Jamie thought a moment.“I’d like to do it later if that’s okay with you, Mr.Brown.”Jamie took off the ball cap he was wearing and scratched his head.“It’s been...It’s been a very long day and right now, I think I’d like to go down to the bar and have a stiff whiskey.”
Glenn Brown folded up the documents and placed them back into the inside pocket of his suit coat.“Would you mind if I joined you?”He shook his head slightly.“Even having been told what the outcome was going to be, it was still...unsettling.”
“It would be my pleasure, Mr.Brown.”Jamie shook hands with the attorney.“I do have to do a bit of a cleanup, so would it be okay with you if we met in say...”Jamie looked at his watch.“An hour, maybe an hour and a half?”
“That would be perfect, actually.I’ll take my family home, and I will see you there.”
Jamie walked Mr.Brown back out to the dining room where his family sat talking with the staff, there was laughter, which settled down when the pair entered the dining room.
“Oh, to have been a fly on the wall inthatmeeting!”Flo laughed as she put her feet, which had been resting on a nearby chair, on the floor.“Marlene lit out of here like her butt was on fire!”Everyone had a good chuckle or outright laughed as they all stood up.
“Has everything been cleaned up already?”Jamie asked.He looked around the dining room.“Wow, people left quicker than I thought they would.”
Walter frowned at him.“Of course it has.”
“We pushed them out so we could close up.”Flow stood.“There’s already a sign on the door saying we’d be closed tonight.”
Jamie glanced around the dining room and nodded.“Looks good to me.Mr.Brown and I are going down to Smitty’s if anyone would like to join us.Drinks on me.”
“Well, that’s a definite improvement,” Flo said as she headed for the staff room to change.“Count me in.”
“Ms.Mattie would be fit to be tied,” Dexter chuckled.“I’d be happy to join you, boss.”
“I’m there,” Walter said grinning.“We have to toast the old girl even if she disapproves.”
“Okay.”Was all Timmy said.
“I’d be happy to give the ol’ gal a toast too,” Hazel said as she hustled after Flo.“This is gonna be fun.”
“I...I’ll have just one,” Minnie grinned shyly and left to change.
“I’m going to go and change my clothes,” Jamie announced.“I stink like grease.”
Glenn Brown and Jamie shook hands again.When he and his family left, Jamie locked the door and headed back towards the kitchen.When he got to the back door, Salzy was standing there, leaning against it.
“Hey,” he said to Jamie.“I’ve had a last-minute schedule change, so I won’t be heading out for four days.Everyone seemed to have things under control down here, so I went and had a nap.I didn’t get much sleep trying to get here as fast as I could.”
“Cool.We’re all going down to Smitty’s for a drink.Want to join us?”Jamie asked.
“A drink?”Salzy laughed.“Your grandmother is rolling in her grave.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve never been much of a churchgoer,” Jamie snickered.“We’re going to toast her whether she likes it or not.I just want to change clothes.Maybe have a shower.I smell like a kitchen.”
Salzy laughed.“Well, you’ve been in one all day.”
“I’d still like to have a look when you have a chance,” Jamie stated, tilting his head towards the big truck as he pulled off the cooks shirt, tossed it in the clothes hamper next to the back door.
Salzy looked at the floor for a second and back towards Jamie.“Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I would have sworn you were your grandmother reincarnated.You move the same way.You talk the same way.It was like...it’s like you were her.”
Jamie pushed Salzy away from the door and opened it.“I’m going to take that as the best complement ever.”
“It was meant as one.”Salzy watched as Jamie locked the back door and made his way to the outside stairs.“I’ll just hang out here while you change.”
Jamie nodded and climbed the stairs.Stairs that looked as if could use some repairs and a good coat of paint.
* * * * *
Jamie had a shot ofwhiskey, neat.He nursed it before Walter proposed a toast.He’d already had a brief conversation with Mr.Brown where they’d agreed for Jamie to go to his office after lunch service the following day.
