Chapter Text
The applicant pool wasn’t looking promising. Mostly because it included exactly one person at the moment.
Ralph was tense as a bowstring, twitching and flinching and looking everywhere but at Simon. He kept lifting a scarred hand to the even more scarred side of his face, then quickly lowering it. Some of the deeper crevices looked red and irritated.
“Why did you leave your last job?” Simon asked softly.
Ralph curled in on himself a little, and now his hand hovered for a second over his face. “I… Rrrrr… I… couldn’t stay anymore. Um. A… disagreement, kind of. A personal matter. Wasn’t fired, I… I couldn’t stay.”
His resume listed a garden center as his last place of employment, which he’d left almost a year ago. He listed his supervisor there as a reference, but Simon was beginning to wonder if that might be because he had few options. Definitely something to look into. He opened his mouth to ask the next question, but Ralph quickly spoke up again.
“M-medical! Medical… leave. I… went on medical leave.” He shut his mouth again and picked at his fingernails.
“Oh! All right. Um – What would you say are three strengths that you would bring to this job?”
Ralph’s eyes glazed over for a moment. “Um. Uh. S-strengths? I – W-well I’ll… do… whatever you need. I can… learn to do things if… if I don’t know, and… and…” His expression went blank. “I… I’m good at… at cleaning. You said… cleaning in the ad, right?”
“I did.” Simon smiled, almost as happy as Ralph was to get past that. “So willing to work, willing to learn, and skilled at cleaning. That’s really exactly what we’re looking for – someone trainable.”
The relief that dawned over Ralph’s face was overpowering. “Yes! Y-yes…”
“And… can you think of one thing you think you would need to work on?” He wasn’t about to ask for more than one – even that seemed a bit much.
Ralph froze, as he did for each question. It took him longer than was comfortable, but finally he whispered, “Being… good at… at a job…”
“…Confidence takes time,” Simon murmured. “I know it has for me. But it’s really about experience, so… it’s not impossible, it just takes time, you know?”
Ralph met his eyes for the first time, just briefly, before quickly looking away again. “I – I’ll try,” he breathed. “I’ll work hard, I want to be good at this, I…” He trailed off and clenched his fists tightly.
Ralph was the only applicant, but as much as he might want to, Simon couldn’t give him the job just because he needed it. He needed a reason. Honestly, he wanted a reason.
“Why do you want the job?” he asked quietly. “Why this place over any other?”
Ralph’s face twitched, and he scratched the pale scars on his arms. “I… I watched from outside for a few days. N-not being creepy!” he added quickly. “I wanted… to see how it was, to… to see if it was… a nice place, if it was… good here.” He swallowed thickly. “People come in and they’re busy and tired, and when they walk out they… they’re smiling. And not hurrying so much. Laughing, m-maybe. It makes people happy. I… I want to make people… happy,” he ended in a whisper. “I can learn, I can… I’ll work hard, I’ll do whatever you need.”
Simon smiled. “That’s… actually the best answer I’ve ever gotten to that question, Ralph. That’s why my brother and I took over this place from the last owner. To make people happy. It’s hard work, but I think it’s worth it.”
Ralph jolted and his eyes widened, darting to Simon again.
“Do you have any questions for me?”
His mouth twitched and he looked aside.
“I’m happy to answer anything. Now or later.” He paused, but Ralph didn’t speak. “All right, well thank you for coming in. I’ll contact your references, and get back to you by the end of the week, okay?” He smiled, not offering his hand to shake. He’d started the interview like that, and it had made Ralph back away from him in horror.
Ralph swallowed and nodded emphatically. “Th-thank you,” He whispered, getting up and turning to go.
“Oh – wait a second!” Ralph jumped and froze, and Simon took a bag of cookies from behind the counter. “Here – these were baked yesterday. We can only sell them for so long, but… leftovers are a big perk of the job.” He smiled.
Ralph stared, and slowly took them with shaking hands. “Thank you,” he breathed, looking up at Simon, his one good eye glistening. Then he fled.
