Gannon: McCray Bruin Bear Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  “Do you know what happened?” He glanced at the manager, Pete, who he thought might well have done the trick to make the computer die. “I told my boss that we needed a new one. Over and over again, I said that it was going to blow in the middle of lunch hour. Now, look. We’re coming up on dinner, and it’s dead. That’s it; we’re going to have to close.”

  That was the third time that he’d mentioned closing. The restaurant was busy most of the time, but that too, with the computer, had been messed with. Demi had told Ian that the sales for this one location were down by fifty-one percent. That was a lot of customers not returning. The computer turned on when he realized what had been done to it. Someone had taken the cover off and had pulled one of the plugs.

  After plugging the errant wiring back in, he told Pete that it was fixed. Then he told him what the issue was. That, someone, had tried to make it look like the computer was no longer working.

  “It’s the staff; I’m betting. They all wanted the night off to go to this concert in town.” Ian had seen two tickets for it on Pete’s desk, not ten minutes ago. “They’re not going to be happy when I tell them that it’s a no go. I just hope they don’t walk off in protest.”

  “I wouldn’t think that they’d do that. It is a work night for them, and the concert is in town for three days.” Pete told him that the first night was the best. Or so he’d heard. “Really? I don’t know. I’ve never been to a concert.”

  He had. All of them had been to the ballet just last weekend. Meadow had tickets and had given them all two. He had gone alone and enjoyed himself very much. Pete was going on about how he hated to ruin their fun. Ian didn’t care.

  Ian was there to make sure that the computer was working. Then, when no one was looking, he was to make it a clone of the one that Demi had on her desk at home. There was, as there usually was in restaurants of this caliber, something going on that she couldn’t see.

  There was no doubt that she would find it either. She had a knack for looking for things that no one else thought of. She thought like a criminal. Meadow did too, but not as well as Demi did. Ian laughed. Melody saw the good in everyone. The other two didn’t. He thought they balanced each other out very nicely.

  “Is it running?” He looked up at one of the wait staff that had been there when he got here. “Prissy Butt is back there now telling everyone that they should be prepared to go home. That you haven’t any idea what you’re doing up here.”

  “It’s running just fine now. Someone tried to make it look like it was down.” She said it was probably Prissy Butt. “You call him that to his face?”

  “Yes. He doesn’t like it, but since I know this place better than he ever will, he lets it go when he can. He couldn’t run this place without me. I do everything he doesn’t know.” He asked her like what. “I’ve been doing the flipping schedule since the other guy quit. Over two years ago now. I order the food, make out the menu, and even wash up dishes when he and the guy that is supposed to be doing it are out back having a toke of weed.”

  “Why haven’t you said anything? I’m sure that the owners would like to know that they’re paying a guy who isn’t doing his job.” She said that she had two kids at home that depended on her. “You think he’d fire you?”

  “Or the owner would. No one likes to hear that they hired the wrong person for a job like this. Want to know why we’re not busy here tonight?” Ian nodded. “Last week, he had me call all the reservations and tell them that we might well be closed for a deep cleaning. I don’t even flipping know what that means. Do you?”

  “No. I mean, I can guess, but I don’t think anything was on the schedule like that.” She said that there wasn’t. She would have seen it in the company emails. “You read those as well? You seem to be doing the job of two and not getting paid for it.”

  “I am. But like I said, I need the job. My husband left me for a younger woman. I have two kids, teenage boys, who can and do at times eat me out of house and home. I love them to pieces, but they sure can sock away the food.” She laughed bitterly. “If the owner were here right now, I’d tell him that he needs to get his head out of his ass and make sure that what they have invested in is in the proper hands.”

  He’d seen Demi come into the place. Usually, she didn’t come to her places, keeping as low a profile as she could. But when he had gotten here and noticed that the place was already half-closed down, he got in touch with her. Lucian winked at him when they came up behind the waitress as she spoke about the owner.

  “We’d like a table for two if you have it.”

  There wasn’t a soul in the place and hadn’t been for the last hour. Demi and his brother were led away by Crystal, the staffer, as she told them about the night’s special. Lucian asked him what was going on as soon as they were seated.

  I’m thinking that you need to fire Prissy Butt, as he’s called, and hire the waitress that is waiting on you. She seems to have a better head on her shoulders than Pete does. From what I’ve seen so far, he’s done nothing but bitch about the computer and the fact that he thinks the staff is going to walk out. He should be kicked out. Lucian asked him if he had any proof. Nope. But he seems to be screaming at Crystal in the kitchen. I bet it’s about something that is going to close you down here in a minute. I can’t read lips, but I think he might well have just fired her. He’s headed your way. That’s going to suck for this place. She does the scheduling as well as the ordering.

  Hang on.

  Ian played with the computer for a little while longer. He was just about ready to call it a night when he saw Lucian and Demi being escorted to the front again. He looked at his family as they stood, putting their coats on again.

