest speaker never showed and I was really excited about presenting this guy. He's a great architect and a leader when it comes to designing green and with reclaimed materials."

"We used him in consultation on this place. We were going to discuss doing another project together and ways to conserve the building materials of the tear downs we can't save. Hoping to propose to the city that if a building is scheduled for demolition we are allowed to go in first and salvage what we can."

Goldie admired the excitement in Clay's eyes even though she had no idea what he was talking about but he's enthusiasm was contagious.

"Well sorry about that.  Does that mean you won't need the back room today?" Goldie asked.

"No, you know our group, any reason to pig out on Red and Hunter's food is a reason enough to get together. We'll figure out something to talk about I'm sure."

Goldie laughed. "Okay well, why the early surprise?"

"Well when we announced on our website that this guy was coming we had double the amount of sign ups for the meeting so I was wondering can you handle around 20 of us?"

Goldie's eyes widened in surprise, "Yeah... but."

"What's wrong?" Clay asked not liking the look of concern on her face.

"No, don't worry about it. We have the room. I'll work out everything else."

Clay leaned over and kissed her cheek, "Thanks Goldie!"

"Hey! Get your hands off my girl!" Bailey said carrying in a box of flyers for the meeting and Goldie giggled.

"Please in order for her to be your girl you'd have to be dating her and you have a better chance of pigs flying," Clay said following Goldie into the back room.

"Yeah, and we all know she'd prefer brains over brawn any day which is why she'd never pick either of you, uncultured swine. Tell them Goldie... you've been saving yourself for me, right?" Forest said carrying in a white board and stand.

Goldie just shook her head at their nonsense although it was a little flattering that a set of triplets was play fighting over her. None of them actually meant it. Or at least she didn't believe any of it. She had known them for years and they had plenty of opportunity but never took it. She was pretty sure at least two of them were in serious relationships although she couldn't recall which two. 

The wait staff was arriving and Goldie excused herself. Walking into the kitchen she had seen Hunter prepping. "Big group today Hunter, are you sure we can handle this?"

"How big?" Red said, giving her fiancé a kiss before putting on her apron to help prep for the breakfast specials.

"The Boar brothers have a party of twenty coming in?" Goldie said with a slight cringe after saying it.

"Twenty?" Hunter said, "Well food stores are good. I believe we can handle that. Kitchen staff will be under some pressure but I've been kind of hoping for a challenge to test run this kitchen properly."

"Careful what you wish for," Red said.

"Not a problem," Granny added cheerfully,  coming up from the basement bakery. "Got plenty of danishes and goodies to keep those boys happy, until the real grub arrives."

"Oh, but Goldie, what are you going to do about the wait staff?" Red asked concerned. "A party that size will need at least two dedicated waitress to serve them and you know Jill just wiped out on that hill yesterday when her and Jack went roller blading, and she's too banged up to come in."

"I'll do it," Goldie said. All movement in the kitchen stopped.

"What? You?" Hunter asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why not? How hard could it be?" Goldie asked wrapping an apron around her waist, sticking a pen behind her ear and the order book in her apron pocket. 

Well, she looked the part.

Hunter looked to Red for guidance on this one. "Um... Goldie, I'm not sure that's such a great idea."

"Why ever not, if I can manage this place I certainly should be able to handle waiting tables."

Goldie felt bristled when she had seen Granny and Red exchange glances.

"This is pretty high pressure... and well you do have a habit of....well at times you can be a little..."

"Clumsy!" Goldie finished for her, she couldn't help getting her feelings hurt a little. "You trusted me to run this place. Was it because you knew I would do a great job or because you thought it was the place I would do the least amount of damage?"

"It's not like that," Hunter jumped in but Red cut him off, "You know I would never lie to you, Goldie. I knew you would be well suited for the management position because you are so discerning and I knew I could trust you to be fair with the staff when problems would arise, but waiting tables is a whole other ball game. Are you positive you can handle this?"

"I got this," she assured them.

"Okay, then let's get this party started," Red said.