CHAPTER 3: AN OPPORTUNITY FOR CHARLIE
At 25, Charlie had come into his own. He was now a certified chef and working at a prestigious restaurant in Vallejo, California. He used all of his knowledge as a top chef and even did some of his own creations that even his bosses liked that they put it on the menu. His parents could also be part of his employee discount for meals whenever they came in to eat at the restaurant when they were in town.
But Charlie had another plan in the works. He wanted to open his own restaurant, where he could serve the food he liked to make. So one day while in San Francisco, he was meeting with a potential business partner. A woman stepped out of an office and went to greet Charlie.
"Are you Mr. Brown?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am," said Charlie.
"My name is Susan Franks. We talked on the phone."
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Franks."
"Please, you can call me Susan. If we're going to work together, we can skip the formalities. Anyway, I looked over your plans for your own restaurant, and I have to say I am interested in starting something with you to get this to happen."
"Really?"
"Absolutely. First we have to start out planning and looking for a spot to build your restaurant, come up with a clever name for the place, financing, all that good stuff." And Charlie and Susan got to work on planning his restaurant right away.
One year later…
The grand opening of Charlie's new restaurant was happening. His parents, along with Sally and Schroeder were there for the opening. Linus was still deployed overseas but sent his well-wishes on a successful opening via web chat. Charlie was elated to have his own place of business. He learned about running his own business from watching his father work at the barber shop for all those years. Sally even picked up on some of that knowledge, as well, as she was going to school to become a hair stylist and possibly open up her own salon down the road. Schroeder had gotten a job as a music teacher and a spot in the orchestra in Philadelphia, where he and Sally were now living.
As Charlie cut the ribbon in front of his new restaurant called Brown's Bistro, everyone went in to try out the meals they offered. And everyone loved the food, much to Charlie's delight. He had proven Lucy, and all other detractors wrong. He was successful and now he had his own business. The partnership between him and Susan worked out tremendously. He joined his family at a private table set up for them to chat a while as they waited for their meals.
NEXT CHAPTER: VIOLET'S DEAL OF A LIFETIME