An Incest Birthday Ch. 34

"Are you sure you wanna pay the bill Jack? I mean I know you're rich and all, but these kids can eat like there's no tomorrow, they're definitely taking some food to go," Jim said.

"It's fine, go crazy remember? It's not often everyone's in one place like this. Hell if the food comes back as good as the appetizers I might take some to go too," Mr. Jennings said.

"Dad, you should get the word out about this place. Nobody really knows they're here, and if they get more customers they can expand into a bigger place," Ashley said.

"I could do that. There's a lot of openings right off the freeway where some other restaurants relocated, maybe they'd be interested in taking one of those."

"That's a pretty big expansion from where they are now to I big building like that. They'd have to hire more staff, buy more food, spend more money, it's a big step. They have to be willing to do all that extra work those first few months when it's the hardest," Jim said.

"Speaking of that Jim, I'm dying to know, what made you get out of the real estate business and go into catering? You were a partner with all the works, what made you give it up?"

"I did that mostly to support my family. Now that we're taken care of I wanted to get into what my true passion was, cooking. I've always wanted my own business but I couldn't afford to take the chance on it early on, so I stayed with the sure thing in real estate. Once the opportunity rose again, I took it, and I couldn't be happier. Business is good, the money is good, the food most definitely is good, everything is good all around."

"Well I for one am happy for you Jim, not only because you got to do what you always wanted to do, but because your leaving gave me an opportunity to take your spot as partner, which I did once Jack bought one of the highest selling properties on the market from me," dad said.

"Which the decision was made that much easier when I found out what your son did."

"So everything came full circle. It all worked out for everybody," mom said.

"You know Mr. Jennings, if you're looking to adopt a daughter..." Becky started.

"Then you don't want Becky, I on the other hand am the perfect candidate," Carina said.

"Please, me and Ashley knew each other first , therefore closest, so it'll be me," Dana said.

"I can barely handle Ashley I definitely can't do three more girls," Mr. Jennings laughed.

"I tell you one thing, they'll help you spend some of that money," Marie joked.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea. You know what, I'll do that. Sometime in the next month I'll take you ladies on a full day shopping spree on the strip, my treat."

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Aunt Lisa said. "What's the limit, $3000? $4000?"

"Sky's the limit. You all have the whole day to go crazy."

All the women cheered at the idea of an all-day unlimited shopping spree and were going over strategies on how to hit every store within a certain order and amount of time to maximize their shopping. The woman kinda blocked the men out after that point. It wasn't until the guys struck up their own conversations and a little time passed that they even began to acknowledge us again, and by that time Denise was just starting to bring everyone's food out.

"Ok so I have half of everything now, I have to go back and get the rest, I can only carry so much and there's so many of you. We're not used to this many people," Denise said.

"It's fine, we can wait a few more seconds. Good food is always worth the wait," Jim said.

"Thanks, I'll be right back," she said as she went to the back for the rest of the food and came back carrying an equally big tray as the first time. "Ok, rest of the food is here."

"Such a hard worker for someone your age, we'll have to give you a big tip," Marie said.

"Thanks, I appreciate it. Are you doing the usual take a plate to go Rita?"

"Yep. Once they all taste the food I'm pretty sure everyone else will too," Rita said.

"Wait so you eat here, and have a plate ready for when you leave?" Mr. Jennings asked.

"Yep. It's just that good. You're gonna want an extra once you try yours, watch."

"That sounds like a good idea, yes, can you do that for everyone please Denise? Whatever they have we'll take another one to go, unless you wanna switch

from a salad Becky?"

"Yeah if we're taking it to go then I'll switch to a chicken parmesan please," Becky said.

"Oh jeez, same sides and everything? The cooks aren't gonna know what to do back there, we usually put out this much food for the whole day, not one sitting."

"It's a new day Denise, it's a new day. Pretty soon you'll be feeding more people than you thought you ever would, maybe even in a bigger building than this," Mr. Jennings said.

"Oh we can't afford that, we barely scraped enough money together to get this place. I know you're all hungry so I'll get out of your hair, enjoy your food everybody!"

