Chapter Forty Seven

Stephen

Two weeks had passed since our dinner with the gang, and Clint and I had brought Benji and Dave up to speed on the Barcelona situation.

I was at Capulet this afternoon, making sure everything was running smoothly so Dave could spend some extra time with his girls. I also wanted to be more present for my staff after the IRS mess. Thankfully, Benji had managed to resolve it without breaking a sweat, proving it was nothing more than a malicious personal attack. We’d known that all along.

Clint had been spending more time at Montague, too. Together, we’d managed to calm things down on both fronts.

Trinity was just over 37 weeks pregnant, so I was doing my best to take on as much as I could at home. The twins were 13 months old now, and while they were wonderful kids, they were full of energy that Trinity just didn’t have at the moment.

The rest of the week continued in much the same way. I’d get up in the morning to take care of the twins, then head to Capulet during the day so I could be home by four to help Trinity with them again.

Dave was either at Capulet every other day or at Montague. Between the three of us and our Duty Managers, we had things running smoothly around the clock. Business was booming, and Clint, Dave, and I had been discussing the possibility of opening a third location in the coming months.

Clint and I had decided that this would be our gift to Dave. We’d each take a 30% stake in it, but we’d give Dave 40% and let him run the franchise as he saw fit.

Around lunchtime, I got a call from Benji confirming that Dave’s contact was set to collect from the locker and deliver the goods to Benji by the end of the week.

I was relieved to see things moving forward. I called Dave and Clint to meet me at Capulet for lunch so I could fill them in.

We were sitting in our usual booth, having placed our lunch orders and grabbed a drink.

“Guys, there are a couple of things I wanted to talk about today. But first, let’s address the elephant in the room,” I started.

“You calling me fat, mate?” Clint joked.

“Well, dad life does seem to have you looking a bit more comfortable, just saying, mate,” I teased.

“Hahaha, I thought it was the missus that was supposed to be putting on baby weight, mate?” Dave chimed in.

“Hey, fuck you both, I have feelings, you know,” Clint retorted.

“Aww, sorry princess,” I said, grinning.

“It’s okay, daddy, you’re forgiven,” Clint shot back.

“Dickhead, haha,” I laughed.

“Anyway, Benji called to confirm that your contact, Dave, has been in touch and is going to Union Station before the end of the week. Once he’s picked up the goods, he’s going to call Benji to arrange a drop-off. With current workloads and trials, Benji has said to be patient as it could take him a few weeks to get through it and get back to us,” I explained.

“No stress, my man. I’ve got no problem letting Chad stew on it for a while,” Clint said.

“Fuck that prick. And if we do have to go back to Barcelona to sort him out, I’m coming this time too. Him and I need to have a few words,” Dave added.

“Of course, mate, no argument from me,” I agreed.

“Cheers, bro,” Dave said.

“The second thing I wanted to talk about actually affects you more, Dave,” I continued.

“Well, that’s never good,” Dave joked.

“Haha, nah, it’s all good, mate,” I reassured him.

“You’ve done a fuck load for both of us over the last year or so, mate, and we had a talk about it and wanted to give you something back so you know how much we appreciate it. You’re a fucking brother for life, mate,” Clint said.

“We want to open the third venue we discussed with you, and we want it to be predominantly yours, mate. You’ll still have your stake in Montague and here, but you won’t be working here anymore, mate. The third venue will be yours to run and do as you see fit,” I explained.

“You’re shitting me, right?” Dave asked, surprised.

“No, mate, I’m not. I’m having Benji and his team redraw the contracts for each of the venues. Capulet, I will have 40% ownership of, and each of you will have 30%. Montague, Clint will have 40%, and you and I will have 30%, and the third venue the same except you get 40%, and Clint and I get 30%. That way, we all have a vested interest to see each succeed but a majority share in at least one of them,” I clarified.

“Guys, this is too much. You know you don’t have to do that, right? I got you boys always,” Dave said, touched.

“We know, mate, and that’s why we want to do this,” Clint said.

“Fuck, guys, I don’t know what to say. This means heaps to me. You know you’re my brothers for life,” Dave said, clearly moved.

“I’ll drink to that, mate,” I said, raising my glass.

“Cheers, boys,” Clint echoed.

“Cheers, brothers,” Dave agreed.

We sat and had our lunch, chatting more about our families and wives. Dave let us know that he and Felicity had finally set a date and were getting married in August. He also asked us to be his groomsmen, and of course, we accepted. We’d all been a part of each other’s weddings, so it felt right to be there for each other.

“Well, while we’re on the good news train, Mia and I finally managed to get that second kid baking,” Clint announced.

“Haha, you did not just refer to your kid as cooking, right?” Dave laughed.

“Hey, my wife bakes them well, you’ve met Willie,” Clint defended.

“Hahaha, congrats, bro,” I said, laughing.

“Mia wants to tell the girls this week, so I told her I was letting you guys know. She’s 10 weeks at the moment,” Clint shared.

“Congrats, mate. I know Felicity and I are looking forward to giving Annabelle a sibling, but we’ll get the wedding out of the way first,” Dave said.

“And take off as much time as you want, bro, for your honeymoon. We got you covered,” I assured him.

“I’ve just got to convince Felicity on that. Her parents are going to look after Annabelle while we go, but she doesn’t want to leave her for too long,” Dave said.

“That never changes, mate. Trinity was a mess the first time we left the twins,” I said.

I was interrupted by my phone ringing. I checked it to see it was my wife calling.

“Speaking of the woman herself. Excuse me a second, guys, this is Trin,” I said, stepping away from the table to answer the call.

“Hey, doll, I miss you guys,” I said into the phone.

“Hey, baby, we miss you too. You busy? Or do you have a minute?” Trinity asked.

“All my minutes are yours, baby. Clint and I were just with Dave, we told him about the idea for the third venue. What’s up, baby?” I asked.

“Not much, babe, just thought you’d like to know my water just broke,” Trinity said, her voice calm.