CH27

Two weeks and two days later:

Johanna had come home from the vet 2 days ago where Patch had gotten her final booster shots at 12 weeks and her first rabies shot at 16 weeks, so she was good to meet Midas and Maggie now.

Right now Johanna was cooking dinner with Patch sitting practically on her foot waiting patiently for her taste. Patch had learned early that her owner was an easy mark for handouts of people food. Not that she got much, barely more than the tip of a pinky, still she knew she was going to get one.

Today was no different as Johanna placed a tiny bit on the tip of her finger and leaned down to let Patch lick it off her finger. Johanna heard the sound of a car door closing followed by two more. The sounds told her who was here. She had barely seen any of them in weeks because of Patch. It was also why she was cooking. Johanna was nervous as well. Nervous enough that she was just about ready to pass out or throw up. Oscar was scheduled to be here today.

Rick knocked and opened the door. The first ones in were Midas and Maggie who found Patch in no time. Their presence caused Patch to hide between Johanna's legs. She rescued her and lifted her up out of range of the two Dobermans. Then Johanna watched Oscar walk in with a suitcase in one hand and Thor in the other who didn't look upset or scared. Johanna, however, felt her heart pound. She hadn't felt anything like that in a really long time.

Oscar put Thor down and went to the guest room he had used last time he was here. Johanna noticed that Thor headed straight for Midas and Maggie and started barking at them 'til they began playing with him. "See Patch, that could be you. Just screw up your courage and go play." Johanna kissed her and put her back down on the floor. It was Thor who found her first and she seemed to recognize him. Play time, at least with Thor, was on. "Thor had a problem at first, too, so don't feel bad," Rick remarked to her, as they both watched Alexis chasing all four of them.

"I hope my home can survive this!" Johanna exclaimed since space was a little tight. It was enough room for a Coton de Tulear or two running around, just not for two Dobermans chasing them. "Alexis, take all the dogs outside so they can run," Rick called out. "And don't let Thor or Patch out of your sight. Don't let anything happen to them."

Oscar arrived just as the front door slammed closed. "How are you Jo?" he asked and gave her a quick hug. They had talked a lot since she had been in New York and Oscar had started calling her Jo, just like her husband Jim had done. At first she had a problem with it, but she had kept her mouth closed and hadn't told Oscar. Now she found that she kind of liked it. "I'm fine, you should see the restaurant. It's only been 3 weeks but it looks like they have done a lot." Johanna actually saw some changes. The place was still a huge mess, but it was her mess.

"That's why I'm here. They have saw cut the floor and the plumber has installed the below slab piping. The local inspector is supposed to come out and inspect it today allowing the general contractor to pour the floor tomorrow. A few days after that and he can start putting up interior walls as he finishes with the new roof," Oscar explained.

"Does that mean they will enclose everything soon?" Johanna meant put in windows.

"Close, first comes the Green Guard® insulated board followed by Green Guard® building wrap. After that's installed comes the wrap that's installed around the window openings. It actually has a sticky back to it and is next followed by the windows. All of this is meant to keep the weather out. The one-inch board gives us another 5 R-value making the building that much more energy efficient," he said. "With the probability for nasty winters you'll be happy to have it."

"I don't know how I'm going to thank you for all that you have done." Johanna owed him and she knew it. Sure he was getting paid to do this, and she had a good idea by whom, but still she owed him. As for who had bought the building, the land it was on, and all of Oscar's hard work, she would handle him later. That was, of course, after she was certain her daughter was in love with him.

"I'm happy to be here," Oscar admitted while looking at Johanna who turned for the kitchen to hide her blush. "We need your portfolio case," Rick suddenly remembered. "Be right back," he told them and went outside.

"You brought something?" Johanna asked as she tended to their dinner. "I brought several things actually, along with a few papers I need you to read and sign. I'll walk you through them and you can sign after you read them. It should be easy for you, since you used to be a lawyer. Speaking of being a lawyer, do you still plan on being a lawyer broker?" Oscar questioned her and followed her into the kitchen, even though he knew she would eventually shoo him out of her domain.

"Eventually yes, I just need to find lawyers who will agree to this plan. I intend on starting that search soon," Johanna told him. "This town is about to find out how lucky they are to have you as a resident," he remarked.

Johanna felt his hands spin her in place since she had her back to him and her heart throbbed hard enough to burst out of her chest. She wanted him to and was scared to death that he would. Plus just what would she do if he didn't. Her questions were answered when she found herself in his arms as he kissed her. Johanna wrapped her arms around him and returned his kiss. Unlike the last kiss which was fast and all lips, this kiss was far more soul-searching. Oscar was stroking her bottom lip asking for entrance. Johanna didn't have the will to stop him and soon the kiss was deepened as a battle of tongues began.

