When I woke up Wednesday morning face to face with Zena, I knew the day would go well. She helped confirm this by waking at the same time and moving even closer, tighter, to give me some loving kisses.
As soon as the kisses started, the morning wood turned to steel poking up between Zena's closed legs. She whispered, "So your little head wants to come in?"
I whispered back, "It definitely wants to come, and it would much prefer to be in than out, when it does."
Zena lifted her leg and my dick sprang up to lie against her moist lips. We kept kissing and Zena maneuvered her hips to catch the head with her outer lips and pushing at me to slide into her warm body. Once completely inside, Zena slowly fucked me while we continued kissing.
Our position must have been perfect for her to receive the maximum stimulation, as her breathing quickly became ragged and her hip movements became more erratic.
Hooking her leg behind me and with her arms around me, Zena pulled me to be on top of her, and still kept up her hip movement, sliding almost out, then completely back into her until the head of my dick met the end of her channel. With her completely wrapped around me, she whispered, "Do it harder, faster, make me cum, cum in me."
Shannon's head appeared from one side, trying to get at one of Zena's stiff nipples. That was all the stimulation Zena needed to go off, or should I say get off, in a way that no one could doubt that she enjoyed a massive orgasm. As she began coming down from her peak, she whispered, "Come in me, Tommy, shoot your love into me, fill me."
That was enough and with the first blast of sperm into her, Zena came again while feeling the warmth of my juices rush into her.
As we both relaxed after the wonderful early morning release, Shannon was kissing both of us. She was telling Zena, "One more day and I'm going to need both of you. You two have made me constantly want both of you."
We separated to use the bathroom and begin showering. Zena told Shannon, "If you're really horny, this is the place to take care of it. You can fuck all you want in the shower and the evidence just washes down the drain. No muss, no fuss, no stains, just a satisfied pussy."
Shannon was surprised and asked, "Won't that hurt me? Or could my flow hurt, Tommy?"
"It won't hurt either of you." Zena said. "That's how Tommy satisfies me every month. Now that I'm used to having him inside me as often as possible, I can't wait three or four days for my next good orgasm."
Shannon stepped out of the shower then quickly was back under the water with Zena and me. The two girls were each stroking me to make sure I remained hard as we kissed, while Zena used her other hand to stimulate Shannon's pussy. We had Shannon turn her back to me and lean up against the shower wall. With me behind her, I slipped my dick back and forth along her pussy lips until Shannon arched her hips slightly and I was instantly inside her, sliding to the end of her channel.
I started sliding in and out of her, with both my hands around her chest, holding onto her breasts and lightly pinching her nipples. Zena was hugging my back making me the meat in our loving sandwich while she reached around Shannon and me to manipulate her clitoris.
We were both worked up enough to move right into the fast short strokes that led to me shooting blast after blast of my sperm deep into Shannon. This time after coming, my dick decided to wilt sufficiently that when Shannon squeezed her pussy, my dick slipped out, along with some reddish tinted sperm. Shannon turned to kiss me, hugging me, whispering loving words in my ear.
We three finished showering, dried off and went to the kitchen for coffee. Betsy was sitting at the table with Maggie. Both girls were grinning as we came in. Betsy said, "You're in good form this morning, Tommy. We heard you and Zena and then we heard you three in the shower. From Shannon's grin, she's been taken care of too."
Maggie was saying wistfully, "We need to clone Tommy so he can take care of all of us whenever we need him every day. I think if we were to all get as much loving as we want, Tommy would quickly wither away."
I gave both girls some kisses, tweaking a nipple each as I did, "It would be my pleasure to give you two all the loving you could stand. We just need to have more time together."
Maggie said, "We don't have many eager eaters in the bed and breakfast or the cabins this morning. The food is ready but so far only one family is up early. This is going to be one of those mornings where breakfast lasts till ten or ten-thirty."
Zena said, "Tommy and I need to get moving this morning as we have to go to a couple of the job sites to meet customers this morning. Hopefully, we'll get done early and be able to help Shannon out at The Office.
Shannon said, "It's possible we will be busy this afternoon as we have the Hooter's calendar girls coming by to sign autographs between five-thirty and seven. I was going to have free wings but instead of free, we'll have half price wings. Instead of a ten-wing plate, we'll serve a twenty-wing platter for the same price. The food distributor, Encore, gave us a deal on wings. Jake will probably get to the bar early to marinate them. We're having the hot wings with a special distributor sponsored dollar off on pitchers of Bud or Bud Light. That should be enough of a special to make our Wednesday a good one."
"You're doing an awesome job coming up with daily specials that should really appeal to our customers," I said in praise of Shannon.
"I have some more ideas for new food items as well as other specials. Georgia gave me an idea I'd like to try. She said she could make up a bunch of pizzas for us to cook. She also has a line on an oven like the ones Pizza Hut uses. You know the ovens that have a conveyor rack to put the pizzas on. If we do start offering pizzas, I want to do a free slice night but make up square pizzas with just small two by two pieces. That way everyone can get a taste of Georgia's good pizzas. I think we could have pizzas and calzones."
