callmeemily | Trying your own bakery is... trying. (Open.)

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Trying your own bakery is... trying. (Open.)

There's a ton that Raleigh doesn't know. Of course there is - everybody's got that stuff, things that they don't really have an interest in figuring out. That being said, she got this chance - this ridiculous chance, and that's why she's currently sitting down outside of the local coffeeshop, and she's... looking.

She's looking at the binder her boss gave her, that's got expenses and income, because she's theoretically doing inventory because he asked her to, even though it made no sense.

But... she gets numbers. For the first time she gets numbers, and Raleigh stares at the books, because she knows how much she gets paid. She knows how much a pastry sells for.

And now, she can see exactly the sort of profit her boss is getting. "Holy shit." She stared down at the box again, and she shakes her head, and she starts to wonder - not for the first time - about starting this herself, and pay the people working for her a decent, llving wage.

Now, if only she knew where to start...

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"I know I make less than minimum wage. There's... like... legal... things? He's taking a risk to hire me because he's not paying taxes because I wouldn't give him my real name, but- I mean, if you look before I started, it wasn't- they didn't make this much money, but..."

She feels... used. And angry. Really angry, actually, but she doesn't know what to do about it.

"I had no idea," she said lowly. "None. Why am I killing myself at this job and- and it just makes him more money. I never thought it was like this."

"But if there's been an increase in the profit margin you would think that you'd get a raise to reflect that," Joel protests, flipping back through the book again and taking in the numbers. He's always been good at math, he's always had an eye for numbers and what he's seeing is fairly clear. Since Raleigh started working at the bakery, the increase in profit has been significant and she's seen absolutely none of the financial benefits of her work. Joel knows there are plenty of people who run their business in a less than honest manner, but he likes to believe a small business in a town like Siren Cove would at least try.

"And you've been using your real name for weeks now," he adds, rubbing the back of his hand across his eyes. "You could sell your baking out of our kitchen and make more than you are now, which would serve your boss right."

It's actually not a half-bad idea. There's little start up involved with something like that and in a town as small as Siren Cove, he's sure the word would get out fairly quickly. Spencer might not like having strangers coming in and out of his house, but Joel thinks he could set her up in front of his store and she'd make plenty of money that way, which would give her the funds to start her own bakery if that's really what she wants to do.

She doesn't know what a profit margin is, exactly, but she gets the ghist of it well enough, and she's still just... frowning. A lot.

"That doesn't mean-" It's the first time she's actually disagreeing with him. "It's not on legal paperwork, I... I don't-" She hesitates, and her brows furrow. "I haven't-" She's trying to find a way to say what she's thinking, but it's hard because it's something that's a giant mess of emotions - shame, fear, regret, relief, selfishness. "It's one thing to tell people who I am, it's another one to file papers with the federal government." She doesn't know if she's still declared missing, or if they think she's dead, or what - but she does know something.

If she does... god, she misses her mother and her brother, and it's so hard, but... "I don't want to leave," she says quietly, and she looks away, her shoulders tight with tension. So she's not working legally, still.

She's still got the envelope, though. She's got the envelope that's got nearly ten grand in it, and she just sort of looks at Joel. "Do you think-" She pauses. 'Do you think I could rent a place with cash in hand? Like a month to month thing?" Less paperwork. Just... a place.

"Do I think it's possible? Yes, absolutely. Anything is possible if you have cash," Joel answers, twisting his coffee cup back and forth between his hands. "Do I think there's a good chance something like that might backfire on you and have repercussions that might be difficult to deal with? Yes."

He pauses, then clears his throat and says, "Look, if that's something you really want to do, I can help. I'm... I'm going to be buying the bookstore outright in the next little while. I have good credit. If you need my name on a place so you can rent it and everything will be legal, I'm happy to do that for you. I just... I don't want you to end up stuck if someone reports you for not doing things legally." He wouldn't, he'd go out of his way to make sure no one can ever hurt her or any business she might have, but he knows not everyone is going to be so forgiving. He knows there are people who'd do things just to watch a person crash and burn.

Raleigh chewed on her lip when Joel answered her truthfully - he's right, of course he's right, she tries to do a runaround on the law - hell, Levi's a cop, and it would just be stupid. She looks down at her coffee, her shoulders slumping for a moment, but he continues, and her head snaps up.

