Page 34 of Brutal King

“Yes. It’s Kat,” I said as I rounded the corner and came to his door.

He quickly came to greet me, a wide and pleased smile on his face. He reached out to lay his hand on my shoulder, his touch warm and hungry for more.

Kobe came up behind me and the pleased smile on Trent’s face immediately faded.

“Oh,” he said, quick to resume a professional grin. “You’re both back. What can I do for you?”

“Kobe and I were out in the parking lot,” I said, lightly slapping Kobe’s chest with the back of my hand. “And we were talking about this two week deadline. There’s so much to do in such short time... too short a time.”

“You’re right. It most certainly is a tight deadline.”

“I was wondering,” I said. “Did my da... um... Mr. Lee... Did Mr. Lee talk to you about the budget? Does he have an amount in mind with regards with the hiring of staff, acquisition of supplies and so on?”

“He did, indeed,” Trent said as he returned to his desk. “I kind of expected you to ask about that.” He punched a few keys on his computer keyboard, then turned the screen to us.

“This is the full amount Mr. Lee invested,” he said as he pointed to a figure on the spreadsheet. “And these are our expenditures so far; this building, décor, furniture and such.”

I pointed to a figure at the bottom. “Are you saying that this is all that’s left to get this place up and running?”

“I’m afraid so,” Trent said.

“Wow,” Kobe said with a slow shake of his head. “That wouldn’t even cover half of Axel’s wardrobe for the semester.”

“Trent,” I said, a little surprised by the insufficient amount. “Are you sure that’s all that’s left? I mean, we have so much to do, so much to pay for... hiring an adequate staff, getting all the supplies... not to mention the cost of marketing and promotion. It’s impossible to get all that for just $20,000.”

He nodded. “It will require some creative negotiating.”

“Creative?” I said, staring at the unimpressive number.

“If it’s any consolation, Mr. Singh is aware of the tight budget and was equally surprised.”

“I guess that’s going to make a successful opening all the more worthy of a good grade.”

“And I must warn you,” Trent said. “Mr. Singh and I will be keeping a close eye on every penny. I just thought I’d let you know in case you consider adding your own money in.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I said.

Kobe remained silent.

I sat in the chair facing Trent’s desk, my eyes still on that number.

Kobe shook his head. “That might be enough to open some dinky little pop up shop. But for an edgy restaurant in Napa? No way. Absolutely no way.”

Kobe’s pessimism made the gears in my head turn a little faster. If he was going to play the pessimist, I had to play the optimist.

“It’s not as bad as it seems,” I said. “I mean, it will be a challenge, but... the more I think about it... I know of restaurants in Taiwan and Japan that have had great success with far smaller investments.”

“How interesting,” Kobe droned.

“Oh,” I scolded as I got to my feet. “Stop griping. We need to get to work.”

I walked out of the office and headed back to the dining room.

“And where do you plan on starting?” Kobe said as he followed behind me.

I sat down at a table and pulled a notepad and pen from my bag. “The menu. We have to decide on the menu, then figure out the cost of each plate, then the price on the menu.”

I quickly jotted down a few thoughts.