Forbidden Lover by Theresa Paolo

Author:Theresa Paolo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Theresa Paolo
Published: 2020-08-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Lucas sat in his grandfather’s small office and presented Joe with his options, none of which Joe looked particularly thrilled about. “I’m not cutting my employees’ pay. That’s out of the question,” he all but barked. “Those kids barely make enough as it is. What else you got?”

“You can change vendors. Shop around a little and see if you can get a better price on buns, butter—”

“Absolutely not,” Joe said. “I’ve been working with the same vendor since I opened these doors, and it’ll be a cold day in hell when I stop.”

Lucas took a deep breath and settled back into his chair. “If we don’t come up with something, I’m afraid you won’t have enough money to get you through the season.”

“I’ve managed for over five decades to keep this place up and running, even during the recession. There has to be a better answer.”

“Other than selling a share of the restaurant—if you’re lucky to find a buyer—I’m sorry, but I don’t think there is a better answer.” He wished there was. Hell, if his assets weren’t currently tied up in his company, he’d lend Joe the money, but he’d invested every last cent he had. He projected in a year he’d earn it all back and then some, but that didn’t help him right now.

“Keep looking,” Joe said.

Lucas ran a hand through his hair, trying to remain calm. If he learned anything from his father, it was losing his cool and yelling didn’t get him anywhere. Not that Lucas felt the need to yell, he just didn’t know how else to get through to Joe. He wouldn’t listen to reason and refused to see the reality of the situation.

He understood that Joe had relationships with people and he wanted to honor them and the business they had done over the years, but none of this was personal. It was a matter of staying afloat or watching the ship go down and refusing to try and save it.

“Grandpa,” Lucas said, hoping to reason with him. “This is business. Don’t make it personal.”

“Don’t make it personal?” he scoffed. “Al, my distributor, I used to bounce on my knee when he was three when he would come with his dad to do deliveries. Becky… her mother worked here every summer until she was twenty-two when she got pregnant with Becky and decided to go back to school and get a degree to have a better life for her daughter. I watched that girl grow from a wide-eyed, pigtail wearing little girl to a smart young woman. Pedro, my main cook, has been with me since he was sixteen. He’ll be forty-five this year. I watched him grow from a smartass teenager to a loving father of three beautiful girls. So don’t sit here and tell me it’s not personal, because this place, the people… are my life. It is as personal as it gets, which is why I’m telling you there’s another way. Please, figure it out.”

How the hell was he supposed to argue with that? For so long, Joe didn’t have family.

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