JJ followed me to the small round dining table where I had set up my laptop and papers. We took our seats while Sheldon busied himself in the kitchen.
“Do you like nachos, JJ?” he asked.
“Who doesn’t?”
“A lot of people. Anyway, do you like the jarred stuff or do you melt your own cheese?”
“Both. Greer can make queso like you wouldn’t believe, but he doesn’t always have time to do it, so the jarred kind wins often.”
“Good. I’ll make a plate.”
“You live in the same building as Vail, a man who had a kitchen built so he could feed everyone, and you make nachos with a jar sauce?”
Sheldon’s lips twitched. If JJ wasn’t here, I bet he’d smile. “When he found out how much I loved this stuff…” He held up a jar of it. “He was appalled and insisted on making me some. I tried it, liked it, but told him I prefer what comes in the jar, as long as it’s the good kind. None of that store brand shit. It’s a comfort food.” Sheldon shrugged.
“I bet Vail’s was amazing.”
“All you have to do is tell him you like something processed, and he’ll make it from scratch. But don’t abuse that. Vail is a gift to all of us.”
JJ scoffed, “Like I’d do anything to upset Vail. My old man would be all over me for that. No thanks.”
“Work?” I asked, cutting in. We could be here all day talking about the kinds of snacks Sheldon liked. Granted, it was nice to see him speaking to JJ without freaking him out, but my boss came for a reason. Well, one of my bosses.
“Right,” JJ said. “We noticed you got our accounting up-to-date and more organized than we’ve had it in years. Well done. I’d hand our accountant a box full of receipts and tell him to have at it, but you organized everything in a system and gave him access to it. He called me to tell me.”
It wasn’t that the shop’s books were bad, but they were very behind. They also had an old system they were using that, yes, included a lot of paper receipts. My specialty wasn’t in accounting, but put anything in front of me and I’d figure it out. I loved a challenge.
“I was happy to do it. Now everything should run smoothly. When you get an expense, if it doesn’t already get imported in automatically, you can enter it into the system.”
He chuckled. “Not me. I don’t deal with that shit. Keith is thrilled he doesn’t have to do it. This is all you. Now that you’ve gotten most of that taken care of, I was wondering if you’d like to help me update another part of the shop. The mechanics are working with old tools. That’s not a bad thing at all. They do a damn good job. But I want to do something for them as a thank you. I’d like you to ask them for an inventory of their tools. Tell them it’s for the computer or something. I don’t care, make it up. Give me the list once it’s done, and I’ll go through each one. I don’t want Keith to know, so this will just be between us. It’s way past time for me to say thank you with more than a raise.”
“That’s really nice of you, but you should know I have no idea what most tools even are, let alone their names.”
“I’m aware. With them making the lists, you don’t have to worry about knowing the names. Just put them in a document for me to look over. Given that each mechanic has a specialty, I’d like to get them what they need to do the best job they can.”
“I can do that. I have their phone numbers. Is there anything else? I seem to have more time on my hands. With minimal interruptions, I’m able to get more done.” That was in between zoning out from sitting in the same place and staring at the screen for too long.
JJ pulled a text message up on his phone and began reading it to me. It was a list of items Keith wanted me to look into. I took notes and wrote each one down. There was enough on there to keep me busy for a while. Nothing was an overly big task, but little things added up. I was happy to do them. Not only did it keep me occupied, but I also had a variety to do, which I liked.
When we were done, and Sheldon had deposited a plate of nachos on the table for us to share, JJ leaned back in the seat and looked around.
“This is the first time I’ve been in here,” he observed. “I’m waiting for something to jump out and bite me.”
“I can arrange for Barry to come down and scare you, if that’s what you’re looking for,” Sheldon offered.
“Do you think he likes managing my old man’s security? Doesn’t he do most of that himself?”
“Barry thrives at his job. Yes, your father does a lot; that’s mostly with his upper-tier guards or whatever you want to call them. Barry manages everyone else.”
“Makes sense. Do I get to see it?” JJ asked.
“I’m not showing you my cock,” Sheldon said before shoving a queso-covered chip into his mouth.
“One, I never asked for that. Two, don’t imply that I did. Three, you know damn well that wasn’t what I meant. You have a room in here where you hide your deadly shit. I’d like to see it.”
Cocking his head slightly, Sheldon asked, “Why?”
“Because as much as I want zero to do with the life of crime my old man created, knowing you have a closet of poisons is fascinating.”