She left the table and almost immediately mom, Marie, and Aunt Lisa looked at Mr. Jennings with that same look Aunt Lisa gave him earlier, this time though like he was up to something.

"So what was that? Did you just hint something at her without her knowing?" mom asked.

"Maybe, maybe not, if her parents want to take it," Mr. Jennings said.

"You're offering them a bigger restaurant, I'm sure they'll take it," Aunt Lisa said.

"Maybe not. It could be a pride thing, then a new, bugger business plan." Jim said.

"Well hey let's not all decide for them, we finally have all this food in front of us after hearing about you go on and on about this place, so let's try it," dad said.

Everybody agreed and shut up and started to eat their food. With everyone who had already been there it was nothing new to us because we already knew how good the food was, but with everybody else there was a bunch of ooh and aahs and staring at the food in disbelief of how good it was. Everyone at the table looked to really enjoy what they had in front of them.

"Wow, this really is good! I can't believe no one knows about this place!" Marie said.

"That's what we said our first time here. They're set up in a bad spot," Rita said.

"This steak is amazing," Mr. Jennings said. "It's nice and juicy and the baked potato is cooked just right. "They can make a fortune if they move to the right location and get some publicity."

"So you are gonna offer them the deal then dad?" Ashley asked.

"If they wanna take it, yes. More people should be able to eat this food. What's this, you said, a Greek restaurant? This will definitely fit in the downtown area."

"You know, I was thinking of opening up my own beauty store..." Becky started.

"Be quiet Becky, no one wants to wear your backwards fashion styles," Carina laughed.

"Dana's wearing my top right now, and Ashley's wearing my pants..."

"Everybody get's lucky once in a while. In this case you lucked out with a cute top," Dana said.

"Rita, Randy, didn't you have some news to share with us today?" mom interrupted.

We laughed at her willingness to end a conversation just to get a straight answer from us, but we told her we'd tell at dinner, and we were at dinner, so then was as good a time as any.

"Haha mom yeah we did. We thought for a long time about our decision, and we officially decided this morning what we were gonna do," I said.

"What are you talking about? Did something happen we don't know about?" Marie asked.

"Yeah, we decided we're gonna move to Seattle," Rita said.

The table was quiet for a second. Noe necessarily an awkward quiet but more of an in shock kind of quiet. The only ones most likely expecting us to say that was mom, dad, and Aunt Lisa.

"Seattle? You're going to Seattle? When are you leaving?" Ashley asked.

"Within the year, well within A year, there's still some things we need to get situated," I said.

"Seattle huh? Nice place, rains a lot though. What made you pick there?" Mr. Jennings asked.

"It's far, but not too far, good economy, jobs, entertainment, a lot of things," Rita said.

"What made you decide to move to Seattle? You don't like it here anymore?" Jim asked.

"No it's not that, we figured fresh city fresh start, it's time to get out on our own," I said.

I think it clicked in Jim and Marie's head why we were leaving when we said fresh start. Their faces softened and they smiled when they figured out we were moving out of state so we could have a chance at being together. Ashley caught on too, she just didn't say anything.

"Well if you feel that's what you should do, then go for it, we're behind you. It's rare young people get to move away at such a young age, so why not. As long as you have a game plan you'll be fine, but if you ever need anything don't hesitate to call us," Marie said.

"Mom, dad," Chris cut in. "Steph and I decided that we're going too, we're moving with them."

Marie instantly turned to them. "You're what? You never said anything about going anywhere!"

"We know, we wanted to wait until we were all sure to say anything. We've all been talking about it for a while, and the four of us are gonna make the jump to the new city."

"Any particular reason you decided to move away, or you just wanna get out on your own like Rita and Randy?" Jim asked, fully aware of the real reason they wanted to leave.

"We saw an opportunity when Rita and Randy said they wanted to leave, so we decided to jump on it too. Things will go so much easier if there's four of us in a new city rather than two. Expenses will be easier and we can keep each other out of trouble," Stephanie said.

"Hell if they're moving then we should all move to Seattle too," Dana joked.

"So how often are you planning to visit? More than five times a year I hope," Marie said.

"We'll be back often, it's only a twelve hour drive, we can do that easy," Chris said.