I had to ask, "Isn't that a lot of work for a bar that's only open from two to seven-thirty or eight?"
Shannon shrugged her shoulders, "I think we could hire an additional person for the kitchen to handle pizzas. If we do more pizzas than the other snacks, we'll have two people to work the pizza and calzones."
"It's hard to imagine that business will continue to be as good as it's been. But you're right, Shannon, ride the wave as long as you can."
"That's why I'm up early today," Shannon said. "Georgia is going to teach me how to make pizzas and calzones. She says the dough is a big part of a successful and good tasting pizza, so we'll make up tomorrow's dough today."
Betty and Bert walked in the kitchen though the back door. Bert said, "Thought I might come by for a cup of coffee this morning while Betty gets her customers' clothes together."
Betty said, "Sam is pouring the foundation for "Betty's Wash House" today. He says that I should be up and running in three to four weeks. I can't wait; it's going to be a really good business of the park."
Maggie got coffee for the two guests while Zena and I got dressed for work. When we came back into the kitchen, Bert asked me, "Sam's wife was talking to Betty last night, telling her about your idea for a new restaurant. You'll have to show me your plans. Remember to include me and Veronica, we want to invest in your ideas."
I told Betty and Bert that we had to get to work as we had appointments this morning. Shannon had dressed with us and she told all of us, "Well, when Georgia's done with me, I'll be able to make some good stuff for us here too. See you all either at the bar or here tonight."
We three took off. Zena and I rode together as our appointment today was together with the client. At the office, I made up a set of prints and drawings for Bert then went to see if Bruce had anything else for me today.
"You and Zena will be busy enough with the Glazer Building. Get that put to bed and you'll have made your month, or darn near your year. This is our biggest deal in a long time."
Zena and I met with the client at nine. I had rolls of prints in a bag slung over my shoulder. The client was leasing twelve floors and had some unique requests for each floor. On each floor, we spread out the prints then went room to room checking that almost all that they wanted was pre-installed. We had to remove a couple of walls and add some outlets for phones and PCs but we were ninety percent there before we worked on the personalization.
We broke for lunch with three floors still to go. The company CEO. and CFO joined us in the executive dining room back at our office. Throughout lunch, both of the primary officers kept asking us if we could really be ready by the end of the month.
"If you don't change the structure of the business, we should be done with a few days to spare. We'll use that for any necessary extras."
Back at the building, the CEO and CFO joined us because we still had the executive floor to do. We quickly went through the two lower floors then started on the top floor. This floor had never been built out so we could do it from scratch to make it however they wanted.
Zena and I used chalk to mark where the walls and doors would be so the customer could get a feel of what they wanted. We finally finished around three. I told them I would bring over the completed prints and notes to go over them on Friday morning. When we got back to our offices, I laid out the first print with the notes and began.
Suddenly, Zena was at my door asking me if I wanted to stop in at The Office to see how the wing special was going. I was shocked to see it was five thirty already. I straightened up my desk and we walked to the bar.
Once again, the back door opened to bedlam. The place was jammed again, and even with the extra waitresses and bartender, it looked as if they were shorthanded. I noticed that there were pitchers underneath several tap nozzles being filled. Melda was busing tables, but not keeping up, so Zena and I went to the kitchen, put on smocks, grabbed some tubs and began busing and washing tables. Chairs would fill as soon as a table was clear.
The place was caught up by six fifteen, but the washing was way behind because Jake was busy changing kegs the whole afternoon. Zena and I quickly dove into the washing and were soon taking clean pitchers out to the bar. Kiesha and Melda were working feverishly to keep up with the orders. They had wings in the deep fryer constantly and were able to keep up with the orders. As usual, when you have a special you sell a lot of the other food on the menu as well. Jake said we were going to have sold all of our chicken tenders at full price because some people didn't like to clean the meat from the wings.
As soon as it neared seven o'clock and business began slowing, Zena and I were able to bus the whole place and get the platters, pitchers, and mugs through the washer. Tonight, we had the lounge area and the kitchen squared away by eight fifteen and the bar finished shortly after. The kitchen staff, at Shannon's direction, had packed some wings and chicken tenders for each of us to take home. None of us wanted to hang out at the bar, we all wanted to get.
Sandy's two waitresses said, "We've been telling Sandy how well the place has been doing and she's going to try some of your specials. We don't know how to advertise the specials, so if you have an idea, call her."
At home, we all had a salad and ate our wings and tenders with a beer. Bert came by, bringing his copy of the restaurant plans. He wanted to verify the size of the rooms with me as he thought I might be building too large a building. I gave him my theory on how the public side would work and how I thought I could keep the businesses separated into multiple parts.
