24 Back to Normal

Following Bernie's pep talk, minus the gloating, Jade returned to her usual self. Liam was still there when she returned to the front area, and she served him with her usual professionalism. Even when he inquired about the band-aid on her finger, she brushed it off as nothing.

As the evening progressed there was a healthy stream of customers going in and out of the cafe. Because it was a Saturday, few people entered the store when there was the usual end of work rush, but more entered later on in the evening. Overall, Saturdays were more profitable for the cafe than any other day.

However, one of the downsides of Saturdays at the cafe was the couples.

'It's not that I particularly want to find a partner or anything, but it feels like they're rubbing it in my face, coming here to my place of work and acting all warm and lovey!

'Besides, they just sit there. They order one drink, and then they won't order anything else even though they might stay for hours.

'Although, if we offered free Wi-Fi here, I'm sure that the students would be even worse about doing that.

'Mind you, some might say that having no Wi-Fi is a nice feature of our cafe. It encourages people to interact with one another rather than stay glued to their phones.

'If it wasn't illegal, I'd have a signal jammer in her, completely cut them off from their electronics.

'He he. I'm sure Harry would have quit long ago if that was the case. Thinking about it, I check my phone when it's quiet, too…'

Ting ding!

As her thoughts wander off at a tangent, another couple entered, so Jade went over to greet and serve them.

…

"You can sleep in tomorrow, so make sure you rest well."

"I will. Good night, Bernie."

"Night, Jade."

Bernie left work at about 9PM, leaving Jade on her own for the remaining three hours that the cafe was open. Bernie's shift times were strange. He had to be at the cafe for 10AM, but he could only leave after 6PM and after more than half an hour had passed since the previous food order. This was a strange rule, but one that they had decided to most efficiently use Bernie.

If a group of people were eating in the cafe, more might come in after seeing people eating. Whereas, if no one was eating, people were less likely to consider going to the cafe for food. And obviously, 6PM was the minimum because if Bernie left during a lull in the day, who would prepare the food while Jade was serving, particularly when the was an end of work rush.

As for the "you can sleep in tomorrow," Bernie was referring to the fact that they opened later on Sundays, so Jade would not need to be at the cafe until midday.

'Ah, I'm looking forward to sleeping in… I hope I sleep better than last night.

'I don't know what I'll do if I start dreaming of Frank every night…'