The Lockdown

24

On Monday, Andy invited Sarah and Billy to the bar for lunch. Cam baked a pie but they got the rest of the food from the Thai restaurant they both liked. Cam pretended to be mad at her for giving up his whereabouts to his father, but couldn't hold out long. He could never be mad at Sarah for more than ten seconds. Andy told them about the change in ownership and their plans. Sarah was ecstatic that Cam would be working at the bar as well. They ate lunch happily like a big family they were.

Gradual easing of the restrictions had been announced that morning and they were hoping to be able to open the bar in a couple of weeks. They knew there were going to be rules about social distancing, so Sarah and Andy walked around the bar to discuss what to move where, how to create safe areas. Cam showed Billy the back yard that Uncle Joe only used for parking and the trash bin and they talked about how it could be remodeled to extend the bar with an outdoor option. Cam made sure that Sarah was too far away to hear them and he turned to Billy. "Can you recommend me a tax accountant?"

"I can do taxes, what do you need help with?"

"Uh, no. I need someone else."

"I will do it free of charge for you, you are family."

"That's the problem," Cam murmured.

"Cameron, tell me what it is, or do you want me to get Sarah here, she will get it out of you in two minutes."

"Please don't do that," he begged. "She would kill me with her bare hands."

"Speak."

"Well, if I give you a dollar that means you can't tell her, right? Accountant client privilege." Cam looked at the behemoth hopefully.

"No such thing, but I promise I will not tell her unless it is something really bad or illegal. Then I will help you hide the body."

Cam told him everything, not the dirty details, but the main points of how he got fired, his idea and success in his 'side job' and assured him that he was not planning to do it any longer.

"I think you are right. It's better if Sarah doesn't know about this. You say Andy was in on it too?"

"Well, a little bit towards the end."

"Do you know what Sarah would do first? After kicking your ass for not coming to her when you lost your job."

"What?"

"She would buy that video."

"Oh, no!"

Later that evening, Andy was not feeling too well, his stomach was bothering him so they called it an early night. They were lying in bed, both reading books when Cam turned to Andy. "Do you have an accountant for the bar?"

"My uncle's accountant does it, I believe, he handles all his businesses. I don't think the bar is a big deal for him but I can probably convince him to do it a while longer."

"What if you hired Billy to do it?"

"That's not a bad idea. I will talk to him tomorrow. With one condition, though. We hire him together. We will manage the bar as partners after all."