“Everything is fine,” Josiah reassured them. “Nothing bad is happening, I swear.”
Drea slumped against the bar and banged her forehead against the shiny worn surface. “Maybe lead with that next time, boss.”
“Please,” Myra snarked.
“Okay, I know I alarmed you all and I’m sorry. But I think these might help you feel better.” He handed each of them an envelope with a check inside. He’d already given the cleaners theirs, so it was just the core group around him, looking stunned.
“W-what?” Elena squeaked. “This is… what is this?”
“It’s a bonus. I know it’s not a lot—”
“Holy shit, Josiah! This is a lot of money for us all, you got to know that!” Drea stared at him, eyes wide and a little wild.
“Okay, so here’s an explanation for why this is happening.” In the next hour, they all had coffee and he explained the story of how he’d come to have almost two hundred thousand dollars in his bank account.
“And you just… thought you’d give us all enough to….” Myra was still at loss of words.
“Yes. Now, I know it’s not enough to stop working or anything like that, but I know you guys have debts and responsibilities and these are tough times.”
Nelson looked away from everyone and surreptitiously wiped his cheeks. They all knew he might be the one whose life this extra money affected the most, but nobody would pay attention to that fact unless Nelson wanted to talk about it.
“I can get my face fixed now,” Drea said almost too quietly for anyone to hear.
Yolanda glanced at her sister and then at Josiah, tears filling her eyes. Josiah could’ve bet all the money he had left from the sale on that having been Yolanda’s first thought, too.
“You get to use it in any way you want, sweetheart,” Josiah choked out.
He wasn’t even a bit surprised when Drea rounded the bar and dove into his arms. He knew that Drea had wanted to alter her facial features for years, but that finding a good plastic surgeon who would help her look more feminine wasn’t easy or cheap. Then the fire had tried to eat into her savings and… yeah.
“If you find a really good doc but need a bit more money, let me know. Seriously. I’d rather you have this done correctly.” He kissed her forehead and held her until she could stop crying.
The others had started to talk about what they would use the money for. Myra wanted to pay off some of her student loans. Elena would get a car that would take her and her kids safely from place A to place B instead of breaking down each month.
The fact that he had made a true difference, whether it was for Nelson’s old medical bills, Drea’s future surgery to look even more like her sister, to all the other things, hit Josiah.
He cleared his throat and let Drea go to grab a glass of water for himself.
“I’m also going to do some renovations here, so I want you guys to come up with a list of things you think need change.” Before they got out of hand with their ideas, he lifted a hand. “The staff room gets first improvements. After that, I take suggestions.”
Drea got out her notebook and tore off a page while the others migrated to one of the booths and got extra chairs out for their planning session.
“I’ll go get us all something to eat and some fancy coffees. Want to make me that list first?” Josiah asked Drea who smiled and gestured at him to just go.
“I’ll text you on your way there.” Then she gazed at him, her lip wobbling, and said, “I know you’re nowhere nearly old enough to be our dad, but this is kind of what I think it would feel like to have a truly supportive father figure. You and Denny. So, thank you.” She dashed to the booth before he could reply.
Since he didn’t know how he would’ve replied to something like that anyway, he walked out of the bar.
Things started to get better. Therapy helped both him and Denny to deal with things. Denny’s coming out had been a bit of a mess, but his mom was coming around, and his dad now made a point to call Denny weekly.
The summer was hot as hell, which meant that everyone and their aunt was suffering from it.
In the middle of making sure everything was ready for opening, Yolanda noticed it first; Hare’s AC had broken too.
Maybe he should’ve been better prepared, given that the customers had told them several stories about broken down ACs and how hard it was to get them repaired at the moment, but he just hadn’t had the time.
“Oh no,” Yolanda said when she realized the air wasn’t moving anymore.
“Shit.Fuck.” Yes, Josiah could be eloquent when he wanted to be. “Okay, okay… I’ll call a guy and… just okay. Prepare to open like normal. It’s Wednesday and we’re all early, so it gives us some time.”