"Bring the puppies indoors now Alexis," Rick called just outside the door. Johanna broke from the kiss, quickly removed her arms, and then took a step back as her blush at almost being caught started up her neck. Oscar, however, leaned in and gave her a quick kiss before leaving her kitchen.

Both of them soon heard Rick, Alexis, and the dogs enter the house with Rick closing the door. Oscar took his portfolio case and lifted it up a little. "We'll go over this after Kate gets home and after we have dinner," he announced since he had a number of things to tell them and show them.

'Where are you Kate?' Rick asked. 'I'm on US16 roughly 30 minutes outside of town. Give me about an hour and I'll be there. I'll need time to shower and change though,' she replied. 'Anything eventful happen today?' he questioned knowing that most of her days were really boring for her. 'Just another mind-numbing day in the car,' Kate confirmed. 'I brought my laptop with me. You've got something from your friend Esposito. It's a big file,' he informed her. 'YES! Good thing I have the next three days off,' Kate responded. She knew she owed Espo for this, she just had to figure out how to pay him back for his efforts on her behalf.

Kate walked in through the front door an hour later. "Sorry I'm late," she apologized as she closed the door and petted Midas and Maggie when they showed up. It was the two really little ones that came with them that surprised her. She bent down to pet Patch who had wormed her way into Kate's heart, too, just not as deeply as she had into her mother's. "Mother, what have you done now?" Kate picked up Thor who did his best to try and lick her face clean.

"That's Thor," her mother told her. "Thor?" Kate held him up to look him in the face. "Welcome to the zoo Thor." She set him back down on the floor and started for the stairs. She passed by Rick who was sitting in a chair, stopped for a moment then kissed the top of his head.

'Hi babe!' Kate continued on for the stairs only to see Oscar step out of the downstairs guest room. "Oscar!? Mom didn't tell me you were coming out today." She wasn't sure just what to make of his being here or her mother's silence.

"I have a number of things to go over with Johanna and you and thought it would be better for you to see it, so here I am." He spread his arms wide.

"Let me shower, get this road dirt off of me, and into some clean clothes then I'll be right down," Kate said and headed up the stairs only to have Maggie rush past her and wait for her at the top. "You are not taking a shower with me Maggie," she informed her, however Maggie stayed long enough for Kate to turn on the shower. Since she didn't want another bath she ran back downstairs as Kate stripped her uniform off and put all her stuff away.

Today's dinner was chili, cornbread, and a fresh green salad. The chili had been simmering low and slow for hours and could be served almost anytime. Johanna put the salad together while Kate was in the shower.

Oscar had everyone's attention after dinner when he pulled his portfolio out. "I have some boards for you to look at. As Johanna knows, there will be two billboards, one on US85 and one on US16. The one on US85 will be south of town where the northbound traffic will see it," he told them and pulled out a board and held it upright while resting it on the dining room table. It had the name of the restaurant and which exit to take. There were fireworks bursting across the top and had one of the exterior renderings that Oscar and his staff had created which Johanna had already seen once.

"The other billboard is on US16 just outside of town and the eastbound traffic will see it," he explained and pulled out the next board. It also had the name of the restaurant and which exit to take. Like the other one there were fireworks bursting across the top. This time the rendering was of the inside which showed a number of pictures of Yellowstone along with one of the two fireplaces.

Oscar pulled out some paperwork. "If you approve, I need your signature on these so I can order the sign company to start work on what they need to put up on the billboards," he explained. "Cut a check and I will send it along with the order form. Remember to keep receipts for tax purposes," he advised her. He got the okay from everyone save Alexis, who asked a simple question. "No cookies?"

That had him on his phone to his office to have her specialty cookies included in some way after reminding them to look at the menu to see the names of the cookies. "They'll email me a new billboard the day after tomorrow for us to view," he informed them. It all earned Alexis a kiss. "Thank you sweetie," Johanna told her and watched Alexis blush a little.

"Next is what we have for what your menu will look like." Oscar pulled out several mock-ups and handed one to each of them, including Alexis. "As typical it has the name of your restaurant, list of appetizers, soups, salads, entrees, and desserts. There is a separate list showing just the desserts including your extensive cookie list. There will paper handouts up front with a list of your cookies and their cost. As you will notice, each item has a brief description of what is included in that item and of course, the cost to purchase it," Oscar said to them.

