Page 57 of Grounding the Baker
“Wow. I need to start smoking again after that,” said Gerard, his voice cutting through the moment.
“I told you we shouldn’t have come here,” grumbled Austin against Liam’s mouth.
“Sit your bums down before you cause all the old dears to have a heart attack,” said Gerard, passing them their menus.
“You’ve got a keeper here,” he said to Austin, with a thumbs up. “Liam, I think you can do better.”
They both laughed as Gerard left them to it.
“I’m sorry we have to rush like this. It’s just been one of those weeks.”
“Austin, it’s fine. You have to put Maisie first, and technically I own a business as well, so I know what that’s like.”
“I thought your mum left her half of the bakery to you.”
“She did, but it’s not all been finalised yet. Dad’s the executor, and it wasn’t at the top of hislist the past few months. He’s dealing with it now, though. I offered to help, but he said he wants to do it by himself.”
“And how are you feeling about it all?”
Austin took hold of his hand and did that thing with his thumb, gently stroking him. Why was that so soothing?
“I’m okay. Nothing will really change. I’ll still be at the bakery every day.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Before he could respond, their server arrived.
“Callum? What are you doing here?”
“Oh, hi, Liam. Just picked up a few shifts here for some extra money. Sorry, was I supposed to tell you?”
Liam knew people were supposed to declare second jobs, but that was in big corporations, not a family-run bakery that employed three people outside the family. What bothered him was that if Callum had needed more money, why hadn’t he asked Liam if there were more hours for him at the bakery? He knew Callum would have raised it with his mum, so why couldn’t he talk to Liam about it?
“Can I get you some drinks to start?” asked Callum.
“I’ll just have a Diet Coke,” said Liam.
“Same,” said Austin.
Callum nodded and left them to it. He’d be back soon, so Liam would need to look at the menu and decide what he wanted. Kevin was a brilliant chef, so he knew everything would be excellent.
“Liam, are you okay?” asked Austin.
“Yeah. It was just a shock seeing Callum here. If he’d told me he needed more hours, I would have spoken to Dad about it.”
“Or just decided yourself. It’s your business as well.”
“I know. It’s just... why didn’t he say anything? Am I a shitty boss, do you think?”
Austin chuckled. “Definitely not. Everyone there thinks the world of you. Remember, Callum’s the youngest of five brothers. He probably doesn’t ask for help easily, especially given his siblings. You know how much they baby him.”
That was fair. The Longe brothers lived in Roseville and were all successful in different ways. Liam remembered his mum saying Callum had specifically wanted a job out of town so his family wouldn’t bother him all the time. Liam wasn’t getting into all that, but Austin was right– this wasn’t about him. He was still going to see if he could get Callum some more hours, though. Doing early shifts at the bakery and then late shifts in the pub couldn’t be good for his health, even if he was only twenty.
“What’s good here?” asked Liam.
“Do you like steak?”
“Of course.”
