Chapter 1 #2
Remi sat his seat up and took a minute to rub his eyes before he started his car, double checked behind himself in the mirror to make sure no one was coming, looked over at the house to see if it looked like anyone was stirring yet, then put his car in gear and drove carefully up to the store.
He parked in a space near the walkway connecting the two buildings, then got out slowly, taking a minute to stretch his legs, bend his back and roll his shoulders.
He stretched his arms over his head and rolled his neck a time or two before he started around the building toward the front door of the store.
Richie opened the back door and called to him. “This way.”
Remi changed direction and was soon stepping into what he thought was the storage room of the store.
Instead he found himself in a small seating area of four booths, and a set of bathrooms — according to the emblems on the doors.
Taking advantage of the men’s room, he stopped in and used the facilities, then quickly and gratefully washed his hands and his face, using his fingers to run through his always neatly trimmed beard and mustache.
Drying his hands, face, and patting his beard dry on the folded paper towels stacked neatly in a basket, he looked around the bathroom and noticed how clean and accommodating it was.
There was anything you could have in your personal bathroom here and available for use to anyone who needed it.
There were even tiny bottles of mouth wash.
He picked one up and removed the plastic on it, then cracked open the top and poured it into his mouth, gratefully swishing it around before gargling with it, spitting it into the sink and throwing away the empty bottle.
He rinsed the sink, used another paper towel to dry the water he’d splashed on the side of the sink, then walked out of the bathroom on his way to find Richie.
As Remi reached the front of the store, an older lady and an older gentleman were busy readying the store to open. “Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning!” the woman answered warmly.
“How are you this fine day?” the older gentleman asked, smiling brightly at him.
“I’m doing okay.”
“Mom, Moe, this is Remi. He’s from Kaid’s shifter clan in Louisiana. You remember Daniel and Avaleigh?”
“Yes, I do,” Constance said.
“Sure do. Good people,” Moe said.
“Remi is their son. He’s going to be spending some time with us,” Richie said.
“Remi, this is my mother, Mrs. Constance, and my stepfather, Moe.”
“Welcome, mijo,” Constance said, walking over to Remi and embracing him like his own mother did.
“Oh! Thank you,” Remi said, hugging her back.
“Glad to have you with us,” Moe said, reaching his hand out to shake Remi’s.
Remi put his hand in Moe’s and tried not to smile as Moe just about sprained his own wrist he shook hands so vigorously.
“Thank you, I appreciate it. That’s some shake you got there,” Remi said.
Moe grinned and lifted his shoulders in a half-shrug. “Sorry. It comes from being around all these extraordinary people. I guess I try to over compensate… Panthers, Bears, Gorillas…”
“Dragons,” Richie added.
Moe’s mouth fell open as he looked wide-eyed at Remi.
Remi grinned at him and raised an eyebrow.
Moe placed his hand near his forehead and made an explosion sound with his mouth. “Mind blown,” he confessed.
Remi and Richie both laughed.
“Are you hungry, mijo? We’ll have breakfast in a second. It was all prepped last night so all Richie has to do is get it finished and we can feed you,” Constance said.
“Oh, no. That’s not necessary, I’m okay. Can I do anything to help you guys get the store open?”
“You know how to cook?” Richie asked, as he set two filled coffee decanters on warming pads and placed two more beneath the coffee makers.
“Grew up cooking with my mother. I’m not exactly a chef, but I’m sure I can hold my own with the basics,” Remi said.
“Good. Come with me,” Richie said, leading the way back through the bathroom and the booth areas, before leaving the store and following the walkway to the restaurant.
Remi kept up with him step for step, just right on his heels.
Richie flipped on lights as he went, unlocking the front exterior doors, then turning off the alarm before unlocking the interior doors to grant them entry to the main dining room of the restaurant.
“There’s a small kitchen in the back of the store, but we do all the cooking in the kitchen here, then take it over to the store to place in the baskets under the warming lights for anyone who stops in for a quick breakfast to-go.
We change the food out with lunch items like burgers and sandwiches, sausage dogs, burritos, sometimes pizza pockets and such, then freshen them up later in the evening.
If anybody wants anything else they are welcome to come on over to the restaurant and we’ll happily make them something to eat — it’s running all the time anyway.
We get locals that want a good meal in a nice but casual restaurant, as well as people traveling the highway and stopping in for a bite when they stop for gas.
