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Post by Joe Dean on Jan 9, 2011 10:50:30 GMT -5
Joe was definitely a morning person. He hadn't always been a morning person, of course. There had been a time, back when Sandy was alive and he'd been a crazed workaholic auror, when he would stay up until all hours of the night, trying to work on a case. In those days, he would wake up, irritable and unmotivated, not having slept well the night before. And then, after Sandy died, there had been a long time when he couldn't sleep at all. He had always missed having her beside him when he was away on missions, but when she was gone, he felt the emptiness on her side of the bed so much more acutely.
Over the years, he'd learned to cope with that emptiness. And he always slept well, because Sandy was always waiting for him in his dreams. Now, instead of waking up bleary-eyed and unapproachable, Joe woke up feeling refreshed, and he immediately went about his morning routine.
It started at 4 AM with a jog. The park was a few blocks from the coffee shop, so Joe would put in his sweats and jog to the park, then make a few laps around before jogging back. It hadn't been easy at first to get up so early, but the coffee shop needed to be open at 6 AM sharp for his regular customers and it took a while to prep the store for opening. Now he needed that jog every day; it started him off with the amount of energy he needed for the rest of the day.
He had just finished the jog, followed by his shower, and was now sitting at the kitchen table in his apartment over the coffee shop, giving a quick flip through the morning's Daily Prophet while he ate his oatmeal and, of course, sipped a cup of coffee. It was nearly 5 AM now, and Aislinn would be getting up soon to help him open up the shop.
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Post by Aislinn Dean on Jan 9, 2011 13:44:55 GMT -5
Aislinn didn't really need an alarm clock. She woke up every morning at 4:45 or 5 in order to get ready. She was never late. This morning was no different. Occasionally she would have a nightmare, the same one she had from when she was little. If she had one of those, that meant no sleep for her, but she always did her best to cover it up. She couldn't tell her father about those nightmares because of the past and she didn't want to remind him of that. There had only been two people to know of her nightmares, her brother and her best friend. Paul didn't know that she still had them from time to time but that was just because Aislinn didn't want to bother him either. The only person that knew about her occasional nightmares was her best friend.
Last night, however, Aislinn was lucky. She had a dreamless sleep and woke up feeling ready for the day. Once her feet touched the floor, she stretched and made her way to the shower. Afterward, she dressed in simple clothing and grabbed her white apron that she always wore in the coffee shop. It never took more than twenty to thirty minutes for her to get ready in the mornings. Pinning her hair up, Aislinn made her way to the place she knew her father was sitting at.
As she reached the kitchen were her father still sat, she smiled. "Morning Dad," she said greeting him and reached for coffee.
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Post by Joe Dean on Jan 9, 2011 22:27:06 GMT -5
Joe glanced up as Aislinn entered the room. "Morning, sweetheart," he greeted her warmly, folding the paper in half as he set it down on the table.
They never talked about her mother, but somehow she was always there, watching over them and smiling. Aislinn had her mother's coloring, and her beautiful smile, and though he never confused her with Sandra, he always felt her presence when he looked at his daughter.
"You look bright-eyed this morning," he commented. "Ready for the morning rush?"
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Post by Aislinn Dean on Jan 10, 2011 1:45:01 GMT -5
Once she poured herself a cup of coffee, she took a seat across from her father. "I had a good night's sleep last night," she replied with a smile. "And I am ready for the morning rush." Aislinn looked forward to opening the store every morning. It got her going and she found it amusing to see all the non-morning people come shuffling in the door to make sure they got to work with some kind of energy.
"Enjoy your morning jog?"
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Post by Joe Dean on Jan 11, 2011 0:53:01 GMT -5
Joe beamed with pride at her. She really was the light of his life. He still ached at his failure to connect with Paul, but at least he had Aislinn. He didn't know what he would have done all these years without her. She was the reason he got up in the morning.
"Good, I'm glad," he said. "The jog was good. It's actually clear today, so I wasn't jogging in the rain. Oh, I made some oatmeal, if you want some. Or there's a piece of leftover coffeecake from yesterday."
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Post by Aislinn Dean on Jan 11, 2011 1:15:52 GMT -5
"That doesn't happen too often," Aislinn replied jokingly. She had grown custom to seeing rainy weather quite often. She actually liked the rain sometimes because it seemed to wash away what had happened the day before. However, she did enjoy those sunny days that happened every once in awhile. Those were the days she tried to take the most advantage of.
"Hm, the coffeecake sounds amazing." Coffeecake was probably one of her greatest weaknesses when it came to food. She walked back over to the counter and grabbed a plate. She found the piece of coffeecake and returned to her seat. Aislinn relaxed in her seat knowing that shortly she would be on her feet for awhile while trying to thin out the busy crowd that usually came into the shop.
"You know I can't say no to coffeecake," she said with a smile, tearing off a piece and eating it. "I have a good feeling about today."
