Oil & Ink

Chapter 26: The Future of Tucker's Oil

Sara clocked out right at 5pm. Today had been exceptionally slow and she was glad to be done. Well, she had to stick around for the meeting. Charlie had the same plan, so she wandered over to his corner when she was done clocking out.

"What have you been doing all day?" she asked him.

"Did a lot of research," Charlie said.

"On what?" she asked.

"Well, I have been looking into getting my own place," he said. "So, just looking up possible locations and any permits I would need. That kind of thing."

Sara nodded. She was excited for whatever Charlie was going to do next, but she didn't want to feel like she was left behind. She didn't want Tucker's to close and everyone to go their separate ways.

Charlie stayed on his computer, looking things up and typing out notes. Sara sat on his tattoo table and scrolled on her phone.

A few minutes before 6 pm, the manager — Alex — came in and other employees started to gather near Charlie's corner.

The store was still open, of course, so they had to stay up front in case any customers came in.

Looking at some of the other employees there, Sara didn't know if anyone had any clue what this meeting was about. She was jealous of their ignorance. We're all about to get canned, she thought.

Then, Hank walked in.

Sara took a deep breath. He headed over to them.

"Hi everyone," he said. "Do we have the whole staff here?"

Alex looked around to see if there was anyone missing.

"Looks like everyone is here," he said.

"Perfect," Hank said. "Thank you all for coming in for this meeting. I know we don't usually do these. I wanted to take this time to share a few pieces of news with the entire team so everyone would hear it at once."

Sara looked over at Charlie, but he was staring right at Hank.

"Some of you might have heard about someone — a gentleman named Tom — making his way around Wander scoping out placed to purchase," Hank said. "Tucker's was one of the places he approached with an offer to buy us out."

A few of the staff members looked at each other, wondering where this was going.

"I'm not going to lie to you," Hank continued. "He had a really impressive offer. It was an offer I never thought I'd get for this place. I had to do a lot of thinking and talk it over with my family."

Sara bit her lip.

"I thought I'd reached a decision," Hank said. "But then I received a very different offer."

The store was quiet. Sara sat up. What was he talking about?

"Some of you may know," Hank said. "That our Charlie here won a very impressive competition over the weekend."

Alex looked at Charlie and started clapping. A few other employees followed suit. Charlie smiled and blushed.

"Charlie has expressed to me that he's been wanting to open his own shop and grow his business," Hank said. "So, he's purchasing this corner of the shop to make it a separate business."

Sara was stunned.

"Because of his generous offer," Hank said. "I am keeping Tucker's in my family. This is a family business and that's how I want it to stay."

The staff seemed to breathe a sigh of relief together.

"So, if you hear anything around town about this, you heard it all from me," Hank said. "I think Charlie has some minor construction planned here, but everything will be operating as normal for a while."

A few of the staff members came up to Charlie and congratulated him on his win. When most of the team cleared out, Sara walked up to him.

"Ok, way to keep secrets," she said.

"Ha, it's only because I was working things out all day," he said.

"So, what are you going to do?" she asked.

"Well, just like Hank said, I'm purchasing this corner of the shop," he said. "It's zoned for tattoos and I'm starting to build out my following here."

Sara was silent. She knew there was more.

"I am going to own this part so I can charge booth rent to a few other artists," he said. "But I'm also going to build this out a little bit and make a separate entrance so I can have my own address."

"Oh wow, cool," Sara said.

"Yeah," Charlie said.

"But who are the artists you're going to hire?" she asked.

"Well, I somehow have convinced Kat to come here and work for me," he said. "And I'll have to find a few others."

"What?" Sara asked. "That's amazing!"

"Yeah," Charlie said. "I'm excited to bring her here. She has a big following, and we need to bring people here."

"Definitely," Sara said. "I'm just so glad Tucker's isn't closing... and I'm glad you're not moving to California."

Charlie smiled. "I actually am hoping you'll do some work for me, too," he said.

Sara raised her eyebrows. "What?" she asked.

"I need marketing help," he said. "Isn't that what you're trying to do?"

Sara nodded. "Yes, yes, it is."

Charlie laughed. "Okay, well I can't take you away from Hank, but," he said. "Maybe I can formalize an internship or something. You can do my Instagram and stuff."

Sara clapped her hands together. "Oh my gosh!" she said. "This is so great." She opened her arms to give Charlie a hug.

She pulled back and reached for her phone in her back pocket. "I have to text Amanda and tell her," she said.

"Let's go to Dina's," he said. "My treat. Tell her to meet us there."

"Perfect idea!" she said, her fingers moving rapidly to text Amanda.

Charlie packed up his laptop and turned off the lights in the corner.

"Okay, she'll meet us there," she said. "Cody is already back at school."

They drove separately down the road to Dina's. It was busy per usual. They walked inside and Sara immediately saw E.Z.

"Hey guys!" E.Z. said. "Congratulations, I heard the big news!"

"Which news?" Sara asked.

"About the contest?" E.Z. asked. "Is there more good news?"

"We are here to celebrate the contest, and that Tucker's is not being sold, and that Charlie is opening his own shop," Sara said, growing tired.

"Oh wow!" E.Z. said. "This does call for a celebration!"

She grabbed menus and led them to a booth.

They sat down and it wasn't long before Amanda showed up.

"Wooohooo!" she said right when she got to the booth. "The effects of this contest just keep growing and growing."

"I know!" Sara said. "It's crazy how much has changed in just the last... hour?"

E.Z. arrived at the table with giant chocolate milkshakes.

"These are for the winner's table," she said, putting them on the table.

Charlie, Sara, and Amanda lifted their glasses in the air to cheers.

"Here's to us," Sara said.

They clicked their glasses together. So much had changed, but the good stuff was here to stay.

THE END