One Plus Two Equals... - 17

Duane woke to bright sunshine, which did little to alleviate his dark mood. He was angry with himself for what he'd done to Julyan the night before. He should have explained rather than just dashing off. Not that there was any explanation the younger man could have understood, to say the least of accepted.

How do I get myself into situations like this?

"Simple, I do what I'm ordered," he replied aloud to his thought.

Sighing, he got up and began his day. Several hours later he was feeling a bit better. The restaurant was as busy, if not more so, than it had been on opening day. He recognized several of the customers from yesterday which he hoped meant people liked the place enough to keep returning.

"If this keeps up, you're going to have to hire more people," Julyan commented cheerfully.

Duane nodded at Julyan's words. "I'd rather do that than have to let some of you go once the newness wears off and the customers return to their regular eating haunts. Or even have to shut down if it falls flat."

"Yeah, well…" Julyan frowned as he hurried off, putting a smile on his face again while greeting a new couple being seated in his section.

Duane watched him and felt like a heel for bringing him down but what he'd said was the truth as far as it went. The restaurant wasn't going to close, that was a given, but for all that he'd put his heart into creating the place, it was just another endeavor in a long line of them with which he'd been involved and then had to walk away from.

Pushing his morose thoughts to the back of his mind for now, Duane headed to his office, taking a detour into the kitchen first to be certain everything was under control there. He smiled as he watched Maxine and Phil working together like a well-oiled machine to get the orders out with the help of their two assistants. He realized as he left he'd done well with his hires. When he had to move on, whoever took over would be walking into a restaurant which was successful and would remain so.