Antiques & Honey Bees by Chloe Zane & Jules Monroe

Author:Chloe Zane & Jules Monroe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chloe Zane

15

STEPHAN

“You’ve been so quiet ever since you got back from Remy’s,” Grandma said as she set out their dinner. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes and no.” Stephan forked a large piece of the breast meat from the baked chicken. Spooning out the mashed potatoes and spring peas, he drizzled gravy over the entire plate.

Don’t judge. He loved his grandmother’s brown gravy.

“I don’t want to intrude on your privacy with your business.” Stephan was trying to approach the subject delicately. Not all business owners liked people meddling. Even if they meant well. But something about the conversation with his father the other day lingered like a tiny splinter. “Would you object to my looking over your books?”

She paused before setting his glass of water on the table. “Why would you say that?”

“I would just feel better. I mean, I went to school for it. I’m worried about you being taken advantage of,” he said as he smiled at her.

“Well,” she sat across from him and grabbed the chicken leg. “I don’t see any harm in it. Having two sets of eyes would benefit me, right?”

“Exactly.”

“But that’s not what’s bothering you.”

Stephan sighed heavily. She knew him too well. “No. Remy is bothering me.”

“What has Grant done? Or not done? I know how you men can get.”

He laughed when he caught sight of her sly smile. “It’s tricky. I understand he loves his bees and wants to sell honey. I don’t see how, right now, it’s a viable business venture. Losing some of his hives set him way back. If his plan was solid, it shouldn’t happen.”

“That’s a natural concern,” she said.

“And we won’t go into how he’s so not a natural salesman. A woman came to get honey and he just left her standing in his driveway. It could have been a disaster. When I started to press him about any plans he had, about how he tracked his expenses and his bookkeeping he was evasive and short.”

“Not everyone has an affinity for numbers like you do, honey.”

“I know. But it’s not about the numbers…well it is about the numbers. It’s about more than the numbers. He has no plan. There’s no newsletter list, no marketing to speak of, no business card…” Stephan speared a piece of chicken and stuffed in his mouth, chewing vigorously. “His jars of honey? No label, Gran. Nothing on it to remind the customer where they got their honey! Then, I find out he’s relying solely on his bookkeeping service to track his money. You can’t do that. A good business owner knows to at least look at the reports they generate for them quarterly.”

He paused in his diatribe, eyeing her suspiciously. “…right?”

Her lips pressed into a prim line. “Well, I try to, but it seems so complicated. I rely on Sid to keep me apprised of any issues.”

Sid again. “Okay. After dinner, you’ll gather up everything Sid’s sent you for the past five years, that includes your tax returns.”

This was the perfect opportunity to put all of his accounting skills to the test.

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