"This is the wine list which will be separate from the menu with cost per bottle and cost per glass." Oscar took out another set of papers and handed one to everyone including Alexis. "I've considered adding beer to the list as bottles only, no draft beers. However, I'm thinking of letting you be open for a few months before revisiting this item. We'll make room in one of the reach-ins for it if it is decided to add a few. If you do add beers I would suggest micro-brews only made in Wyoming, Montana, or perhaps South Dakota," he advised.

"There's one more thing to do while I'm out here. We need to go down to the local high school and talk to the teachers to find out if there are any good culinary students. We need to start offering jobs locally and beyond, including nationally. There are people all over the country looking for a job. A few might be willing to relocate for a good position. Here's the list with average salaries for a restaurant of your size." He handed over another list including one for Alexis. It was then that Johanna caught on to what he was doing and it warmed her heart which made her that much more confused.

Restaurant cooks - $15,120 to $30,270 (Average of $21,960)

Restaurant dishwashers - $13,640 to $21,580 (Average of $17,060)

Restaurant hosts/hostesses - $13,610 to $23,580 (Average of $17,770)

Wait Staff - $13,120 to $28,180 (Average of $18,570)

"None of these salary rates include tips which typically go 100% to the wait staff, though it's not unknown for the staff to receive a portion of each tip. That's up to you if you want to do that or not."

"I suggest that you offer the average to the cooks and somewhere between the lowest rate and the average for everyone else. At the end of 90 days you can have a review with each of your employees and give them raises based on their work for the previous 90 days. Most raises take place annually, so every July 4th, if we make that date, your employees can expect a review of their work and a raise based on the work they do," Oscar suggested.

"Sometime in the future you may decide that you need or want a restaurant manager whose salary would be $28,240 to $74,060 (Average of $48,660). Also most restaurant workers can expect to receive a deep discount on a single meal each day. Every employee is required to give you notice that they intend to quit as well as for vacation days. However none of them get paid for vacation or sick days."

"You will be small enough that you will not be required to provide medical coverage, though I would suggest that you at least look into providing an HSA account. Essentially it's a credit card that's used exclusively for medical reasons. You can provide a small amount annually and have your employees add money per paycheck and let it build up when they don't use it. Since most restaurants don't offer anything at all, you will stand out in the industry."

"A 401k is the next item to talk about. Offer one to each employee and offer to take out a small percentage each paycheck that you will match up to a maximum. Say 2% to start with and adjust from there based on whatever criteria you decide to use. How long have they been with you? What they do for you and the restaurant? How often they have been employee of the month? Something else entirely." Oscar finished what was on the last sheet of paper.

"One last thing and that's it. This is a rendering of what the shirt you will be providing for each and every employee will look like." Oscar pulled those out and handed one to everyone including Alexis again. "Your employees will have to provide their own black pants, black belt, and black shoes. Loosely tied ties that vary in color matching the bursts of the fireworks might be nice for both men and women are suggested but not required. Those would be something else you would provide as you can see them on your rendering," he told them.

It was a simple black button down shirt with a single pocket that had the name AFTER DARK in silver script just above the pocket with a burst of three fireworks overlapping each other a little on the pocket.

"This is Wyoming so it shouldn't be too hard to get the fireworks you'll need. Though you could buy a very large amount and store them at home and drive them into the restaurant on game days in anticipation on getting a win. The TVs that you'll have hanging in the receptionist area could be used to keep track of each home game that is being played or is a tape delay that is connected to your system," Oscar explained. "Shoot off however much you want for each win. I would suggest a minimum of 4 boxes that have 12 tubes, more if you so decide. Maybe they beat a hated rival and you want to shoot off twice that number." He shrugged his shoulders. It was just an idea.

"Also your utility costs monthly including Internet and phone are expected to be between $2,500 and $4,000. Those costs have already been included in your costs of the first 3 months of operation. Most of your costs will be nothing to worry about. The first three months you are open, especially after you spend $15 thousand for your grand opening, will be nothing since it will be the busiest you can ever expect to be in most cases."

"Your job is to provide good food that the locals are willing to pay for. You keep them happy and you can expect to be successful." Oscar was done since he had nothing else.

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She had just finished putting the money she had earned in her overseas bank account, which was a good thing since she had her eyes on a server expansion that she would love to connect to her existing system.

She was especially glad that she had a few connections in the right place. It took some serious greasing of palms to get those spy satellites into orbit. People paid a lot of money for what she could provide.

The latest one had earned her a cool $152 million. Granted it had taken her a few weeks of surveillance and a little help from her friends, but she had dedicated her life to helping them and she didn't ask for help all that often.