And we keep the gas prices as low as we possibly can so a lot of locals come here to fill up despite us being a few miles out of the town itself.
The store’s kitchen is more of a kitchenette, it’s used for washing utensils and making coffee and such, and any employees that might want to nuke a quick meal they brought from home or something on their break.
And Moe makes his famous caramel frappe there, then pours it into the daiquiri machine to get it to freeze.
There are a few booths in the back as I’m sure you noticed, if anybody wants to sit and eat before getting back on the road, but doesn’t feel like doing the whole restaurant thing. ”
“Sounds like a busy place.”
“It is. And that’s a good thing. It’s steady income for the Pride. Between that, and the construction company, investing in Colter Animal Hospital, we’re doing quite well.”
“I kind of remember hearing a little about it from Cristie, but it was a while ago,” Remi said.
“It’s actually Alex’s. She’s Lazarus’ mate.
Laz took Riley’s last name before he married Alex because he refused to be associated with the people he came from, which is another whole story in itself.
But when she moved her veterinary practice from where it was in town to out here, she gave it her new last name — Colter Animal Hospital.
The Pride invested in her practice by building the hospital for her.
Alex pays a mortgage toward owning the building eventually, and we get a small percentage that goes to the Pride. ”
“Y’all got it together. I like the way everybody supports each other.”
“Riley said he learned it from Kaid. We’re just tweaking the concept to fit our own needs.”
“Thank goodness for Kaid, or who knows where any of us would be,” Remi said.
“True. Now, you drink coffee or you want one of those frappes?”
“Plain black coffee for me,” Remi said.
“Grab yourself a cup in there,” Richie gestured toward the doors at the opposite side of the dining room that led to a kitchen, “and lets get this started.”
Remi followed Richie into the kitchen, looking over the decor as he went. “Man, I like those windows showing what’s going on in the kitchen.”
“Me, too. It was one thing I insisted on when we built this place. Let the customers see their food being prepared.”
“There’s the coffee,” Richie said pointing toward the coffee pots he’d set on automatic brew before he left for the night the night before.
He went into the cooler as Remi poured himself a cup of coffee, and soon reappeared holding two very large trays of breakfast sausage patties, and bacon.
“Heat up the grill and let’s fry up these sausage patties and bacon.
In the meantime I’ll grab the croissants and the bagels out of the cooler and run them through the oven to get them warmed.
Then we’ll scramble some eggs and make some breakfast sandwiches.
We’ll put them on croissants and bagels, wrap them in foil and deliver them to the store.
We’ll be done in thirty minutes and come back in here to start prepping for the breakfast rush in here.
” He’d intentionally thrown a lot of information trying to see if he could overwhelm Remi, but surprisingly Remi nodded, and took another gulp of coffee.
“On it,” Remi said, taking the trays of sausage patties and bacon from Richie and carrying them to the grill.
He set them to the side, then filled a glass with water, dipped his fingers in the water and sprinkled the droplets at the flat top grill.
Once they sizzled, he nodded. “Ready,” he said, and started lining up the sausage patties and the bacon slices.
“Spatulas are in the drawers to your right,” Richie called out from the opposite side of the kitchen where he was putting croissants and bagels on baking sheets and brushing their tops with butter before sliding them into the ovens.
“Got it,” Remi said, choosing two spatulas and setting one off to the side for later.
“Appreciate the help this morning,” Richie said.
“Any time you get enough just say so. I come in early every day to get breakfast started and get the store’s food loaded up, and prep for sit down breakfast here, but the girls will be in later for their regular shifts so don’t feel like you have to stay here. ”
“I don’t mind at all. I’m glad to be doing something useful.”
“Glad for the distraction, huh?” Richie asked.
“You have no idea,” Remi said.
“Oh, I think I do. I’ve helped raise her. She will not be happy to see you, I’m guessing.”
“Not hardly, I’m afraid.”
“Well, Cristie works at the animal clinic, but she usually stops in for a quick sandwich on her way,” Richie said. “You’ll find out then.”
Remi laughed. “She’s not aware I was even coming, as far as I know.”
Richie laughed, shaking his head.
“Think it’s going to be that bad?” Remi asked.
“Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be you this morning,” Richie said.
“Gotta start somewhere. Might as well get it over with,” Remi said as the sausage started sizzling.