Erin Kern - Along Came Trouble

The pep in Brody’s step fizzled away at Charlene’s words. He came to a stop in front of her and took in the troubled expression on her face. Her teeth were worrying her bottom lip, which was never a good sign. Just before entering the restaurant a few moments ago, he told himself today would be a productive day. No thinking about bad reviews and whether or not he’d have a job in six months. With the exception of having to let go of Travis, Brody had started the day on a decidedly high note. Then Charlene burst his bubble.

He pulled her aside. “What’s the matter?”

Charlene’s worried eyes glanced around them as though she were afraid someone would overhear them. “Your father just fired Travis.”

Brody stared at her for a second before responding. “He did what?” Why in the world would his father fire their chef without consulting Brody first?

His assistant manager placed a hand on his arm and led the two of them to the back offices. When the door closed, Charlene turned to face him. “Over the past few days, some diners have posted unfavorable reviews on websites.”

“Yeah, I know.” Even though Brody had tried his hardest to ignore them, they’d been particularly damning. One diner had even gone so far as to say the food was so horrible, they’d never return again. While Travis did have potential, he was still inconsistent. Brody knew the man’s days were numbered. Reading those online reviews had only sealed the chef’s fate, and possibly Brody’s.

“Anyway,” Charlene continued. “I don’t know how he knew, but somehow Martin learned of these reviews and came in this morning specifically to fire Travis. Judging by the look on Travis’s face, it didn’t go well. He stormed out of here like his ass was on fire. Now your dad’s in the kitchen handing the reins over to the sous-chefs. And he mentioned that he wanted to speak with you.”

And what the hell was he supposed to do with Elisa? She was due in today to check out Travis’s stuff for the upcoming shoot. Should he have the sous-chefs take care of it or call Elisa and cancel? Even though he wasn’t totally sure Vic and Stanley, the sous-chefs, could handle all that, plus prepping for the day, the idea of canceling was even less appealing. The desire to see Elisa and watch her eyes light up with fire for her work overrode everything else.

Brody ground his back teeth together. A headache was already forming, making the back of his skull feel tight. “Hold the fort down for me.” He spun around and shoved the kitchen doors open with the heel of his hand.

At the age of sixty-seven, Martin McDermott had a head of thick, cotton-white hair and a paunch belly. He had passed on his impressive height to all three of his sons. He still managed to work forty-plus hours a week. The third restaurant he’d opened a few years ago was thriving like well-oiled machine. In fact, the only time his father showed his presence in the other two restaurants was when someone needed an ass-kicking. That didn’t bode well for Brody.

Brody waited until his father concluded his discussion with the sous-chefs. Then Martin turned his steel-gray eyes to Brody. “I can only guess what you want to talk to me about.”

“Can we go somewhere more private?” he asked his father. Brody didn’t expect this conversation to accomplish anything. Martin McDermott was a force to be reckoned with and rarely could be stopped once he got started. He’d built all three of his restaurants in Trouble from the ground up beginning in the 1980s and still wielded a large portion of control, despite doling some daily control out to his sons.

Once they were in Brody’s office, the two men squared off and Brody jumped in first. “I know you fired Travis this morning. I just wanted you to know that I had planned on letting him go, but I don’t appreciate you executing that decision without letting me know first. And I really needed him today.”

One of Martin’s white brows lifted. “Last I checked, this was my place and I was free to do as I see fit.”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t. But I’m supposed to be running this restaurant, and I can’t do that properly if you don’t include me in these things.”

“Travis needed to go,” Martin stated.

Brody nodded. “I agree. But now we’re minus a chef, plus we still have a photo shoot to do. I wouldn’t say that was any better than where we were before.”

“Actually we are. Vic and Stanley can handle things until we find someone to replace Travis.”

The oncoming headache Brody felt before was now full-fledged. “And do you plan on excluding me on that as well?’

“Of course not.” Martin placed a weathered hand on Brody’s shoulder. “I’m not trying to do your job for you, son. I know you’re under a lot of stress and things haven’t been going well. Frankly, I thought I was doing you a favor by firing Travis. Letting an employee go is never an easy thing, but this place has been going downhill for too long. It was time to take some action. And that’s another thing we need to talk about.”

Even though Brody’s head pounded like nobody’s business, the tension in the rest of his body eased slightly. His father had a point. His impending discussion with Travis had weighed heavily on him since he’d made the decision. It’d been like an elephant on his back. Normally, Brody didn’t appreciate his father making him feel like he didn’t know how to do his job. In light of the situation, Brody was willing to give his old man the benefit of the doubt.

But his father’s last words created a pit in his stomach.

“Brody, I’m not sure what’s been going on. And maybe I’ve been too ignorant of the situation here. After all, I am the owner and I am ultimately responsible for this place.”

Martin paused and Brody felt an enormous “but” coming on.

“But I’ve been watching and waiting for you to turn things around, and they don’t seem to be. I didn’t want to do this, but if things don’t start to turn around in the next sixty days, I’ll have no choice but to replace you.”

Knowing it was coming and actually hearing the words were worlds apart. The restaurants had always come first in Martin’s world, and quite frankly Brody didn’t expect anything less from him. He’d never expected special treatment because he was the owner’s son. And if Brody had owned the business, he would have done the same thing. In fact, he wouldn’t have given the situation this long. He would have fired all responsible parties right away. So, no, Brody didn’t blame his old man for the ultimatum.

On the other hand, the severity of Brody’s circumstances were now staring him in the face. He had two months to come up with a solution. Sixty days to find a new chef and prove to his father that he was worth keeping around. Otherwise he’d be out on his ass. With the local job market, he was likely to end up as a shift manager at the Greasy Spoon. Brody wouldn’t be able to look his son in the eye if he hadn’t done everything possible to secure both of their futures. Though he’d managed to save enough money to live off of for several months, he’d still need to find another job.

Before Brody could respond, Martin continued. “I understand that when I brought you here, you knew almost nothing about running a restaurant. And you are a major part of the reason this place got off the ground so quickly. You fired the original chef and found Michael. It was your idea to have a happy hour, and you brought in RJ. You’ve shown you can do this, Brody. But something’s just not working right now, and I’m giving you one last chance.”

Although Brody appreciated the uplifting words of his success, his impending demise outweighed the feeling.

“I understand” was all he could say.