Kit watched as the twins moved around the room collecting orders and taking them to the tables. They smiled and laughed with the customers as the worked. The longer Kit watched the more confused he got.

They just looked like ordinary staff. They did nothing out of the ordinary, he couldn’t find one suspicions action of the pair. Kit frowned, as he watched them work. They were what he wanted all his staff to be like, they were excellent employees!

They had a way to engage everyone in friendly conversation and the smile never left their face. Just watching them Kit could tell they truly looked like they enjoyed working in his restaurant.

“Kit how long you going to stand there staring at the new staff? Is there something wrong with them, it’s not like you to come on the floor for this long.” Bundt had crept up on him with out him realising.

“Ahh … No, I was just checking out how they worked?” Kit wanted to slap his cheeks. Did he really just phrase that as a question.

“Then are you happy with how they are working?”

“Yes!” Kit really couldn’t fault them.

Bundt squinted his eyes at Kit and rubbed his chin. “Kit you have never scrutinised an employee before, are you sure you’re not looking at them for some other reason. What is going on?”

Damn it, why could this not be Cupcake he was talking with. Then there wouldn’t be any suspicion about what he was doing. He wasn’t surprised Bundt was sceptical about his reasons for being in the dining area. It was out of character for him to spend so long on the floor.

This was something he wanted to rectify though. He wanted to have time to mingle with his guests and engage more with the floor staff. He decided to give this reason to Bundt for acting strange. He didn’t want the man to become wary of the new staff.

He didn’t think that would help with the twins trusting him. If he wanted to find out what was going on with the pair, then he would have to build some trust first.

“Bundt, I want to spend more time in the dining area. Now that the kitchen runs smoothly without me being there, I want to have more time with the customers. Did you know most people don’t even know what I look like.”

Bundt rubbed his chin in thought. “That true, most of the customers are curious about you. I usually point you out in the kitchen if you are here. But it is still hard to get a good look at your face because your head is always bent concentrating on what you’re doing in the kitchen.”

“That’s why today I will spend my time on the floor. How about I take care of the takeaway section today and you can have the rest of the day off.” Kit thought being close to the twins but still far enough away to give them space would give them the opportunity to get used to his presence faster.

“My rostered day off is not until tomorrow. But I won’t say no to having today off as well.” Bundt nodded to Kit, then hurriedly left. Kit laughed at how fast he got out of the restaurant. Kit surmised it had been a while since Bundt had had a day to himself. No wonder he left in a hurry.

Kit walked over to the takeaway counter and started to serve the customers. The day didn’t work out as he planned. Kit was so busy that he had no time to sneak peeks at his new employees. When they finally closed the restaurant for the day Kit felt like his brain was mush.

He hadn’t realised how busy Bundt had been in the takeaway section. There was barely any time to scratch himself. He was glad he experienced it for himself, or he wouldn’t have realised how hard Bundt worked each day.

He would need to allocate two people for the takeaway section in the future. Kit pursed his lips in thought. He wondered why Bundt hadn’t brought up how demanding this section was each day. The man hadn’t complained once. Kit decided a staff meeting was needed, if he didn’t know the problems, he couldn’t fix them.

Kit trudged over to the dining table. His feet were killing him from his constant rushing backwards and forwards from the takeaway section. He couldn’t believe how great it felt to get off his feet. As he was contemplating taking off his shoes to rub his feet, Mud placed a meal in front of him.

Kit’s stomach rumbled. He hadn’t had a chance to stop and eat today. He quickly devoured his meal, once he was done, he patted his bulging stomach. It felt good to be full. He listened to the conversations around the table now that his hunger was sated.

“When Kit upgrades the restaurant, I think he will get some. I know they make work easier, just bear with it for now.” Chamomile was comforting Dove.

Kit’s curiosity was piqued. “Is there something that can help with service?”

Dove looked across the table at Kit, he opened his mouth then closed it. Kit watched as the man’s ears turned red. Crap, did he just embarrass the man? He only asked a question though.

“Dove just enquired why we didn’t have any magic serving platters.” Chamomile answered for the young man.

Kit scratched his nose in embarrassment, looked like Dove was not the only one with a red tinge to their face. “I want to get some, I have used them before when I served in a friend’s restaurant. You’re right Dove, they are a great help. Once they are unlocked, I’ll buy some. Thankyou for bringing it up, it’s good to be reminded of the things I need to get in the future.”

Kit smiled and nodded his thanks to the young man. These were the kind of things he needed to know as the restaurant owner.

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Dove nodded back to Kit then shrunk his neck. Kit looked at the twins and silently sighed. It might take longer than he thought to get them to a stage they felt comfortable talking to him about their situation.

“Speaking of things we need for the restaurant. I think we should have a staff meeting tomorrow. I noticed today that Bundt’s section is especially busy and would need at least two employees to run effectively. There are obviously some problems that we need to discuss as a group. I will hold the meeting tomorrow before we start work.”

Kit thought his words would make his employees happy. He was trying to solve problems that were cropping up inside the restaurant. So why did they all look gloomy at his mention of a meeting? The mood in the restaurant changed to a sombre tone. Kit really couldn’t figure out what he had done wrong to change the atmosphere so drastically.

Charlotte cleared her throat. “Kit I’m tired. So, I’m going to head back. I’ll see you in the morning for the meeting.”

Soon all of his employees made an excuse to leave. Kit was left sitting by himself inside his restaurant. “Seriously why did bringing up a meeting change the mood so much?”