At the park council meeting on Wednesday evening, Mr. Franks asked me to tell the people attending how I envisioned the restaurants. I asked them if I could run to the house to get some of my small drawings so I could use the projector to show them and everyone said to go get them.
With the floor plan projected on a wall, I first explained my thoughts on the public side and how it hopefully would draw from the entire neighborhood. After I showed them the lounge, the porch lounge and the dining area for the park residents, I was applauded. I told them that we were going to use the public side to offset the park side as we didn't have the large community to draw from. But I felt it necessary for us to have our own place to gather for good times.
When I began showing my drawings there were constant oohs, and aahs. The park side looked really warm and friendly with the bar that extended out in the porch.
Some folks thought a game room on the park side would be good, but I explained that the venue there for the park was not for kids. It was for adults and family dining. The rec center already has games and we can increase them if we wanted. When I was done with the presentation, Mr. Franks asked for a show of hands for approval. It was unanimous. Everyone present was for the addition. The one big question that kept coming up was how soon we would open. I explained that Gerald was already working on the zoning, permits, and liquor license.
Back at the cabin, Bert, Gerald, and Sam, with wives and Betty, joined us to discuss a schedule. Gerald said he was going to use his boss to move the zoning and liquor license through the bureaucracy. He also said I should be able to close on the sale of the land the coming week.
I told Sam, "Have your contractors begin going over the prints so I can answer questions early. I also need to get an experienced chef to help me develop the kitchen to Georgia's standards."
Bert said, "I know just the man. I'll get him to call you so you two can get together. He has been the main or executive chef at Shula's since it opened. He knows his stuff."
As we all enjoyed a drink, I said, "This restaurant thing is more than I can or want to do. I'm planing on hiring good people for every facet of the business and have some key people run it. I'll help of course, but it needs to have someone in charge of each venue, as well as an overall manager.
Bert said, "My friend Don, the executive chef, will tell you about how to do what you want. Listen to him and take notes."
We figured out the best time for Don and me to get together, then our company abandoned us so we could enjoy going to bed to explore and rest.
That night, Zena loved me until I was exhausted. She said, "My period must be about here, I always get terrible horny then. Get it while you can, my Love."
Our zoning variances were granted and permits were issued to begin building. It took over thirty days to get a hearing for the liquor license. When the commission checked on how we had done so far at The Office, they agreed to grant the license after a public hearing. We posted big signs about the hearing all along the road to make sure we had a good turn out.
The county talked to Sam about the necessity of traffic lights and a cross walk. The other issue was a fire hydrant. Both were phenomenally expensive to have installed but the traffic light would ensure walk up traffic from the condos and apartments across the street and the fire hydrant would be a major need if we did ever have a fire.
Bert's friend Don was a big help. After several meetings with Don and Georgia together, we were able to lay out the flow of the kitchen to handle the continuous needs of the family style restaurant and the short order needs of the diner and park side porch. The pizza ovens could be used for other types of baking, so that area would be used correctly. Then there was the chef's food prep and cooking area. That had to be large enough to be able to prepare a lot of food at once.
The only space problem was the addition of a thirty by thirty area behind the diner side of the building for dishwashing, storage, and additional coolers.
When the final inspections were complete, Georgia and Don were interviewing kitchen help while Joanie, Shannon, and Betsy were interviewing wait staff. Joanie handled the park side and soon had a large group to choose from for bartenders and waitresses. The public side required multiple entities. The diner had to have their own waitresses and bus people, the bar and lounge had to have bar backs, bartenders and waitresses, and the restaurant had to have its own waitresses and bus people. It was a good thing that Betsy was preparing to quit her job to work exclusively with the new place.
The other changes that were taking place was the elevation of Jake to handling the management of The Office. He had hired and trained additional bartenders and waitresses, continuing with the neat outfits that our customers enjoyed. He was aggressive with promotions, having at least three a week to keep people coming. The fifty dollars a day to print and distribute our flyers was still our best method of advertising. By blanketing the entire area, each night saw The Office at capacity with customers enjoying themselves.
The entire park was invited to help choose a name for the new place. We had names with an Italian flavor and names that alluded to the nude status on the other side of the fence, but none really were good enough to give all of the venues.
The Friday evening before a name just about had to be announced found three girls and me playing monopoly. Joanie and Zena were winning while Maggie and I were struggling to pay rents on some of the properties we landed on.
While it was Joanie's turn, she landed on one of her places and said, "I'm sure glad I own this. With all the hotels, the rent is terrible." She paused then looked up at me and said, "That's it, Tommy, lets call it "Parks Place. You know like the Park Diner or Parks Diner and have Parks restaurant you can have references to the monopoly game all over but you can just put up one big sign that says "Parks Place."
