Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
The tiny back office at Java Junction
West 30 th Street, NYC
“I’ve looked at several locations in other parts of Manhattan and setting up our first non-hotel site could be the start of us building a chain of high end coffee shops in the city,” said Ryan. “The rents are not cheap, but we have a scalable concept.”
Simon listened politely as Ryan presented his plan for where he thought they could take Java Junction , but from the impassive expression which continued to sit on his boss’s face it soon became clear that Ryan’s forty percent of a plan wasn’t going to cut it. His offer to do the heavy lifting in exchange for a piece of the action was met with stoney silence.
He could see the stumbling point. Money. Simon would need to put up the initial cash for the project, which meant he would be the one to bear all the risk. Ryan’s plan was that he would eventually take out an interest bearing loan, pay Simon back, and in doing so secure a slice of ownership for himself.
He hates the idea. And it’s the only option I have.
The proposal meeting had started badly. An order of coffee beans hadn’t arrived, and Simon had been forced to make a trip downtown to pick up the bags himself. Ryan had done his best to explain that if they went along with his plan then those sorts of jobs would be the ones he’d deal with on a day to day basis, for both coffee shops.
Simon had the good grace to give Ryan a solid twenty minutes of his time, before he finally held up his hand and called an end to the meeting. “Look I think you are a good kid.”
Fuck. I’m thirty years old.
He waited for the inevitable ‘let’s talk again in a couple of months’, but instead Simon slowly rose from behind his desk. He shifted into a power stance which was a feat in such a cramped space. Ryan’s already sinking stomach bottomed out. The only time he’d ever seen his boss do this was when he was about to fire someone.
“Ryan I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I understand you really want to do something more with your life. That being said, while you have plans, so do I. And those plans are the ones which need to be front and center of my priorities. So, I think it’s high time you looked for something new.”
Great. I’m not just back at square one, but now he wants me to look for another job.
Simon bent and picked up a plain white envelope from off his desk, and held it out to Ryan. “This is a gift certificate for one of the nice Italian places around the corner. A goodbye gift and a thanks for all your hard work.”
Ryan reluctantly took the envelope. “Um. What do you mean by goodbye?”
“I mean you’re finished with us. Your final pay check and severance is also in the envelope. Take off your apron and leave it on the chair. Don’t forget to grab your personal things from the staff locker room.”
His simmering sense of disappointment was quickly overwhelmed as a wave of shock pushed adrenaline coursing through his body. It left a trail of nausea in its wake. This was really happening.
I’m getting fired. Today. Fuck.
“I don’t understand. I get that you think I should look for something else, but why are you getting rid of me like this?”
Rejection wasn’t something he’d ever been able to handle all that well. The scars of his humiliation on national television went so deep, he’d never attempted to deal with them properly. Instead he’d just stuffed them down and done his best to ignore them.
Resigned to his fate, Ryan untied his apron and set it on the chair.
Simon squeezed past him and to the door of his tiny office. His fingers rested on the handle. “When I first employed you, it was a year or so after you’d been on that tv show. I figured you’d gotten over your fifteen minutes of fame. That you were now happy to be a grunt for the rest of your life.”
Ryan winced. “Is anyone happy being a grunt?”
He didn’t want a fight, but he didn’t want to walk meekly out the door, gift certificate in hand.
“Some folks are, but the reality is, grunts are what I need. I can’t handle people who want to be more.”
He opened the door, and motioned for Ryan to step through. Simon held out his hand. “I know right now you probably think I’m a complete bastard. But I hope one day that you will look back on this moment and see it for what it is.”
“And what’s that?”
“A hard kick up the ass. One which forces you to go and do something bigger with your life.”
In a half daze Ryan headed to the staff room, where he grabbed his jacket before stepping out into the hotel foyer. There was a long line of people queuing up for coffee. The morning rush was in full swing. He instinctively moved toward the counter, before catching himself. The envelope in his hand was a tangible reminder that he no longer worked at Java Junction .
Stuffing his final pay check into his pocket, he turned and kept walking. His focus was now fully on the front door of the hotel. He dared not make eye contact with any of his former work colleagues, fearing that if he did, they would quickly figure out what was happening.
Simon might well be shoving him out the door, but Ryan knew it always paid to make a quiet exit. This time tomorrow he would be back on the hustings looking for a new barista gig. Only a fool would burn bridges as he left. Causing a scene in front of a café full of customers wouldn’t get him a good reference from Simon.
Once outside in West 30th Street he turned right, but rather than making his way toward the nearest subway station, he just kept walking. He barely noticed the crowded sidewalks instead relying purely on his NYC muscle memory to steer out of people’s way.
The only thing on Ryan’s mind was the burning question of why every time he’d thought he’d got his life together, fate seemed to enjoy pulling the rug out from under him.
Whatever he’d done in a previous life, it had to have been something truly awful for him to continue being punished in this one. He was back to square one. No job. And no way of moving forward. If the universe had grand plans in store for Ryan Collins, it was keeping them from him.
Pulling his cell from out of his back pocket, he barely glanced at the screen as he hit Liam’s number, and lifted the phone to his ear.
“You are not going to believe what just happened,” he huffed.