For Better, For Worse (BWWM) | COMPLETE ✔

✔ Three: "I've never seen him smile before."

Liv

"Today wasn't so bad." Jocelyn closed the cash register and smiled.

The day was over and we were all cleaning up to close shop. Mr Brown was helping Amy sweep up and put chairs on tables and I was wiping down the counter and the trays we used to display cupcakes and muffins.

"We need to do the dishes then we'll be set." Mr Brown said.

"Easy for you to say. You're going straight to bed. Guess who has to stay in and bake for tomorrow?" Jocelyn said.

"Is it a lot of work?" I asked.

"With just me and Amy? We're barely coping."

"I could help?" I offered. "I can mix whatever you need. I'm not good at decorating and stuff."

"Oh, Liv... it's your first day in. Go home." Mr Brown said, looking at me.

"I really don't mind. It's not like I have stuff to do at home."

"We could use an extra hand." Amy said.

"I won't ask for extra money." I assured Mr Brown.

There was silence in the room for a minute before Mr Brown gave in.

"Okay. But don't spend the night in here. Jocelyn does that sometimes." He said.

"I haven't done it since we had that massive order from that church." Jocelyn defended herself.

"Yeah, yeah." Mr Brown waved her off and went to put away his broomstick. "I'm going home now. Not to sleep, Jocelyn. To sort out our finances."

Jocelyn smiled and went to hug her dad good night.

"I was just messing with you, dad. Goodnight." She kissed his cheek.

Mr Brown wished us all a good night then left.

When we were done cleaning the main area of the restaurant, we all went to the back to start putting together sweet treats for the next day.

"Amy is the cake pro." Jocelyn informed me. "I'm the decoration pro and you can be the mixing pro."

"If she gets it right." Amy said.

"Why doesn't your dad hire extra staff members to help out so you can go home early?" I asked.

Jocelyn placed some ingredients on the table in front of me.

"We can't afford it at the moment." She said, getting a recipe book off a shelf.

"But you make great sales."

"All the money goes to paying for various things, Liv. It's not enough sometimes."

"Sometimes we don't get paid." Amy went to wash her hands and so did I.

"Amy, that only happened twice, okay?" Jocelyn got defensive.

"I almost got evicted." Amy reminded.

"Go find a better job then!"

Whoa.

I dried my hands and took a seat at the table where the ingredients were.

"All the pages with the pink page tags sticking out, that's what you need to do." Jocelyn spoke calmly then went to wash her hands.

We sat quietly and got to work. After throwing ingredients into baking trays, I put them in the oven.

A few hours later, Amy finished with her cakes then took them away to stay cool in another room.

"Goodnight, ladies." She took her apron off and hung it up behind the kitchen door.