  “I’m so very sorry about this. The waitress should have told you that the computers were down and that we have no way of taking credit cards.” Lucian told him that they had cash. “I don’t have any way of making change for you either. We have a man working here, as you can see, but he’s told me that the computer is offline until he can get a part on Monday.”

  “It’s working. I told you that before they arrived.” Pete was standing behind his brother when he made a cutting sign across his throat. “I’m not sure what that means, but there is no reason that you can’t seat these people and feed them. Nothing is wrong with the computer.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Pete got very close to him as he whispered, “Shut the fuck up, and I’ll make it worth your while, dumbass. I have tickets to see that band tonight, and I’m going to see them.”

  “Excuse me.” When he turned toward Demi, she was smiling. “You seem to have some confusion as to what is going on here. Are we going to be seated, or are you going to go to the concert? I could hear you whispering.”

  “I’m going to the concert. You can stay or not, I could care less, but the tickets are already paid for. And I’d not bother with calling the manager, as I’m the manager. Nor would I bother with calling a corporate number. That man is too busy to figure out that he owns this place, much less care if I’ve closed up again without permission.” He opened the door for Demi and Lucian. “So if you could see your way out, I’d really appreciate it. I have twenty minutes to get there before the first song is played.”

  “I see.” Demi pulled her coat off again and handed it to him. “Ian, be a dear and go find Crystal for me. Pete Daniels, correct? You’re fired. Lucian, please make sure that he gives you the keys to this place before you toss him to the side of the road. Ian, why are you still sitting here? Go and get the girl before she leaves.”

  He was grinning all the way to the kitchen. Crystal was not only still there, but she was comforting the cook he’d met earlier. Apparently, she wasn’t the only person that had been fired tonight in the name of the first song.

  After another hour, with Lucian seating folks that came in for dinner, the place was finally looking like it was in business. The front sign, which hadn’t be
en turned on before, was up and running. Crystal had gone home to put on a nice dress so that she could be in charge of the place. The cook and the other staff members were working like he’d not seen them do earlier—like they had a purpose.

  Demi was in the kitchen when he came back to tell the salad person what sort of salads he needed for the table he was waiting on. There was his very pregnant sister-in-law, chopping up carrots to go with the dinners going out. Mom was in the back, showing someone how to make some pretty garnishes to go on the dinners, and his other brothers were either tending bar or clearing tables. Dad had the job of seating people. Ian thought that the part that said “family” in the name of the place had never been truer. Even Holly was helping with tables by taking out bread baskets and warm butter.

  “I owe you a lot, Ian.” He said that he’d not done anything. “You did, and you know it. You could very well have fixed the computers then walked out. But you did good by me, and these people, by figuring out what was wrong and telling me about it.”

  “I’m glad that you didn’t have to close down because of one jerk.”

  Crystal was having fun too. Each time she came into the kitchen, she would ask if everyone was all right if they needed anything to drink. To make sure that they washed their hands.

  When she left, Ian looked at Demi. “She’s going to make you a bundle on this place now. I’d make her a partner here so that she can see what sort of profits she’s making.”

  “Good idea.” She smiled at the cook—he thought his name was Sam—when he said he thought that Crystal should have been in charge all along. “What about you? Do you want to be in charge?”

  “No, I do not. I like being a cook for you and nothing more. It’s no stress I want to add to my plate.” He grinned at him before setting another plate of food up under the heater. “You need you a missus like this one, young man. She’ll keep you on the straight and narrow.”

  “She does that now. Thanks, but no thanks.” He kissed Demi on the cheek when she went to have a seat for a moment. “That kid is going to be tougher than you are, I think. Just wait and see.”

  “I hope your mate comes along, and she’s the worse kind of ball buster. You’ll be jumping every time she clicks her nails on the table.” Demi laughed with him. “I can’t wait for you all to be happily married, Ian. But you? I have a feeling that she’s going to be harder than all three of us together.”

  “I hope to God not.”

  They were still laughing at him when he took his salads to the table. After asking if they needed anything else, he turned it over to the staff that had been called in.

  It was a lot of work being part of a wait staff. He had done it for a while when he’d been going to high school. But he did enjoy it more tonight than he thought he would. He supposed it had a lot to do with the fact that he wasn’t desperate for money. That, and he had his family here.

  Family, he knew, could make or break a person. He was forever grateful that he had the good kind of family. He didn’t need a mate, he thought if he could have family around all the time.

  ~*~

  Lucy waited until the back doors to the restaurant were closed before she ventured out of her hiding place. The cook, Mr. Sam, would put her something to eat in a big bag so she could take it home with her.

  Home? She was living with her two sisters in a van that had been burnt out before she’d been born, she thought. The three of them had been living in it since early May. Now that it was getting cold out, she was terrified of what the weather would bring if she didn’t find them someplace to get into before too much longer.

  Lucy and her sisters had been homeless before. Her uncle, who had been their guardian since their parents died, would come around and find them for a few weeks, then he’d drop them off at a street corner with nothing more than the things that he’d picked them up with. Lucy thought he was bringing them around so that he’d continue getting their checks. She had no idea how much they were for, but he seemed really thrilled when they came in the mail.

