Chereads / The Little Café down by the Willow / Chapter 4 - Opening Day

Chapter 4 - Opening Day

Today was a wonderful day and the last day of the week I was going to have the Cafe open. I woke up early this morning right before everyone else in the house and I wrote out the Cafe's hours and days of operation. I'd have the Cafe open from 6:00 Am till 2:30 Pm every weekday and be closed on the weekends. This would remain till I got more employees, I didn't want to run the ones I do currently have ragged. I'm just sitting here now reading the newspaper Dad left on the counter, then I headed to the Cafe to open up.

When I got to the garage I saw dad had gone out and brought his work van to get the food and produce I might need for the Cafe. "Son, take the van and set up the shop right, though I didn't find a place that sold coffee beans in town." My dad said to me making sure the food was secure in the back of the van as I left for the Cafe.

When I got to there I saw James and his sister Mary were ready for the day, I was hoping it wasn't going to be like yesterday. I was hoping it was busier with at least a small rush for the morning but you never know with a new Cafe owner taking over. I saw the place was a bit dusty so I asked James to dusty the place a bit and all he did was smile at me and took a wet wash cloth and do a run-through. I then asked Mary to help me bring in the food but she didn't respond to me as well, she just went and took down all the chairs.

I thought to myself, "Wow did I say something wrong or are they just engoring me on purpose?" I shrugged it off and I started preparing some pots of tea and prepped the quick meals I had planned for a small menu. Nothing too crazy but when I heard the door open I saw about fifteen people walk in and they all wanted to get drinks and food to go. I scrambled around and found dad also bought me a ton of to-go stuff so I took everyone's orders and didn't stop till it was about 11:00 A.M. That's when James came into the dining room and saw everyone leaving, from those first fifteen people grew into half the town.

James asked me, "How was it, I bet those were the only people..." I stopped him and showed him the tickets of every customer in the few hours we were open. "Oh god, I didn't know that we were that busy I would have helped more," James said to me bowing his head to apologize to me. Everything in my soul wanted me to cuss him out but I pulled back for a moment, "If you're going to work for me I need you both to listen to instructions and actually help me." James saw I was annoyed then I gave him a cloth and I had him clean the tables. He looked sad but he was angrier at himself for treating the person who let him keep his job.

Mary came into the room and saw her brother cleaning the tables while I was counting the tickets for a moment. She came up to me and was going to yell at me then I looked up at her, "Miss Park, if you're going to yell at me after a big rush when you were off messing around, maybe you should leave. If the boss busts his butt to fill out and make all the orders the decency the employ can do is clean the tables." I said to her when I gave her the tickets after I was just getting finished with them, she looked at all of the in her hands. I walked into the kitchen and I then washed the dishes for the last few hours of the Cafe being left open. Mary took care of the few customers that came into the Cafe for me after she apologized to me too.

I got done with dishes that were from the rush and I went to the front to take a break, I sat down at the counter when about ten old men came in looking for coffee. I was about to tell them that we didn't have any when Amy came in with a big bag of new beans. She took them to the back and I followed her, James and Mary could be seen smiling as I talked with Amy. "I got you a good bag of coffee from a farm just ten miles from the big city north of here," Amy said when I opened the bag and took a scoop out to grind, when I was grinding the beans I could picture my Grandpa telling me. "Take it slow Jacob you don't want to run the grinder too fast it might not crush the beans the way we want."

I smiled when I asked Amy, "Why did you bring me these, to begin with, I didn't even know you knew I needed new ones?" She put her arm around my shoulder and said, "I heard to talk about it right before you went inside the house last night. I woke up this morning and went to that farm. You're my best friend and I would do anything to help you out when you need it, all I ask for is the first cup of coffee every time I bring you a bag." I put the grounds in the coffee maker and I made the first batch. I made sure I made it the way Grandpa did and when I had all of us including the customers try it. I said "This is my first official pot of coffee please try the first cup for free," I took the first sip as everyone I gave coffee to did as well. The taste was childhood all wrapped in warmth with a bit of better sweetness.

It was just like my grandparents were still here, I couldn't believe that I made something this good. Everyone loved it and went to thank me for the first cup but saw I was crying on the floor. James told the customers that I had just recently inherited the Cafe after losing my Grandma and Grandpa in an accident. Amy came over to me and gave me a death hug to get me to calm down, "I know you haven't cried much since they passed and it's alright to feel sad they're gone but taking care of this place makes their souls so happy. I whipped my face and I pulled myself together when the leader of the group of men came up to me.

"Young man, this was the best cup of coffee I had in my seventy years of living, you should be proud of this I know your Grandpa would be." He said, he held out his hand and shook my hand when he told me who he was. "I am an old buddy of Davids from the Army, he use to make coffee like this out of even the worst of coffee. Seems you have his talent I hope I can come back here one day to enjoy this one more time." I thanked the man, Then he and his whole crew left the Cafe with that compliment I knew taking on this Cafe was a good decision. I looked at James and Mary and told them they could go when they get done cleaning. They shook their heads finally responding to my instructions and I went to the back of the Cafe.

There I sat in the back office and looked over the pictures all over the wall, I saw everything they kept in picture form. Not a lot of the pictures had Aunt Lacy, which wasn't surprised because she was mean and never around but for the money. Amy came into the office and saw I was looking at pictures again, the smile on my face made her blush. She shook her head and slapped herself then asked me, "You wanna go grab something to eat from the old burger joint, you look kind of hungry." I smiled and put the picture down, "Yeah let's take your vehicle though." She agreed and we went into town and met up with a couple of old school friends at the joint.