"I believe I can shorten that a bit," Mr. Jennings said. My helicopter can bring you here and back, the most it would take in either direction is an hour max."

"You just happened to have a helicopter on standby, that's amazing," Rita said.

"I keep one or two in the area if I need to be somewhere fast. As long as I get a heads up I can have a helicopter meet you at the airport and whisk you away back to California."

"Thanks Mr. Jennings, but don't you think you've one enough for us already?" I asked.

"You saved my daughter's life, I can give you my entire fortune and that still wouldn't be enough. These small favors are the least I can do."

"Well we'd be fools to pick a twelve hour drive over an hour helicopter ride," Rita said.

"We could come out there and visit too, see how you're living out there," Ashley said.

"We could all come and visit you, maybe not at the same time but we could, and on the days we can't come to you maybe you all can come to us," mom said.

"So what I'm hearing is we're all ok with the four of us going to Seattle?" I asked.

"I'm not ok until we have a full discussion about this later," Becky said.

"We're all a bit worried, and scared for you, but I think we're ok with it," Jim said.

"This is good news!" Stephanie said. "Come on, we can't be the only ones with good news."

"Well, we're all moving into Ashley's house. Since we're always there anyway we figured it would be a lot easier to just shack up with the old ball and chain," Carina said.

"You're all moving in? That's gonna be an endless catfight over clothes, bathroom time, movies to watch, space, hair stuff, everything! But good luck I hope it works out," Chris joked.

"Multiple bathrooms, and everyone has their own wardrobe, beauty supplies, and everything else you just said. We're gonna get along just fine, most of the time," Dana said.

"As long as you don't stretch out my clothes with those monsters, we'll be fine," Becky said."

"I have some good news too. I'm moving a little closer to you guys," Aunt Lisa said.

"What's a little closer, the downtown area or more towards the inner city?" dad asked.

"More like not even five minutes from your house. My promotion means I get transferred back here on a permanent basis because any other promotions after that are here, so I started looking for places around here, and I found one not too far from you guys."

"You're selling your house? You just had all that work done on it though," mom said.

"It's ok, I'm getting paid in full for it, actually a little more. What they want for the house I can pay and have a hefty amount left over, so I'm taking it."

"That's great Lisa! For you career and that you're moving back close to us! Jim has some good news too, go ahead Jim tell them," Marie said.

"Well, as you know, my catering business has been picking up lately, but now I just scored a big hit. A hotel is hosting a reunion party and my name came up through the grapevine somehow, so if I do a good job with this one I can make that a permanent event!" Jim said.

"He'd have every reunion that came up for the next few years!" Marie said.

"That's great Jim, you deserve it. I'm proud of you man," dad said.

"You wouldn't be proud because you have my old job would you?" Jim teased.

"Haha, well that helped, but no seriously, not many people get the chance to actually do what they wanted to do, and you're actually succeeding at it. I'm proud of you."

"Well this seems like a toasting kind of moment, so glasses up everybody," Mr. Jennings said to which everyone raised their glasses. "To success, and new beginnings, and a life filled with happiness and great food, whether it be here or Jim's catering service."

Everyone laughed as we all clanked glasses and took a sip of our drink, some of us turning it into a competition to see who could drink the rest of their drink first. We kept laughing all the way until Denise made her way back to the table after clearing off a few others.

"So what are we celebrating? I saw everyone cling glasses," Denise said.

"There's a lot of good news going around. Jim here is getting new clients with his catering business, the girls are moving in together, Lis is moving back to the city, and the four of them are moving to Seattle to get a fresh start," Mr. Jennings said.

"Moving to Seattle? But I was just starting to get used to you guys coming here all the time."

"We'll be back to visit a lot. We won't be leaving right away either. We just wanna get out on our own for a while and enjoy life while we're young," Rita said.

"That's at least a half days drive or something like that, won't you miss our food?"

"We'll definitely be coming back here whenever we come back into town, that's not even a question. We have to get out fill of this place," Stephanie said.

"Speaking of here, how would you and your dad feel about relocating?" Mr. Jennings asked.

"Relocating? To where? We don't have the money to relocate," Denise said.