Simon called the references – a high school teacher who hadn’t spoken to him in years but said he’d always put a lot of effort into his work, a social worker who had to look up his file but said he was very determined and never quit a task until he’d finished, and the supervisor at the garden center.
“Ralph… Shit, you mean Ralph Tomson – er - Thomson? He still alive?”
He pronounced the ‘th,’ which Simon hadn’t when he’d greeted Ralph because he’d only seen the name on paper. Ralph hadn’t corrected him. “Uh – yes, he just applied for a job as bakery staff, and listed you as a previous employer and reference. Would you recommend him?”
“Uh – hold on.” There were footsteps, then the other line was quieter. “Listen, I’m gonna be honest with you, he’s a weird one. Not great with customers. Freaks out over nothing a lot. He works hard, though. You give him a job where nobody’s around, and he’ll get it done. He works fine on his own.”
That wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t awful. “Thank you.”
“Hey – he acts like he’s scared of his own shadow, but don’t you corner him or he gets a little scary.”
“…Scary?”
“We had another guy back him into a wall, and nobody’ll tell me exactly what happened, but that guy wouldn’t work near him again, said he was crazy. I dunno. Didn’t… hurt anybody, but there’s something off about him, y’know?”
“Thank you for telling me, I appreciate your time. Um – what made you think he might not… be alive?”
“Well he got knocked around pretty bad after work one night, had to be in the hospital for a while. Didn’t have insurance, and you know how the healthcare system is.”
Simon winced. “Well… I just spoke with him yesterday.”
“Good. Glad to hear it. Okay, well I’ve got to get back to work.”
“Of course, thanks again.”
Simon helped a few customers, grabbed a bacon cheese roll for lunch, then called Ralph. After four rings it connected, and there was a staticky fumbling noise before Ralph spoke.
“H-hello? Yes?”
“Hi – Ralph?”
“Yes! Yes, this… this is Ralph, yes.”
“Hi, this is Simon from Jericho Bakery. I –“
“Oh! Yes, hello, yes! I – s-sorry, sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. Are you still interested in the position we discussed the other day?”
“Yes! Yes, I’m v-very interested!”
“Great! I was hoping you could stop in to pick up the tax paperwork we have to file, just any time you’re free in the next couple days, and then start work on Monday. Would that work?”
There was an odd sound, then a fumbling and thump on the other end, then a quick fumbling again. “Yes! Oh yes, I… I can do that, yes, I – thank you. Thank you.”
“No problem. Come in any time. I’m excited to have you onboard with us.”
“Oh me too, so… so am I, I… I… thank you, yes, I… I’ll come… soon, I’ll… I… thank you.”
He was definitely crying. …Well he clearly needed this badly. He’d calm down. It would be fine.
He came in just before close, his good eye puffy and his face red. He thanked Simon again profusely and left with his paperwork and a loaf of cheesy bread.
“Oh – I’m sorry for mispronouncing your last name, by the way. It’s Thomson, right?”
Ralph’s face went blank just for a second. “It’s okay, I don’t mind, y-you can say it however you want, it’s… it’s not important.”
“I want to say it right,” Simon protested, but Ralph was gone.
When he went upstairs to the apartment he shared with his brother, Daniel was just getting up.
“You hire that guy?” he asked with a yawn.
“Yeah…”
“How long you think he’ll last?”
“I… Daniel, I don’t know. I really wanted to hire him, and he’s the only one who applied, but… there’s just so much personal baggage there that I can’t even begin to understand at this point. He – he’s been hurt really badly. By a lot of people, I think. In different ways. I don’t even know. I’ll help him along as well as I can, but I’m not a therapist.”
Daniel shrugged. “You hired him, though.”
“I know.”
“You let your pity get the best of you, you deal with it. I mean, you did have other reasons for hiring him, right?”
“Of course! I gave it a lot of thought. He’s willing to work and learn. He wants to please. And all his references all said he was a hard worker. I – I think it’ll work out.”
Daniel shrugged. “Okay, well good luck with that.”