She plopped down in her all too comfortable chair, glad to be home. Her home was a one of a kind and had some serious out of the box thinking put into it. It was amazing what some of these kids could think up. The roof was made up of twenty soft arches that overlapped that kind of resembled the shape of a commercial airplane. Each overlapped the other providing a number of clearstories that in her case were attached to an automated comfort A/C control system. It was these clearstories that helped to keep her home cool causing the A/C system to work only sparingly which was usually only on the hottest of days.

Each of the arches was covered in solar power panels that kept her completely off the grid. It didn't hurt that her home had one amazing view, since it was high up in one of the red mountains of Sedona, Arizona. Her floor was actually the rock of the mountain as were several of the walls. She was especially proud of the beams that supported everything. She was amazed how the structural engineer had managed to make the beam(s) that held up her roof one long continuous twisting laminated beam that was dark brown in color.

She had a really long uninterrupted rock deck that overlooked the beautiful Sedona desert. It had seating the entire length. The living room had a massive fireplace with a copper face reaching up to the ceiling. The extra-large base had her one and only TV sitting on it next to the fire pit. Her sofa was even reddish leather that almost matched the color of the mountain she was in.

The very center of the home was the pièce de résistance of the entire home. It was the central core of the computer that she used to protect her friends and their friends who in turn had friends.

You needed a DNA sample, hand print, and a coded spoken word to gain access to her. What no one, not even her friends, had ever guessed was that the lighted fins extending out from her central core at the ceiling were the cooling fins to keep her cool actually looked like an architectural feature. It truly was a special look.

Her master bedroom was on the second floor just under several of the clearstories. It was round with a king-sized bed that had book shelves filled with books all along one side that actually looked out over the rest of her home. There was a single red leather sofa built into the low wall. Her house had 5 bedrooms and 5-1/2 bathrooms. Every bedroom was utilized by her friends and staff. Her home was well defended thanks to them who just also happened to be her very best friends on the planet.

She also felt a little like that stupid animated TV show that was made into a movie that likely lost money. THUNDERBIRDS

She had only just returned using her very own V-22 Osprey that she knew how to fly with great precision. She pressed a button that sent out a coded signal that retracted the hard tarp that had a lattice support structure under it that separated and allowed her to land on her underground landing pad. It closed back up at the touch of a button. It was painted perfectly to mimic the rock that surrounded it.

From there she walked underground to her home. "Serena, it's good to have you home. How did your mission go?" Joanne Delgado asked her. Serena had happily taken her in after her mother had been brutally murdered. Joanne had willingly given Serena the money she had gotten from the insurance company and her mother's life insurance. Now she was one of Serena Kaye's best friends as well as her lover.

"It went perfectly." Serena handed her the deposit receipt of the $152 million. "Anything happen while I was gone?" Serena hated leaving Joanna in charge but they needed the money if they were going to keep doing what they have been doing.

"Carol checked in using the scrambler phone we gave her," Joanne told her as she followed Serena to their room and watched her strip off her clothes in anticipation of taking a much needed shower. "And?" she asked. "She's in position and is presently Eric Vaughn's lover of the week or month if we're lucky," Joanne said. Serena wasn't sure how Carol managed to do what she was doing. Serena had learned over the years; a mountain lion shifter like Joanne was capable of a lot of things, .

They weren't bonded life mates, still they loved each other with a passion that was unrivaled except for those that were. "She reported that she's now convinced that Eric has been given the job of overseeing the entire Paladin network after the removal of Sophia Turner," Joanne told her. "Also she overheard that he has ordered surveillance to begin using drones to watch someone who has a 6-year-old little girl."

"Does she know who he's watching?" Serena needed to make arrangements because of this. "Unfortunately no, she's still trying to determine who this person is. Still she does know that the closest airport for them to fly into with the equipment they needed was Casper, Wyoming," Joanne informed her as a naked Serena stepped into the open shower. "Wyoming? A single person with a 6-year-old girl? We need to do some research. It doesn't sound like it's the Jackson Hunt Kodiak Bear community, but it is a little close for comfort."

Serena paused to think while she continued washing. "Are the others in the house?" she asked her. Joanne shook her head. "They're all out visiting family in the surrounding mountain lion community. They aren't due back until tomorrow," Joanne said. That had Serena smiling widely. "You mean we have the house all to ourselves?" Serena suddenly liked this turn of events. "Care to join me for a shower and a few hours in our bed after that?" She had an idea and soon watched as Joanne took off her clothes and stepped into Serena's arms which were the arms of her lover. Tonight was going to be a lot of fun as Joanne was certain she would be growling out a large number of orgasms.

Serena may be human but she knew just how to please her lover and her lover, her.