Kit realised he was talking to himself. He shook his head then decided to follow his employees back to the boarding house. He was exhausted himself. When he entered his room Snowball was waiting for him sitting on the bed.

He dived at the little ball of fluff for a hug. “Snowball, I missed you!” Kit felt all his worry disappear as he felt the soft fur under his hands. Snowball nudged his face with his wet nose and let out soft whines. “You missed me too, huh.”

Kit spent the next few minutes playing with Snowball, then he turned in for the night. When he woke the next day, he headed straight into the kitchen. Surprisingly, Snowball hadn’t left for the day he was trailing behind Kit’s feet when he entered the kitchen.

“What do you mean someone is getting fired? What happened yesterday?” Kit caught the tail end of a conversation as he entered. Bundt was talking with Chamomile and all eyes were focused on the pair. No one had noticed his arrival.

“Bundt when have you ever been to a staff meeting and something good happened. In all my experience with staff meetings there is always someone getting fired.” Chamomile had tears glistening in her eyes as she spoke.

“I just don’t get that feeling from Kit though. He has been the best boss I have ever experienced. I mean who builds their employees a house just because they have nowhere to live.”

“That’s true Bundt, why do you think none of us want to leave. We would be devastated to lose this job.” A tear slipped out of the corner of Chamomiles eye. Crackers handed her a napkin.

“Cham, it be ok. Kit be good. Let’s not be thinkin’ the worst before we hear what he is goin’ to say.”

Kit felt his heart thump at his employee’s words. No wonder the mood had changed drastically last night. He felt terrible for prolonging his employee’s anxiety. As he looked at all their faces, he could see traces of a restless night.

He must have caused them to have a terrible night stressing for absolutely nothing. He should’ve explained more clearly last night what he wanted from the meeting today. Kit hurried his steps over to the table. He couldn’t change his mistake from last night, but he could at least ease their anxiety about keeping their jobs.

“No one is getting fired! Why would you even think that? Did I at any stage give you the impression I did not value each of you? If I did, I apologise.”

Kit was firm with his words. He didn’t want his employees to think that he didn’t value them. They would have to do something drastic for him to fire them. He didn’t want this frame of thinking to crop up each time he wanted to have a staff meeting.

“Really? Then did we do something wrong? We can fix it Kit we promise.” Chamomile still had teary eyes.

What the hell was this reaction? This was just a normal staff meeting. Kit ran him fingers through his hair in frustration. How could he relive their anxiety?

“No one did anything wrong. We will need to have these meetings every now and then. We are a team, so we solve problems together. So, we need to meet like this to figure out solutions to problems that arise in the restaurant.”

“Oh, it’s like that.” Chamomile smiled and wiped at her watery eyes.

Snowball bumped Kit’s leg and distracted him. He looked down to see the little ball of fluff waging his tail. “Are you hungry Snowball?”

Snowballs tail started thumping happily on the ground in response. Kit looked around to see what was made for breakfast. To his surprise there was nothing on the table. Kit pulled out a chunk of raw meat from his pouch and gave it to the dog.

Now that Snowball was happy, he turned his attention back to the table. “As I said last night, I noticed Bundt would need some extra help in the takeaway section. Does anyone want to volunteer for the position or do you think I should hire another employee?”

Blank stares met his question. “Guys I can’t run the restaurant on my own, so I will need your input to help things run smoothly.” Kit wanted them to feel comfortable bringing things up with him. He had thought they were already comfortable doing this, but after seeing their reaction to this meeting, he thought otherwise.

Surprisingly it was one of the twins that spoke up first. Cadbury cleared his throat. “Dove and I can take turns helping with the takeaway section. You also said that you would make a list for things that the restaurant needs. I would like to put a few items on that list if it ok?”

A wide smile crossed Kit’s face. “Thank you, that’s great you both volunteered. As for the list just let me know what you want, and when it is available, I will purchase it.”

Kit placed a piece of paper and a quill on the table. “I’ll leave you all to discuss what to put on the list. I’ll make some breakfast for us all while you do that.”

Kit felt they would be more comfortable placing their requests on the list if he wasn’t right in front of them. He would have to make these meetings a regular occurrence so they got used to being able to talk to him about problems without having the anxiety that they would get in trouble or fired.

While Kit made breakfast quiet chatter filled the table. Kit noticed that Mars and Twix were missing from the dining area. He wondered where they were. He wanted to get an update for the monster run from them.

When he was finished with breakfast, he placed the food on the table. When he looked around for a place to sit, he realised there weren’t enough chairs. Kit picked up some food for himself and went back to the island counter to sit at the bench.

He concentrated on his food and waited for the others to tell him when they were done. Chamomile came over to him with the piece of paper in her hands.

She blushed as she handed it to him. “This was all we could think of Kit. I also wanted to apologise for thinking the worst about the meeting. You have been nothing but nice to all of us since we started. We should have known you would be different from our previous employees.”

“Thanks Chamomile. We are all family remember, I would never fire a family member.”

Although he spoke to Chamomile, he knew the whole room was listening to his words. Kit would have to remember in the future that the game was different to real life. Their experiences would be different from what he was used to. He had a tendency to forget that this was a game because his experiences and feelings felt so real to him.

Kit glanced down to the paper in his hand to see what was needed for his restaurant. Hopefully he could get some of their requests now. Before he could register what was written a loud bang filled the boarding house.