The other girls were immediately for the name. Betsy and Shannon were at the table going over more plans for the lounge and quickly agreed that the idea was a good one. Joanie called my mom and dad and asked them what they thought. Then it was the call to Gerald and June that convinced us. It was agreed that the complex would be called "Park Place" with the venues Park Diner, Park Restaurant and lounge, and Park Bar and Billiards. The Park side would just be Parks' Place.
The kitchen was complete on Monday and Georgia and Don were experimenting, making various dinners and items. Georgia turned out a bunch of pizzas that were up to her quality and a large pan of lasagna. Wednesday night was the practice dinner for all of the construction people and some key park people that had helped us get this far. The public and park restaurant dining rooms were packed, giving the waitresses and cooks all the practice necessary for the quiet opening Thursday then the Grand Opening on Friday.
Shannon hired a bunch of the park kids to distribute flyers to every apartment and condo across the street to get people to come for the quiet opening and the grand opening Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. There was even a coupon for free coffee in the park diner Thursday and Friday morning.
The practice dinner went well, giving Georgia and Don the opportunity to make changes where necessary. Then the Thursday quiet opening was a great success, as we had a lot more people than could have been expected. Thursday morning, the park diner was packed with people getting their free coffee and looking over the menu. Georgia had a great idea. She brought an electric fry pan and a small fan. She put a couple of strips of bacon in the pan on low heat to fry the bacon and to blow the bacon smell into the diner.
Instead of just coffee, people were ordering breakfast, taking time to eat. It was agreed that we would do something like that for the bar and billiards area to get the people to order pizzas and the mini-calzones that Georgia was making.
Thursday evening was the first night we were going to attempt to deliver pizzas. We had two kids from the park that would deliver orders received up until nine o'clock. We would deliver on the public side orders received up to nine also. Once again there were flyers given out to every household within about a two-mile radius that included our menu and phone number. Georgia's pizzas were well known but previously people had to go get them. Now they could go get them at Georgia's or at Park Place, or they could call for delivery.
Pizza orders began coming in about four, surprising all of us. We didn't put a start time, so the girl who was assigned to take orders wasn't in yet. Zena and I had taken the week off so we began taking orders and I began delivering them.
We had gone down to the golf cart place in the huge S&S mega complex and bought four small carts for the public side and two small carts for the park sid. They had the curtain option for rainy nights and they made us neat covered fiberglass carrying areas for pizzas and other food.
Joanie was surprised on the park side of the lounge and porch. Everyone was curious, so they came to Parks Place to look and have a drink and most ordered a snack. The two waitresses and Joanie were extremely busy.
The public side bar opened at one and several people who were shift workers came in to shoot pool, play darts, and have a beer. Georgia's blowing in pizza cooking smells soon had the patrons there ordering food quickly. The crowd built until the place was packed by six and continued all evening.
The lounge opened at three, and the restaurant opened at five. A second bartender for the horseshoe bar came in at three then another at five to handle the service bars for the lounge and restaurant. We had businessmen and women filling the place on Thursday afternoon from three thirty on. The crowd was group after group that came in, had a few drinks then left to be replaced by the next wave of customers. As it became after six, people moved from the lounge to the restaurant and some returned to the lounge after eating.
The park side was just as busy on our quiet opening. The porch and lounge was packed with people drinking, as well as having snacks and pizza. When the restaurant opened at four thirty it began filling until every table was full by five thirty. The tables stayed pretty full right up until almost ten.
Zena and I were able to wander in and out of the public and park sides, checking on things and taking notes throughout the day. The park side pizza delivery was done using the two new small golf carts we had purchased. The public side was done using the drivers' personal vehicles for the distant deliveries and the four golf carts for across the street. They far away drivers said they appreciated the fact that we did not take orders outside a five mile radius of Park Place.
That night, when everything was closing, Maggie said she thought the diner should stay open until one or so to take advantage of the late night bar crowd. She said that since the lounge and bar stayed open until two or three she thought we were passing up customers from our own place, much less the other bars in the area. She finally convinced the whole team to stay open twenty-four hours to see how it would work out.
Friday morning Don, Georgia, Shannon, Maggie, Joanie, and Betsy met on the porch of Parks Place to go over the good and bad of the day before. Maggie happily reported a continuous business all the way until four thirty AM, then the breakfast rush began at five. She said she would schedule a cleaning crew from four till five. They could do the other venues before and after the diner.
Shannon reported she would need two more waitresses in the lounge for a total of four. She needed two more in the bar and billiard area as well as a third bartender to swing between both sides of the bar. Betsy said that the six waitresses in the public restaurant was the right amount, but we would need a fifth and possibly sixth waitress on the park side to help handle the porch and lounge. She said that we were busy enough to justify a hostess on each side for greeting, seating, and reservations, when requested.
Don and Georgia were very pleased with their sales and we were surprised that Don said, "I've given my resignation to Shula's in hopes you will hire me full time here. I really think your dual restaurant idea is wonderful and plan to take you up on a visit to the park to enjoy it naturally. Even though Don was one of Bert's close friends, it began looking as if there was a relationship building between Georgia and Don."