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Post by Joe Dean on Jan 12, 2011 1:13:08 GMT -5
Joe rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it," he joked. In the early years after they had moved to England, Joe had spent a great deal of time complaining about the weather, so that it was really a bit of a joke between them. "I don't quite know what to do with myself when I don't have that misty rain in my face as I run. We might even get a glimpse of that strange yellow ball in the sky today," he added with a wink. Sometimes they went so long without seeing the sun that he often joked about not recognizing it when it finally did appear.
"Enjoy the coffeecake," he said. "Mrs. Chamberlain made it, and I'm thinking of letting her sell it in the shop. We need some good baked goods, you know? Our old distributor seems to be declining in quality."
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Post by Aislinn Dean on Jan 12, 2011 2:00:23 GMT -5
"Having baked goods would be amazing," Aislinn said excitedly. "We could also have cheese danishes. I could make those. After all, we can freeze those and they'll be good and fresh for at least 2 days. We just have let them thaw out if we freeze any." Aislinn may not have been a gourmet chef, but she could make fairly decent baked goods. She took another bite of her coffeecake. "I believe Mrs. Chamberlain's coffeecake would do extremely well in the shop. She always makes the best baked goods."
Aislinn loved her father's coffee shop. She couldn't really picture herself working anywhere else. There were quite a few regulars but there were always new faces that came in. She liked the idea that it kept her busy. "Plus, I think baked goods would do especially well with the first rush that comes through in the mornings."
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Post by Joe Dean on Jan 13, 2011 22:59:39 GMT -5
Joe nodded thoughtfully. He was always trying to think of ways to expand the business. The coffee shop meant a lot to him, and he wanted it to be the best coffee shop in all of England. But it was important not to let things stay the same all the time... change was good.
"Yeah, I thought it was a good idea, too. For a lot of our customers, that's the only way they'll get anything for breakfast... by getting it here while they're getting their coffee. I mean, the muffins and scones we have now are good, but I'd like to have a better variety. And maybe we could have something healthy, too, like bran muffins, or fruit. Or yogurt. Do you think yogurt would work in a coffee shop?"
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Post by Aislinn Dean on Jan 15, 2011 15:23:04 GMT -5
"I think yogurt would be great to have in the shop, however we could get a small quantity of it and see how well it does." Aislinn gave a shrug and then took a sip of her coffee. "Or we could just ask customers what they think, to find out before getting it. If we think enough say that they would get it, then we could get some and try it out."
If her father hadn't allowed her to work in his coffee shop, Aislinn probably wouldn't have worked anywhere else. The coffee shop was were she felt safe and although her hearing disability didn't hinder her every day life all the time, she was still self-conscience about it sometimes. She knew her father knew about her hearing and there was no judgement. If she went somewhere else, she didn't want them to judge her or think that she couldn't do her job.
"And I think we could probably add a few different flavors to our menu too at some point. Maybe something that goes with every season."
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Post by Joe Dean on Jan 18, 2011 1:30:11 GMT -5
Joe nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah... we can try just a small amount and see if people would buy yogurt.... maybe we could add some fruit to it so people could mix it in. You know what I really want to add, though? Croissants. But I haven't been able to find a good distributor or anyone who can make them. They're not easy to make, and I want to make sure they're good quality."
Maybe the work he was doing now wasn't as important as his previous work as an auror, but he was happier now. Even though he missed his wife, and he had not been able to connect with his son, he at least had Aislinn here, and she was as passionate about the coffee shop as he was. It was all worth it, just so he had this relationship with his daughter. But he worried about her, too. Other than her friend Chase, Aislinn didn't seem to get out as much as she should have. At her age, she should be getting out, meeting people, maybe even dating (although Joe had to admit, he still had some trouble with that idea, even though Aislinn was 28). Fathers always wanted their little girls to stay little, but it just didn't work out that way.
"Yeah, I was thinking about the flavored coffees. The cinnamon stick coffee sells really well, and so does the mocha coffee. I found a catalog of different flavored oils you can toss the beans in after you roast them. Maybe we can look at it together later, and pick out a few good flavors we can experiment with."
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Post by Aislinn Dean on Jan 18, 2011 19:19:29 GMT -5
If her dad ever told her that he was worried about her, Aislinn would just brush it off. She didn't go into detail about things outside the coffee shop. There wasn't too much happening in her life. After all, she was sometimes still pretty self-conscience about her hearing disability and she didn't want anyone judging her for it. Of course, no one would probably judge her for it, but Aislinn never really thought about that.
"We could go to the French Bakery, if you haven't tried there. They have strawberry and cream cheese filled croissants, chocolate filled ones, and just plain ones. My personal favorite is the strawberry and cream cheese. They might be willing to possibly work with you on getting some." Aislinn liked throwing new ideas out there. The coffee shop helped her keep her mind off different things. "As for the flavored coffees, I think that would be amazing. Maybe we could find a peppermint sort of flavored one to try."
