A Fresh Start

Disclaimer: All names are completely coincidental. Each business is fictitious.

*****

“Whoever they are, they’ve been tagging you,” Micah said the next morning on their jog. “How else did they know you were in Tulsa?”

Cherise couldn’t help but smile at his excitement. He sounded like a little kid.

“Or they know how to follow social media and whatnot.”

“When are you going to call your half-sister?”

She shrugged, getting her things together for a shower. “I’ll start off with a text.”

Micah looked scandalized. “You can’t do this kind of stuff over text messaging! There are rules!”

Cherise giggled. “Go get ready for work; I’ll be fine this morning.”

When they got to work, Cherise opened the three emails she received from new businesses.

“We have three new clients,” she told Micah as she printed them out.

“They seem easy enough,” he said, looking over them. “I’ve never heard of them before.”

“They could be just starting,” she suggested.

“Well, I’ll take them to Harold and you can start doing research.”

Cherise stretched and pulled open Google. It was as good a place as any to start. The first two were small restaurants in the East side of Oklahoma City. The third was a laundromat to the Southern side of the city. She took as many notes as she could. As she suspected, they were all just starting off.
Micah walked back in carrying two cups of coffee and she shared her findings.

“Who should we see first?” he asked, leaning back in his office chair.

“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “Laundromats aren’t that time consuming, are they?”

Micah’s eyes brightened. “You said the other two were restaurants?” She nodded. “Free food!”

She laughed and gathered her things.

“Where are you going first?” Harold asked when they checked in.

“Neil’s Laundry,” Cherise answered.

“Be safe,” Harold called after them.

It took them almost half an hour to get there and Micah let go of her hand as they walked in. First impressions were important to both of them.

The laundromat smelled heavily of bleach and laundry detergent. To the right were about twenty washing machines and, to the left, twenty dryers.

“Pac-Man!” Micah yelled suddenly and she looked over. There was an old Pac-Man arcade game and Micah was patting his pockets. “Do you have a quarter?”

“I’m glad you know what it is,” a man said and they turned. “I’ve had numerous young people think it’s a bad parody of Candy Crush. Neil Lance.”

They shook his hand. He was a short man in his 50’s. His grey hair was thinning out and he had many wrinkles. He handed the two of them complimentary water.

“My name is Micah Morris and this is my partner Cherise Allen.”

“Thank you for getting her so quickly,” Neil said, leading them to his small office. “You come highly recommended from my friends over at Macon’s Bar.”

“We’re happy to work with you, Mr. Lance,” Cherise said, taking the offered chair.

“Please, call me Neil,” he said and she smiled.

“So tell us more about your business,” Micah said.

“We’ve been open for about three years now,” he answered. “It started off small, just three washers and dryers. As the years have passed, though, we got more people coming in. The neighborhood is expanding with many more young people moving in. I’ve had to bring on two more employees just to manage the upkeep. I’ll be honest, I’ve never been very good at taxes,” he added sheepishly.

“That’s where we come in,” Cherise smiled. “Why did you choose us?”

“Originally I was going to go with that other company,” he said, “but their rates are outrageous! That’s when Jamie Macon over at Macon’s suggested you guys. I’m a regular there.”

“Jamie is a wonderful woman,” Micah nodded. “Well, we have some paperwork you need to fill out about you and your company. From there, we’ll take a look at your books from the start date of your company and do our best to give you the best service we can provide.”

Neil stood up, grinning. “Thank you so very much. My wife always handled the finances.” They shook hands and headed back out to the main room. Neil, still grinning, handed a quarter to Micah. “Show me what you’ve got, young man.”

Micah looked at Cherise who nodded with a smile and he popped it into the machine. She looked up the address for the first restaurant and put it into her GPS program on her phone.

“Boom!” Micah yelled, punching the air. “High score!”

“Out of how many people?” Cherise asked with a smirk.

“Let’s go,” he said and she laughed, waving good bye to Neil.