Georgia reported that she had sold more pizzas on the quiet opening night than she had ever sold previously. She said her small shop had done well the night before as well. Georgia felt that if the business continued to be as good as it was, she would need a second oven to keep up with the demand. Both Don and Georgia felt like they would each need an additional kitchen apprentice.
Betsy was the overall manager, but didn't act it. She acted more like a facilitator making sure everyone had what was necessary to make the place work. Around ten in the morning the delivery people began showing up with our food and beverage orders. The liquor driver said he was happy to see we were reordering so fast and that we needed to inventory more so we wouldn't run out on the weekends. Betsy and Shannon were hard on the liquor people, beating up on them for a special promotion for the near future.
They did the same with the beer drivers. Telling each one to have the distributor salesmen get in line to sponsor special weekends, not just an evening, but an entire weekend.
In the diner, we welcomed the state policemen and both county sheriffs' deputies. Since the park was right on the county line, we were a good place for them to stop. It was decided that all on duty policemen were served free food in the diner. This became a popular place for law enforcement and we had a uniform in the place almost every minute we were open.
The grand opening was grand, almost too much business for our newly trained staff to handle. By six Zena, Betsy, and I were helping out to get food out of the kitchen. Georgia and Don were professionals, guiding everyone in making each of the dishes, then seeing that they were served promptly.
When closing time came on Saturday night, Don said, "I've been at many, many grand openings. Some had nearly as many people as came here, but none had the overall intensity of people on both sides of the place. We served food to the diner and bar in really large quantities, so having the multiple venues gives the kitchen a really big responsibility to react to all of them. This was a really successful opening and we still have to live through Sunday."
Sunday evening, Maggie came to me and asked, "You really gave me a great job running the bed and breakfast and the cabins. I enjoyed it along with running the diner now. I don't think I can do both, though. I think I would be good at running the diner and would like to continue there, but I can't do both. I've talked to your sister, Dana, and she would like to take over the bed and breakfast and cabins. Why not try her to see if she can do it. I'll help her and watch out for her until she gets it in hand. You mom still helps out with the cabins, but she's not available all the time. Dana will have to be the one."
"I wondered when you were going to say uncle, Maggie," I said, giving her a hug. "You have been so steady at everything you've done. The word for you is invaluable. Thank you for all that you've done and I'll take your advice and talk to Dana about handling the stuff here. Are you sure that you can do the diner alone? Since it's twenty-four hours a day, it should almost have more than one person."
"It really does, Tommy," Margaret continued. "I have four shifts for managers that overlap each other so they can communicate with their people. So far everything is working out fine. I have my own cooks at night, so we are responsible for the kitchen then. The park side cook comes in at four, so from there on out, there's plenty of help. My job is to keep Don and Georgia up on what I'm selling so they can re-order as the day goes on. Any free time my cook has is used making up salads and other items for the other venues. I'm hoping we will be able to make up Georgia's dough soon. That would be a big help."
"Work it out with those two, but don't work yourself to death. Enjoy yourself whenever you can." I gave her a big hug, making her smile that everything she wanted was coming.
Dana came to the cabin Sunday evening for us to talk. Jeff came along but said he wasn't involved as this was Dana's operation. She said she wanted to leave her job because all they talked about was unpaid leave of absence. She said the layoffs were getting close to her seniority so she thought she might as well work here without the cost of commuting. She smiled whacking me on the shoulder, "Look at what I'll save in work clothes you perv, I see you gawking at my luscious body."
I burst out laughing and had to comment. "You're about an inch taller than Joanie and about five more pounds. From what I see, you look like you've missed too many meals. Hey, Jeff, what does a bag of bones like that feel like?"
My shoulder took another beating.
Dana said that with the four ladies helping with the housekeeping and the two cooks, she should be fine. She was already on a good working basis with everyone. She also said that Jeff was ready and able to help out with the maintenance of the units.
You wouldn't think that fifteen cabins and eight suites would be that much to take care of, but add in the kitchen and you have a heavy workload. We were planning on discontinuing the lunch meals and just have the breakfasts. Since the restaurant was now open, people could either cook for themselves or eat at the restaurant. The park side was set up more for family dining than just adult dining.
Betsy was next in line to talk. "You know you are going to have a really big payroll. The place will probably handle it, but I wanted to tell you that you have a lot of people and a lot of us are acting in a management capacity as well as a worker, so the payroll is going to be high."
"Well, Betsy, let's see how we do with our cash flow. We put quite a bit into the account to handle cash flow for the first month, so just keep me posted how we do over this first month. Make note of any spikes on any nights up or down so we can see what we did good or bad. I think our success is going to be from food and not just the booze like the The Office. The important thing is that you, the managers and the staff are paid a few percentage points over the area's average. I would also believe you can work out some kind of plan to compensate management for profit over what would be an established norm. I know that is a lot of research but I want our success to reward those that have made it so."