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Post by Joe Dean on Jan 20, 2011 23:43:17 GMT -5
Maybe Aislinn didn't notice it, but Joe had seen the way some of the male customers looked at her. Most of them were too polite to do anything about it, and the rest usually knew that her father was standing right next to her and didn't dare try anything. But if she ever expressed an interest in any of them, he had no doubt that she would have a date pretty quickly. But he chose not to tell her this. She had to decide for herself if she liked someone.
"Yeah, I tried talking to them... they actually don't want to share their recipe. They said it would keep people out of their shop or something. But you know... I could try working out a deal with them. Like we let them sell our coffee in their shop and they let us sell their croissants here... that way we can both benefit. We could be like partners."
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Post by Aislinn Dean on Jan 21, 2011 12:23:15 GMT -5
"That could work," Aislinn said thoughtfully. "That is if their willing to do something like that. Even if they don't want too, we can still figure something out. Maybe we could put in Banana Nut muffins, or even just slices of cake. If it comes down to it, I could bake muffins and cake for the day. It could be like pound cake slices in different flavors."
The coffee shop was what brought Aislinn closer to her father. If the coffee shop had not been there, she couldn't imagine what her life would be like. The coffee shop was ran by a family and maybe that was what made it different from other shops, granted they were the only coffee shop around the area.
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Post by Joe Dean on May 15, 2011 23:37:02 GMT -5
Joe nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, we could possibly bake some things ourselves. I wish we had a little more room in the kitchen, though. And a bigger oven. In fact, I was thinking maybe of expanding some day soon. The little sandwich shop next door might be closing soon. I was talking to old Mr. Reed the other day, and he mentioned something about retiring soon. If we could buy his shop, we could expand, and maybe run a little cafe, with soups and sandwiches for lunch. We'd have to hire more people if we did that... but I think it would be good for business. What do you think?"
Although it was his business, Joe thought of Aislinn as an equal partner. Her opinion mattered to him and Joe didn't know what he would do without her. And as long as she was happy here, he was glad to have her working with him.
"Oh, I'm sort of hoping Milo will stop by soon. I need to talk to him about a few things, so if he comes in and I'm not in, can you let him know I need to talk to him?"
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Post by Chase Marie Richelieu on Aug 3, 2011 15:03:56 GMT -5
Chase entered the room and nearly slammed the door behind her, she was in a good and proper rage, the kind that would make most people avoid her completely. There was only one person who could work her up like this and that was her Uncle. And there was only one person who could calm her down too, perhaps that was why Chase's feet automatically took her to the coffee shop.
Unlike Joe and Aislinn, Chase was not a morning person, in fact she hadn't slept at all the night previous as evidenced by her hair in disarray and dark circles under her eyes. Her voice was scratchy as if she had spent the entire evening yelling, which indeed she had.
"I can't believe that man!!!" she screamed. She knew they'd be awake already and even if she hadn't she was like family at this point and they were used to her. She'd apologize later but right now she was too upset.
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Post by Joe Dean on Aug 11, 2011 23:38:03 GMT -5
Joe couldn't help the smile that crossed his face when he heard Chase burst in, yelling in frustration. Of course he knew about her troubles with her uncle, and he was sorry that she had to endure that, but the smile was out of his affection for the tiny blonde whirlwind that was his daughter's best friend. It was hard to imagine that there had ever been a time when Chase wasn't a part of their lives, and Joe thought of her almost as an adopted daughter.
"Morning, Chase," he greeted her, wiping his mouth and getting up from the table to take his dishes to the sink. "Are you sure you don't want me and Milo to go over there and straighten your uncle out? And you know, if you need to get away from him, you can always stay here in the extra room."
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Post by Chase Marie Richelieu on Nov 18, 2011 14:30:02 GMT -5
She saw Joe and instantly flung herself into his arms, "Oh papa he's terrible!" she wailed. Chase wasn't the type to whine about her frustrations at all, but this was family, and they were the only ones who got this side of her, everyone else dealt with her icy vaneer or worse her biting tongue.
She wiped a tear from her eyes feeling finally safe and at ease in what she considered home. She knew she had a place to stay with them but at the same time she felt threatened that if she left the mansion her uncle'd find a way to steal her inheritance. She didn't really care about the money in the least, but first and foremost her uncle couldn't win. That would have been intolerable.
She sighed calming down, "I should have killed him when I was nine." she said with a hiccup of a sob. It was a common enough story between them that she had flown into a rage at her uncle when she was little which was why he was scared of her, and why she felt safe enough at her own home to handle him if he got out of line.
Wiping her tears off she ran into Aislinn's arms. Joe was like her father this big protector, but now that she was safe she needed her sister, her confidante, really the only person in the whole world who understood her. "I'm sorry...I don't mean to.." she said biting her lip. These outbursts of hers were rare enough but at the same time it was so hard for Chase to open up to let anyone see that she was human and not as in control as she appeared, which was part of the reason whenever she was around Aislinn this childlike pixie was most present in her attitude, still she always felt bad after causing a scene.
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