  This time, however, it had been seven months. He’d never gone that long without finding them. Lucy was watching for him. This time when he took them to a place to live, she was going to gather up as much as she could hide on the three of them to use.

  Lucy knew that she looked a good deal younger than she was at twenty-two. Lack of food and good medical care had done that to her. Jilly was sixteen, and Cybill was nearly fifteen now. Too young to be out on the streets, she supposed. But then she’d seen younger lately.

  The door opened again, and she saw the way Sam put the bag on the ground near the trash bin. Her sisters were still at the van, covered in everything that they owned until she returned. Then she’d add her meager coat to the pile, and they’d sort through what she could eat tonight. A fire at dark would bring them much too much attention.

  Grabbing up the bag and making her way back to the corner she’d been hiding in; she was startled when someone grabbed her arm. The man, whoever he was, held her so tightly that she was terrified that he was going to break her bones. She opened her mouth to scream when he hit her in the face. Now she yelled for help, not just a scream, to get him to run off.

  The door to the restaurant opened up, and it seemed like fifty men came out all at once. The man who held her dragged her deeper into the darkened corner, but she wasn’t going to stop now. As she kicked and screamed, again and again, the man suddenly just let her go and disappeared. Falling back, Lucy knew that she was hurt when the pain in her wrist radiated up her arm to her shoulder.

  “Are you all right?” She moved away from the man’s voice. “I just want to make sure that you’re all right. Come on, let me have a look at your arm.”

  There was kindness there. The elderly man not only took her hand into his firmly, but he was gentle with it as well. When he guided her into the light, she was temporarily blinded when several lights came on at once.

  “Ian, come out here and help me with this young lady. She’s been hurt. Might need to take her to the hospital for her wrist here.” She pulled away from him and hurt herself in the process. “No one here is going to hurt you, honey. You just let us have a look at you, and if you’re worried about the money for the hospital, you don’t have a thing to worry about. We’ve got you.”

  “I have to go. I have family.” He said that they could come too. “No, they’re all I have, and I won’t have you taking them from me.”

  “Now, did I say I was going to take anyone away from you?” He was laughing; his voice, however, was a little firmer. “You just tell me where they are, and we’ll bring them here to feed them too. You look to me like you’ve not had a good meal in a while. Your family, do they need to eat too?” She nodded. “You go on now, tell me where to find them and they’ll all be welcome here.”

  “Dad, I can find them.” The older man nodded at the younger one, and he took off out into the street. When he paused then came back, he kissed her on the cheek before leaving again. “Dad, this is my mate. Please take very good care of her for me.”

  Then he was gone again. Lucy looked at the other man when he cleared his throat. Lucy realized that she still had her hand over the place where the other one had kissed her.

  “I think I should go before he comes back.” The man asked her if she was going to leave her family here without a meal. “I don’t know why I think this, but I think we’d all three be better off if I did.”

  “Honey, you come on in now, and we’ll get you something warm in your belly. The other two as well. Who are they?” Lucy told him who they were. And that they were homeless. “Sisters? The three of you? You must be the most prettiest homeless people I ever seen. Come on now. My wife, Cindy, is in there, making you and your sisters some good food. My sons are there too but don’t you pay them no never mind. They wouldn’t hurt a flea. Their momma would beat them silly if they tried. Come on.”

&n
bsp; Before she could figure out what was going on, she was seated at a nice table with cloth napkins and a bowl of the best vegetable soup she’d ever eaten. When her sisters arrived, they too were seated and given soup as well. The bread was still warm, and she could taste the brown bread all the way to her toes.

  “What happened to you? To us?” Lucy said that she didn’t know, but to eat as much as they could before they were turned out again. “This is going to make it harder when we have to go back out, I think. I was so worried when the man showed up that I hit him with the bat before he told me that he’d come to feed us. I don’t know why, Lucy, but I trusted him as much as I did Dad. What do you think their game is?”

  “I don’t know. But when we’re done here, they’re taking me to the hospital to have someone look at my arm. I’ll tell you about it later.” She looked up when a very pregnant woman sat down beside them. She had more bread in a basket, as well as more silverware. “We can’t thank you enough for this. We’ve been without for some time now.”

  “I heard. My name is Demi McCray. Are you homeless for a reason or just runaways? I’d like to help you, but I don’t want to go to prison either.” With her wink, Lucy knew for some reason that she could trust her. “What are your names and ages? If you don’t mind.”

  “I’m Lucy Jackson. I’m twenty-two. I’ve been taking care of my sisters and I since our uncle, Josh Jackson, dropped us off in late April. This is Jilly, she’s sixteen, and Cybill is fifteen.” She asked why the uncle had dropped them off. “He is our guardian since our parents were killed about a year ago now. He finds us, then when he’s finished with us, whatever his reasoning is, he takes us to a corner and leaves us there. I don’t know why I can tell you this when I’ve not told anyone else before.”