Betsy said, "Sandy has talked to me be a couple of times hinting that she might be interested in buying The Office from you. She's nuts about Jake and the way he's running the place, so if you wanted to, she would probably be a good buyer. I would say that you should sell it. Considering the continuing economy, you could sell the place for a good profit and focus out here instead. You gave us all jobs at the place and you found Shannon there. It was good for you, but now it's just one more thing to worry about."
"Good idea, Betsy, I've been thinking about selling it. Since everyone is working out here now, I don't need The Office. If Sandy will keep Jake and his family on, I'll entertain selling it to her. Let me call her and find out if she's serious."
When I called Sandy she said she would meet me at the Park Place diner in twenty minutes. She told me to get a big table, as her dad wanted to come.
I told Zena what the deal was and she wanted to come along. Betsy said she wanted to be there as well, then Shannon said to include her, so we all dressed and went up to the diner.
Luck was with us as the early evening crowd was next door in the bar. Sandy and her dad showed up and we were all re-introduced to them. When Sandy said, "I know what the place is worth and I'm willing to pay it if we can get in quick. I took down all your sales tax numbers for the last five months to make sure you were continuing to grow after you pulled Betsy, Shannon, and Joanie. They are still growing, so that means that Jake is doing what you want. You're a softy, so I'll tell you right now that I'm going to keep Jake as the manager of the place and give him at least what you're paying and probably more. I think the bar has a long term viability as it is, but I think I may want to keep it open at night to see how we do. Here's my offer."
I was surprised at the number she offered, as it was almost four times what I paid for the place originally. When I hesitated because of my shock, Sandy's dad said, "And we'll cut you in for five percent of the profit for a year."
I held my hand up and said, "No need. Sandy helped me out when we got started and the vendors we use are the best. They treat us well and the equipment we have has been top notch. I've used them out at my new place, including your food broker."
Sandy said, "Can you get that lawyer guy you have to come check these contracts out for you, so I can pay you and take over?"
I called Gerald and asked him to come to the diner if he would, on a business deal. He showed up in fifteen minutes and took another fifteen to look over the contracts. I crossed out the five percent ride for the first year and initialed it, then signed the papers. Zena witnessed for me and Gerald notarized the contract. Sandy handed me a cashier's check and shook my hand. "Good doing business with you, Tom. Come over for a free beer to the P-club. My girls are all excited about making the big tips that come from your place."
"Don't run the joint into the ground. I think the reason we have stayed fresh and successful is because we're not open at night. The office people like the fact that the place is theirs exclusively. Do what you want, but the nights won't be as good and you may have some day business go away."
"Thanks, Tom, I'll remember that. Dad won't let me forget either as he thinks you're a genius to do the business you've been doing and only be open five hours a day. See you around, Guy, come see me."
They left and the girls and I sat there staring at the check. I said to Betsy, "Well, there's some more cash flow if we need it."
She laughed and said, "So far, so good."
Gerald said, "I received a letter from your old lawyer. The letter contained a letter that was forwarded from the resort you two spent you honeymoon at. It is about a ring you found asking if you still have it."
I nodded and said, "Yeah, haven't know what to do with it."
"You might wish to have it appraised as the original owner is willing to pay a cool hundred grand reward for it's return."
Zena said, "Oh my, the big diamond is really big and the two blue diamonds on each side are rather unique but I wouldn't think it would be worth that much."
Gerald said, "Bigger blue diamonds are very rare and are worth a great deal. If the main diamond is an excellent quality, then the value of the ring may astound you. Like said get the ring appraised. If your case since you found it at sea, finders keepers."
We went through the first month of business at Park place with an increasingly steady business. The park side slowed down because summer was over and the summer folks were all leaving. Soon it would be just residents and the weekend people. But that was okay, since we had planned on it.
Zena and I were busy with our jobs while still paying a lot of attention to what was going on at the restaurant complex. Surprisingly our evenings were becoming more relaxed. We were getting home earlier and our house mates were often home with us instead of working. Betsy and Maggie were around when we got home, and Shannon and Joanie often came home early as well. We usually ate together, but occasionally we went to the restaurant to enjoy a meal there.
I did take the ring to the local diamond merchant who was an international expert. I thought the guy was going to have a coronary. He said the ring could have easily sold for over two million. He checked through some old records then asked how I had the ring. I explained how I found the ring while snorkeling in Hawaii on our honeymoon. He wanted to know if anyone else saw me with it and did I report it. I showed him the letters from the original owner and the resort. He smiled at me and asked, "May I buy the ring from you? I'll give you seven hundred fifty thousand right now. I think the owner will give me a million to get this back. That would be a nice profit for you."
