A Year Without You

24 ~ Him

A/N: Tomorrow will be the last update for this story. Again, thanks for reading and the support. Much love, ~Mel.

Him

Day 350 – Towards tomorrow

It was a busy day for my employee and me. We've finally set a date on the soft opening and decided to do it before thanksgiving week. Since the city was slowly flocking with tourist and people returning home for the holiday, it was our best bet.

I was up early in the day, making a few calls for final delivers and Edith, who was the manager of the new branch. From the sound of her voice across the phone, she was more excited about today than I am. For a good few weeks, she had helped me out hiring new employees to manage the new place. We've also given them training and trail runs on the old branch, giving the senior employee a couple days off. At first, I had been doubtful with the new barista Edith had suggested. The twenty-five and six year old barista's had little experience from other coffee shop. Though most of their work experiences were taken from the times they took part time to make extra money, it was a plus. But being full-timers now, I had a bit of doubt. But Edith did test their capability. And she assured me they were more than qualified for the job.

We also hired two part times doing shifts and one to manage the cashier and helped out Edith with the accounts in the evening. It was difficult to find a willing and capable person, but in a fast growing economy, there would be that one person who needed a job – any job as long as it paid the bills.

The new team consisted of Edith, the manager, Leah, the cashier, George and Dan, the baristas; for the part-timers, it was Juliet and Loraine.

When I arrived at the new branch, I wasn't surprised to see nearly everyone present in the room. Edith was hovering over the three full timers, dictating them on where to put where for the last touch up. I bit back my amused grin.

"I hope this bossiness of yours is just a phase, Edith. It'll be a pain to get complains when we haven't officially open the place." I stated teasingly.

"If I start slacking off, they won't deem me as a woman of authority." She replied nonetheless.

"Doesn't the nametag with the manager engraved under it isn't enough for you?"

She briefly glanced down on the said nametag and peered back at me. "No." She adamantly responded. "And Dan's been inquiring about a break during Thanksgiving Day," she added dryly.

I arched my eyebrow and turned towards the man himself, whose back was facing us. He turned from the sound of his name. "I was just asking. It's a holiday, Edith. You can't ask us to work."

"We haven't even started the day, Dan. Why would you even bring it up?" Edith inquired grimly.

"Because my mom called me this morning and ask... And I just thought to ask you on the same day..." he trailed off upon seeing Edith's poker face.

Biting my lip again from laughing, I informed him to ease the tension. "We don't open on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, and New Year Dan. But any other holiday, I compromise unless it is utterly necessary to close the shop."

"Oh, okay..." Dan nodded, relieved at the news.

Edith scoffed and ordered him to clean up the workstation. From the tone of her voice, and the huff of frustration coming from Dan, she might have asked him to do it earlier. Upon witnessing my team cleaning up before opening, I decidedly helped out and wiped out a few tables myself.

An hour later, we all huddled up by the door, a few minutes away from opening time. Before we opened the doors and flipped the sign, I turned and studied each of their faces.