There's confusion - straight up, can't argue it confusion - on her face. "You- You'd do that for me?" She says it quietly, and it's clear that she's stunned, because it's so far above and beyond anything she's ever gotten, or anything she'd ever even hoped for that she's completely overwhelmed. "You don't- you know you wouldn't- you don't have to do that?" It was a ridiculous thing to ask, but she had the question all the same.

"I don't have to do anything," Joel answers as he shakes his head. That's not the point at all. If he has the means to help, which he does, there's little reason for him not to. If Raleigh tells him she'll be able to make the payments on the lease, then he trusts that she will and although that's not the same type of trust he'd extend to many people, he thinks she's earned it. Besides, he expects any business she has where she sells her baking will be more than successful and if he can make his payments on his bookstore that barely does any business, he's sure she'll be just fine.

"I want to help. The numbers you're showing me here are... they're not acceptable. Your boss is taking advantage and you clearly know that. If it's not a situation you can get out of on your own and I can help..." He trails off and shakes his head again. "Why wouldn't I?"

As much as she hates it, Raleigh's eyes well with tears. "You- You would do that? For me?" Her chin wobbles, and she has to bite her lips together. "It's- It's so much, Joel. There's a million reasons why wouldn't you, and-" She pulls in a deep breath, and shakes her head, not saying no, but she just doesn't understand.

"Do you really not get how much of a good person you are? How rare it is?"

"There's a good chunk of this town that would argue with you on that," he says with a huff of laughter, lifting his coffee to take a sip. But he doesn't mind. He's never much cared what the majority of people think of him, not as long as those he's close to know the person he really is, and it's his own fault that there are so many people who don't know him well, but he's also been introverted. The idea of trying to expand his social circle makes his chest tighten uncomfortably.

"We might have to register the business under my name as well," he continues thoughtfully and he can see that her eyes have welled up and it doesn't make him uncomfortable, but he doesn't quite know what to do with it either. He doesn't know if he should reach for her hand or tell her it's okay or if that's the sort of thing she'd like for him to ignore. "If that's something you're comfortable with. When things get settled and you're able to use your name again all we'd have to do is transfer it to you. Say you're buying it from me."

"The good chunk of this town can go-" Fuck themselves is what she'd been about to say, but she stops, and runs a hand over her mouth. "They're idiots. I have never met a bigger bunch of pretentious jerks in my life, you know that?"

She pauses, and her eyes search his, her brows furrowed as she takes a deep breath. "I won't-" She pauses, licking her lips. "This is... it's business, okay? So, like, you have all my information, and business plan, and- and everything, and we write up contracts and you are not on the hook if I mess up."

She's terrified about that, actually. Her messing up, and it making this whole thing- this whole family she'd found, rather than the one she had - a mess.

".... You're really serious?" She asks it quietly, her eyes searching his.

"Absolutely. We'll do it right." He's really not worried about her leaving him in the lurch, but he understands the need to do it right, to be sure he won't end up in trouble if things don't work out. It's the same reason he'd had such a strong reaction to Spencer simply offering to buy pallets. He doesn't love the idea of Spencer putting any money into the bookstore if, for whatever reason, it one day has to close. So he understands and he'll do this in whatever way she needs.

He smiles faintly and reaches out to cover her hand with his. It's still sometimes a bit of a surprise, just how easy it has become for him to touch certain people, but he's not bothered by it. In fact, he finds he rather likes it.

"I'm really serious," he says, holding her gaze. He wants her to see that he means what he's saying.

"Okay." She says it as she lets out a breath, and... they're doing this. She's doing this. She's starting a business, because what's going on now...

She couldn't just let it keep going.

Holy shit.

"Okay," she says again, her brows rising, and she takes a deep breath, and he reaches for her hand but Raleigh shakes her head, and pushes back her chair.

She moves to hug him, and she can't not, she can't not hug him because he's perfect, and he's good, and it's just... "You are one of the best people," she says it softly, but she means it so much, and her eyes well with tears again, but she's happy.

He laughs when she hugs him, the way so few people can manage to pull out of him, soft and genuine, surprised, but pleased. And he hugs her back where he might not have a few weeks ago, because she's become very important to him, she's become family, and he's never had such a thing happen so easily, but it's nice. He's glad they'd met that day in the bakery.

It's not that he's had many people tell him he's terrible or he's awful, but no one besides his family -- and now Spencer -- has ever really told him he's good. Hearing her say it like that, like she really means it, it does a lot for him and he smiles.

"It's important to you, so it's important to me," he says simply and he means that.

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Trying your own bakery is... trying. (Open.)

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