Not that is enough to make you conflicted. I didn't know whether to just contact the original owner to just give it back to him or what to do. I told the jeweler, "Let me call this guy. I won't tell him that I still have the ring but I want to see what kind of person her is."
The jeweler said, "Let's go back to my office. I would enjoy hearing both sides of the conversation. I have a wonderful spearkerphone.
I called the number in the letter and asked for Mr. Johansen. When I said I was the person that found the ring he was extremely rude. He demanded that I return his property immediately and that he was being over generous to reward someone as much as was but the ring held a sentimental value to his wife.
When I asked "Is the ring very valuable, some of my friends said they ring is probably worth ten time the amount you offered as a reward."
"Why you ungrateful peon, I think I'll this call traced and have you arrested for theft. I'll watch you rot in jail."
"Mister," I said getting perturbed, "I called to see what kind of person you are. I gave the ring to a jeweler friend of mine. I was going to just give it back to you but now, you can negotiate with him. He's already given me a hundred bucks for it."
I heard the guy screaming and pushed the off button. "I hope you screw that guy good. I can't stand people like that."
The jeweler said, "I can't either. Is my offer accepted then."
I smiled and said, "Make me rich guy. And let me check out your engagement rings for future reference."
I did receive his check for seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars knowing the jeweler was going to turn a minimum profit of a quarter mil. More power to him. He had a lot of nice stuff, very well priced too.
I took the check and deposited it into the business account. I suppose it could have been into the personal account but the accountant can more with that kind of money and we might avoid a big tax hit.
When I told Zena what had happened, she looked at me and said, "You tease me all the time about stuff like this but somehow I believe this tall tale is true."
I showed her the photo copy of the check and the bank deposit and told her, "I've found a place to buy another ring if it should come up."
Zena smothered with kisses.
Bert and Betty were now a locked in couple, enjoying each other and Betty's success. She was handling a lot of laundry for residents and even had a small building outside the gate to accept laundry from the public. She was contemplating building her dry cleaning facility, but every time she would mention it to her contract cleaners, they wanted to give her an even better deal to keep her volume.
Bert's business was a little stagnant because of the economy, but his occupancy rate was running in the over ninety percent range. All of his property owners were more interested in maintaining lessees than upping the rent.
After six months, Betsy held a meeting with the five investors. I was the majority investor with fifty percent. Dad, Martin, Bert with Veronica, and Mr. Williams with Mr. Franks, each had ten percent. Betsy gave out balance sheets and a printout of all the expenses and income.
"Since opening," Betsy began, "The public side of the complex has done far greater than we could have wished. The diner is a great success operating twenty-fours. As usual, finding and keeping good help is always a problem, but our turnover is probably good for the industry."
"The bar and billiards is doing an excellent business, as is the lounge. So far the public restaurant is doing a consistent near capacity business, and not surprisingly, our turnover is minimal."
The only venue within the public complex that is not performing is the game room. To date it has never paid the minimum rental of the equipment although the games have not cost us anything, we aren't making anything from them. My suggestion is to expand the bar and billiard room to have four more pool tables. The six we have are constantly busy. With four more tables we can have more league teams and our weeknights are very profitable. The league people drink a lot of beer and buy a lot of food. The tables are free for league, so we miss table revenue during league play, but I think we more than make up for it with sales of food and beverage. We'll have a couple of pinball machines, some bar games, and a large video game or two like golf and bowling but they will be in the general bar and billiard area and not separated."
The park side of the complex has been steady and has turned a profit each month, although nothing like the public side. The porch area seems to garner the most business, and the restaurant does a near capacity business, but is not open as long. The porch and lounge are popular for breakfast and lunch. The evening pizza business on the porch is also very good."
Speaking of pizza, we had to purchase the second oven to keep up with the pizza orders and add two people in the afternoon and two people in the evening to keep up with the orders. So far we haven't had any trouble with our limited delivery area. We could almost narrow it by a mile to a mile and a half if we felt it necessary.
The park customers for pizza are steady during our off months, and now that we are coming back into the season for spring and summer members, the entire park side of the restaurant is going to be busy.
Betsy paused a second before continuing. "During the original funding, we agreed to let our cash flow ride for six months and at the end of six months, retain two full months of anticipated expenses and distribute the balance."
Betsy passed out checks to the five of us and said, "Before opening your envelopes, please keep in mind that the managers of each venue have already been given their bonuses and your check reflects your percentage of profit in relationship to your percentage of your original investment."
Betsy smiled and said, "Okay, open them, if you didn't note the amounts on the P & L."
I put my check into my pocket without opening it, as I did see the amounts on the statements we were given. Dad, Martin, and Bert high fived each other while Mr. Williams and Mr. Franks were all smiles, shaking hands.
Dad said, "I should have known Tom could pull this off. When he was a kid, he used his little red wagon to haul his lemonade stand all over the neighborhood. He did it almost every day and Franks, I'll bet you remember him dragging that wagon all over the park selling his lemonade. He made enough that he bought all his Christmas presents for the whole family two years in a row."