“That was really pleasant,” Cherise said once they were on their way to the restaurant.

“I like that man,” he agreed.

“Why, because he gave you a quarter?” she teased.

“What’s the name of this restaurant?” he asked with as much dignity as he could.

“Lido’s Italian Restaurant and Bar,” she read and dialed the number to let them know they’d be there in thirty minutes.

When they reached the restaurant, Cherise was impressed. The parking lot was rather full for a Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, looks were deceiving and they hesitated by the hostess stand.

The place was falling apart. The rug, which must have been green at some point, was dirty and faded. The wallpaper was dated and peeling and half of the lights didn’t work. There were only two tables and Cherise had the impression the other cars belonged to the employees.

Micah rang the bell on the station and a tall man hurried out of the kitchen.

“How many?” he asked distractedly.

“We’re Cherise Allen and Micah Morris,” she said.

“Oh! That’s right! We just talked on the phone.” He looked around distractedly. “Right. We can sit in this booth over here.” He hesitated when he saw Lira. “Um… Is the dog trained?”

“Yes,” Cherise answered and followed him.

“My name is Antonio Lido,” he said, holding out his hand for them to shake. He had a thick Italian accent. “Thank you for coming.”

“How long have you been open?” Cherise asked, looking around again.

He must have seen the look on her face because he shifted. “I know it’s not the prettiest restaurant in the world. We’re having financial issues which is partly my fault.” He straightened his tie, his eyes looking everywhere but at them. “Not very good with money,” he mumbled. “Yes. Money. A necessary evil in this world.”

A waitress came and dropped off water and a plate of meatballs. Cherise picked up a fork and cut one in half, taking a hesitant bite.

“This is delicious,” she complimented as Micah took a bite as well.

At this, Antonio grinned. “Thank you! Old family recipe. From Sicily. I moved here about 10 years ago and opened this restaurant 5 years later.”

“So why exactly do you need our help?” Micah asked.

Antonio looked nervous again. “Well, you see, in Italy the tax system isn’t the same for businesses. It, um, turns out I’ve been doing it wrong.”

“How wrong?”

He let out a high pitched giggle. “I haven’t been paying enough. Unless I get a lawyer and a tax agency with me, they’ll shut my restaurant down.” He looked around desperately. “I can’t lose this place.”

Cherise felt a pang of sympathy as she took the paperwork out of her briefcase and told him the same thing they told Neil. They thanked him for the meatballs then left.

“Something’s off with that man,” Micah said when they were back in the car. She nodded. “Where to next?”

“Maria’s,” she answered. “Another Tex-Mex place.”

He sighed. “Bad growth rate.”

Maria’s was definitely easier on the eyes than Lido’s. It had a cliché interior, though, and they were met by a huge jalapeno wearing a sombrero by the stand. There was a sign that said, ‘Seat Yourself’ but they waited for a waiter to come over.

“We’re here to see Miss Maria… Smith?” she finished.

“Si,” the waiter said and walked over to a rather large woman taking orders.

“Ah, so nice of you to come!” Maria said, hurrying over and leading them to a table. She had a Mexican accent. “Please, go get them some chips and queso,” she said to her waiter who nodded.

“It’s nice to meet you, Miss Smith,” Micah said and she laughed when he hesitated at her last name.

“I married into the name,” she said but didn’t tell them what it was before. “We’ve been here for two years. Business is rather good, if I do say so myself. But my books have gotten confused over the last year,” she admitted.

Once again, they gave her paperwork to fill out and returned to the office, both drained.

“What a day,” Micah sighed, falling into his chair and undoing his tie. “It was nice of Jamie to spread our name around.”

Cherise nodded, yawning. “Let’s fill these log sheets out and head home. I’m exhausted.”

Micah yawned, too, and pulled the paper over to fill the hours out. It was only 5 but it felt like 10 and Cherise was looking forward to getting home and going to sleep. It had been a very long day.