The night shift was much more peaceful than the day, because it didn’t involve any customers. Aside from the occasional drunk beating on the door because they couldn’t read the damn hours listed on the door. Nothing Daniel couldn’t handle.
He’d put on some music and start with a cursory clean-up to take care of whatever Simon had missed. Daniel loved his brother more than anyone in the world, but his own eyes were sharper. And Simon had to deal with the public, so Daniel didn’t mind at all doing a little more cleaning. Then he’d get the next day’s batters and doughs prepared. The sweets were baked first so they were cool to be decorated later, and the breads and savory rolls were last so they’d still be warm for the opening rush. He did a lot of the decorating – Simon enjoyed it, but he just didn’t have time since Josh went back to school. And Simon was better at it, but Daniel wasn’t bad.
This new guy he’d hired wasn’t going to work out, Daniel could already tell. He’d told Simon, but Simon was a sap and hired him anyway. That would make it harder to fire him when the time came, but that was Simon’s job. Technically they were co-owners, but Simon had the larger share of responsibilities. They were both fine with that, and Daniel helped out with paperwork and whatever else needed to be done when he needed to. He took a look at the resume – not great. Simon hadn’t taken great notes on the interview or references, but most of that wasn’t good either. The answer to the last interview question – ’Saw people come out happy, wants to make people happy.’ Only Simon would fall for something like that. And that note from his last reference - ’Cornered by coworker, scared coworker? Didn’t hurt him. Hospitalized?’
Well. It wouldn’t last long. They’d be better-off with North, scaring off the nastier clientele.
Sure enough, two weeks later, Daniel got a text when he woke up. He could text Simon all night and he wouldn’t wake up, but if Simon texted while he was asleep it woke him up and it took at least fifteen minutes to fall asleep again, if he could at all. Simon was considerate about it, though.
Simon: How are nights going?
Daniel: Fine. Why?
Simon: I’ve been having to bake more during the day. Would it help you to have help overnight?
Daniel: Is Ralph not able to take the register while you bake?
Simon: He’s actually much better at baking. He can follow a recipe well, he even tweaks what he needs to.
Daniel: I see where this is going and no
“Come on,” Simon wheedled when Daniel came out of his room.
“I’m not taking your rejects, I don’t need somebody slowing me down,” Daniel growled. “I told you not to hire him in the first place.”
“He’s not that bad, I told you he’s good at baking. He just doesn’t like crowds, he’s not great with customers. You don’t like customers either.”
“I said no.”
“Can you just give him a chance? One week, then if he’s not working out, I’ll let him go. I just think the front of the house isn’t for him. I think he’d be good on your end.”
“I don’t have time to babysit your… pity projects, Simon! We don’t have money for this, we can’t –“
“I promise he’s not just a pity project. I know he’ll be helpful to you. Please just give him a chance?”
“You wanna have even fewer baked goods in the morning? You’ll run out faster, we’ll lose money. We’re already losing money giving somebody who can’t handle it a paycheck.”
“He won’t slow you down. At the very least, he won’t get in your way. Five days, Daniel.” His eyes were wide and pleading.
“Quit your puppy eyes, I could do the same thing if I had no pride,” Daniel grumbled. “…Five days tops. If he fucks up, he’s out.”
“…Beyond the scope of the typical learning curve,” Simon said.
“…And you had a note in his file about some kind of incident with a coworker at his last job…”
“Oh, I don’t know what that was. Neither did his last boss. Just said some guy cornered him, and he… scared him. Didn’t hurt him, but the guy was scared.” Simon shrugged. “I don’t know, he’s pretty small, and really timid. Sounds like somebody was being an asshole and… I don’t know. He’s a little weird, but I definitely wouldn’t call him dangerous.”
Daniel stared at him for a long moment. “If I die because you left me alone with that weirdo, I’ll haunt you until the end of time.”
Simon raised his hands in defeat. “I wouldn’t expect anything less. I know you’ll be haunting me already.”
“I’ll double-haunt you,” Daniel muttered. “…Five days. At the most.”
A smile broke over Simon’s face. “Thanks, Daniel. I think it’ll be good.”
“I think you’re full of shit.”