Mr. Franks said, "Who could forget little Tommy pulling his wagon with two big pitchers of lemonade and a bunch of paper cups. Pauline said he paid for all the lemonade mix as well as the paper cups, so he actually made a profit from his mobile lemonade stand."
Mr. Williams laughed, "He would always wait till the hottest part of the day to come to the pool or down by the lake. I remember him going back and forth to the cabin to get refills."
Bert said, "You know, Tom, if you were to run the complex instead of having so many managers, you would make a lot more."
"But then I would have to quit what I'm doing for you. I'm an architect. I like to work in that field even though what I do is not necessarily or exactly being an architect. I'm not cut out to be a club, or bar, or restaurant owner and manager. I created this place for the park. The public side is how I can benefit the park. Keep in mind, my agreement with the park pays a fee relative to our profits so Mr. Franks kind of double dips. But I'm sure his profits all go toward maintaining and keeping up the park. I have good managers and chefs. They know what they are doing. So I let them do what they do best and enjoy the place just like any other customer."
Betsy got our unanimous agreement to convert the game room and expand the bar and billiard area and add four more pool tables, another foosball table, and two more dart games. With eight total dart games we could now host a dart league. I said I would work up the plans for the remodeling asap.
When the meeting was over, we stopped in to say hi to Joanie who was working the bar and waiting tables on the park side porch and lounge. She said it was just busy enough to not get bored during the off season, but on weekend evenings and during the season there would need to be a lot more waitresses.
Back home, Zena and Maggie were enjoying a quiet evening of watching TV. Betsy and I came in and suggested that we go up to the bar and billiard room to harass Shannon since she was working an evening shift tonight to help out.
Had we known what we would find, we would have never put on clothes to go there. As we walked around the building we noted the parking lots were all jammed. Betsy and I looked at each other as the park side had been so serene and peaceful.
We noted the diner appeared to be jammed. Upon entering the bar and billiards it was so jammed there was hardly room to move. We edged to the horseshoe bar to see people wall to wall all around and in the lounge area. I walked over to the restaurant desk to see several couples waiting to be seated.
Zena and I looked at each other, "Holy shit. I wonder what this is all about." The four of us caught Shannon's eye to ask her if we could help. She grinned and said, "My mistake, I forgot we had some promotions tonight in the restaurant, lounge, and the bar. We only have two waitresses in the lounge and in the bar and just two bartenders. If you guys want to help, please.
Zena, Maggie, and Betsy went for some of the waitress smocks and I went behind the bar. Shannon told the other bartender that I would work the service stations for the restaurants, so if I needed help making a drink it wouldn't be so obvious.
The restaurants closed by ten so that was taken care of but the lounge and bar were packed right through between one and two AM, when as if someone rang a bell, the two areas emptied quickly except for just a few people. I helped clean up the service stations and after getting a kiss from Shannon, left the bartending to the pros.
Zena said, "Who would believe this place could do the business it does. We are really lucky to have created just the right mix."
Shannon said she would be home in an hour or so and the four of us left as Zena and I had to get up in the morning.
At home, Maggie said, "Betsy and I are really glad we went up there as Shannon won't ever call for help. I guess we'll have to start checking on help in the evenings to make sure we have enough.
Zena and I were relaxing in the living room watching CNN headline news when Shannon came in. She kissed us both then headed to the bedroom to take a shower.
We met Shannon in our bed to sandwich her between us, touching and kissing her, then rolling her over to give her a gentle loving message. While I was working on Shannon's lower back and butt, Zena whispered to Shannon, "I have really fallen in love with you, Shannon, Tom and I both really have it bad for you."
Shannon spun under me to look up at each of us with watery eyes, with a lot of emotion in her voice she said, "God, that is so beautiful to hear. I love you two so much. At first it was pure lust for just you, Zena, then Tommy wormed his way into my heart. Now every time I see Tom, I swell up with pride knowing that I'm his."
Shannon reached up and pulled both of us down to her. She spread her legs wide and whispered, "Fill me, Tommy, make me yours, then Zena and I are going to love each other. Then, Tommy, you can show Zena how much you love her too."
It was a long time before the last I love you was said and we were settled down to begin drifting off to sleep.
As my body relaxed, satisfied, and well loved, I thought of how my life had changed out here at the park. How my aunt had given me the basis for all of what we had early in my life, then kept giving even after she was gone. Somehow Bee and Aunt Pauline were watching over me and our families. They had been able to get us all together, and between the two of them, had given Zena another lady to love. How I wish Aunt Pauline could have known Zena. I know they would have been great friends.
I remembered how my aunt and I used to lie in the sun together down
by the lake and she would look around at the park and all the people
and say with pride and a smile, "Look around, Tommy, look at all the
bare assets."