“You know who you should ask?Flo.I bet she knows just about anyone worth knowing here.”
“That’s a great idea.”Jamie pulled the small notebook close and wrote a note to himself.“I’ll text her in the morning.What do you have on tomorrow?”
“The painters are coming back to do the dining room of the diner.I hope you liked what they did in the kitchen.It’s just what you asked for.Nothing but bright white.I think it looks like an operating room.”Joesph looked at his own notebook.“The color in the dining room is a creamy version of eggshell white.Simple and clean.”
“That sounds perfect.”Jamie looked over his water glass at Joesph.“Will they put up a sheet of plastic between the two rooms?”
“They did already.”Joesph looked at his notes.“They’ll also have a crew to start prepping the exterior.Then the outside will be painted the day after.”
Jamie wrote that down.“Signs?”
Joesph harrumphed.“Why don’t I just email you the schedule so you can quit asking me?”
Jamie laughed.“You should have done that sooner.I can add that to my spreadsheet.”
“Do you have a spreadsheet for everything?”Joesph asked as he typed away.“There.Sent.”
“Thank you.”
“You’ll see that I have calculated it so that the entire renovation is done before the staff come back.Not doing the apartment exterior has helped with the timeline.”
Jamie opened his computer.“Got it.I’ll be able to keep up now, I think.”
“I went and saw Terry this morning.I asked her for some referrals for the new building and the apartment plans.”
“What did she say?”Jamie closed his laptop.
“She said that she knew someone who could do the new build, and she’s already sent me that information.I didn’t get any info from her about the apartment, though.”
Jamie sat for a moment.“Maybe we should hold off on that then.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Joesph said, nodding.“My idea is to get the new build done, with an apartment upstairs.That way you’d have a place to live while the apartment here is being redone.”
“Oh, now that’s a good idea.I mean, if that’s okay with you?”
“Of course it is.”Joesph looked down, his hands folded on his lap.“I also have abitof news.Bignews.”
“Okay, what?”Jamie sat back and sipped his ice water, the condensation wetting his hand.
“The office called me today after I got back from the hardware store.They demanded I come back to work next Monday.”
“Well...that was bound to happen.With the schedule you sent me, I think I can manage on my own.If not, I can always call you.”
Joesph looked up.“I quit.”
“Do what?”Jamie sat up straight.
“I told them I wasn’t coming back.I sent an email to follow that up, saying I was resigning, effective immediately.”
Jamie couldn’t hold his smile back.“That’s great news!”
“I have to admit, it felt good.Right even.And then I...well, I’m a little scared.Striking out on my own, not knowing anyone here and...I’m just scared shitless to be honest.”
“You need to have a little more faith in yourself.I felt the same way when I first decided I was moving back and taking over the diner.Then the pieces just started falling together.”Jamie leaned in further, closer to the table.“It’s going to be alright.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“What did your boss say?”