"I'm willing to sponsor your move to a bigger building in a more populated area, which means more business for you, which in turn means more money for you as well."

"I don't know Mr. Jennings, that's a lot of money. We'd have to hire more people, buy a lot more food, more tables... I don't know if we can afford all of that."

"You won't have to. I'll cover the entire upgrade. You just have to promise to keep making the food as good as this and keep them at the same prices and we have a deal."

"I'd have to tell my dad. We can't pay it all back right away."

"It's not a loan, it's a gift. You won't have to pay anything back, ever."

She looked at him skeptical for a minute. "Why would you do this? You just met us today."

"I know good people when I see them, and I know good food when I eat it. You're being greatly underappreciated here. Money shouldn't keep you from realizing your full potential."

"Not having money has kept us from a lot of things, but we're pulling through."

"Well when someone has a chance to do something about it, namely me, I take advantage of it. My daughter tells me you want to go to college as well?"

"Yeah, I have a long way to go before I can pay for it though. Ashley gave me a more than generous tip though, ten thousand dollars. That helped me out a lot."

"That was really nice of her. Two things... one, I can't be outtipped by my daughter, and two, I don't want you to have to worry about college. I know that's why you're killing yourself here, so I'm gonna make it a little easier for you. I'm gonna pay for your entire four years of college."

She took a step back in shock. "No. No Mr. Jennings I couldn't let you do that, that's over..."

"It's over fifty thousand dollars, and I'm happy to do it, really I am."

"But Ashley already helped me with my college fund, fifty thousand is too much..."

"Whatever she gave you use that for your dorm room, or if you decide to get an apartment off campus, but that's included with my offer so basically you'll have ten thousand dollars for spending money, or you can use it to buy a car, whatever you want to do with it."

She tried to hold back tears, but couldn't. "Mr. Jennings, I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything, everybody deserves a chance in this world."

She leaned down and squeezed him in a tight hug. "I have to go tell my dad!"

"May I come back with you? I want to tell him about my relocation proposal in person."

"He's not here today, I was gonna call him, but I can give you his number, or if you wanted I can call him to come up here tonight or tomorrow."

"I can meet with him here tomorrow if that's ok. What time do you open?"

"At ten, but we're usually preparing all the food still. Could you come at noon?"

"Noon sounds good, I'll be here at noon then."

"I'll go tell him. I can't believe this is happening. I'll be back with your take home trays!"

She walked to the back and everyone looked at Mr. Jennings with a smile on their face, and he was going about eating like he just picked up the mail or something.

"What? They deserve it. Food this good should be out there," Mr. Jennings said.

"What about the full ride through college?" Marie asked.

"Now she won't have to work as hard since her college is already paid for."

"Well aren't you just a big softy," Aunt Lisa teased. "I'll say it again, I had you all wrong. I picked you for one of those obnoxious rich types, not the generous giving kind."

"We're not all snobs, at least the better half isn't. I try to do good. If her father accepts my proposal they can be in a new location with a full staff in about three months."

"I told you the food was good, and you didn't believe me," Ashley bragged.

"Looks like everyone thought the food was good, all the plates are clean," Jim laughed.

Denise walked back to the front with a stack of take home trays. "Here's half of them, I wrote everyone's name and order on them so you know whose is whose."

"Thank you Denise, you can put the bill on here. Put your tip down for double whatever the food costs," Mr. Jennings said handing her his credit card.

"You're already doing enough, I don't need a tip on top of all that..."

"It's fine. Whatever it is double it, triple it if you want to," he laughed.

"Thanks sir, I'll be back with the rest of the trays."

"Now since you did that for her you gotta do it for all of us," dad teased.

"Even I don't have enough money for all the women sitting at this table," Mr. Jennings joked.

"Damn right you don't. Don't think we forgot about our shopping spree," mom said.

"I'm a man of my word. Guys, I'll fit you in once I've accumulated the money back that was spent on the women, depending on how much they spend..."

"So in other words, you'll get your turn in a few months," Becky laughed.

Denise came back to the table with the rest of the trays. "Here you are Mr. Jennings, all set."

"Thank you. I'll be sure to be here tomorrow at noon for a steak and baked potato."