Melissa wasn’t sure how to thank the glacier bears for defending her from the lion. They’d come back to the club on Wednesday night and let Melissa know the result of their meeting. The club’s electricity bill was halved, and the owner put his own son on extended suspension without pay. The owner had been apologetic and handwrote Melissa an apology, delivered by courier to Bear Buns that very night. Melissa was willing to put the incident behind her, but she knew she still had to figure out a way to thank the glacier bears.

The air conditioning was back on, and the club was cool as a cucumber. The bear strippers were still dripping with sweat from their intense workouts. That gave Melissa an idea. Before the dinner break started, while the bears were showering off, she went to the kitchen to work with the chef. Melissa put together a surprise for everyone and a special surprise for Neil and Hudson.

Melissa sat with Renee, Neil, and Hudson to eat dinner. It was Italian day, so there were a variety of pasta salads, pizzas, and cold antipasto platters available.

When the chef went to go bring out a tray of cannoli, Melissa followed her. Melissa went to the big fridge and removed a cart, pushing it into the eating area.

“What did you make?” asked Neil, looking over the plastic cups on the cart.

“The weather’s so hot, I thought you all could use a nice, cold treat, one that’s also nutritious,” said Melissa. “I made you all some red, white, and blue parfaits. There’s raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries in there. There’s yogurt to divide all the layers, plus, whipped cream on top. I added some vanilla granola and almond slivers, so you’d have some extra carbs. On the bottom, there’s chia seed pudding made with almond milk for some extra heft. I hope it’s okay.”

“If it tastes as good as it looks, it’s more than okay,’ said Hudson. “It’s fantastic.”

Melissa removed two cups from the second layer of the cart and passed one to Neil and one to Hudson.

“I made yours special,” said Melissa. “I added marionberries and huckleberries, some red currants, and bits of cherry to yours.”

“Thank you so much,” said Neil. “You didn’t have to do this, you know. We would’ve defended you even without the promise of parfaits.”

“I know I don’t ‘have’ to do this,” said Melissa. “If I ‘had’ to do it, I wouldn’t’ve. I just…I wanted to let you two know I appreciate you two and what you did.”

“Your efforts at the club have also been appreciated,” said Neil. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’ve taken your criticism to heart. It was hard to hear you talk about the club the way you did, but you were right. There were problems, bottlenecks that led to the club running inefficiently.”

“We couldn’t solve all of the issues this week. Transforming this strip club from novelty to Denver’s new cultural establishment will be hard. No doubt, no doubt,” said Hudson. “But, now that we know where those bottlenecks are, we’re going to be able to fix them…with your help, if you choose to stay with the club.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to stay with the club?” asked Melissa.

“Because you got sexually harassed by some jerk during your first week here,” said Neil.

“The club handled it, and it’s over,” said Melissa. “We got the best thing we could’ve hoped to get out of it—a very good rate on our electricity bill. I guess it’s good we use the electricity company’s in-house HVAC department. Apparently, it’s all owned by the same Pride, so the various alpha werelion execs from the different branches got together to sort this out.”

“That’s one good thing about dealing with shifters,” said Hudson. “You know that they’ll clean up the messes their kin make.”

“Too bad there was a mess for them to clean up at all,” said Melissa. “But, like I said, I just want to move past this.”

“And you’re not quitting?” asked Neil. “Everyone would understand if you wanted to.”

“I didn’t get to where I am by quitting when things got hard,” said Melissa. “There are other challenges I’ve faced head-on, most of which have been more pleasant than dealing with that werejackass of a lion shifter, Adam. That’s what’s helped me build the skills I have today, the skills that are going to help me make sure this strip club is a success. I’m glad to hear you all took my criticism seriously and constructively. I’ve noticed everything’s been running a lot more smoothly.”

“Well, for instance, the costume squad has taken over applying makeup,” said Hudson. “It’s temporary until we hire a full hair and makeup team. We do our hair when we get out of the showers, but by having the costumers apply our makeup, we don’t have to wash our hands off before hitting the stage. Shaves minutes off our prep time, and you know that in theater, minutes can make all the difference.”

“The bartenders have gotten together to figure out what they’re doing wrong with the drinks,” said Neil. “The cocktail list was a bit…long. We’ve shaved it down to six cocktails that they can all learn to make well, that they can master. The bartenders are also working with the kitchen on making bigger batches of the more popular cocktails, so they don’t have to shake them up one by one. They make big virgin batches of the cocktails, and they can add the alcohol at the bar, as ordered.”

“Great,” said Melissa. “That should improve service time and consistency of product. I’m glad my suggestions were taken seriously, but…”

“What is it?” asked Neil.

“I think that we’re going to have to spend money to make money,” said Melissa. “We definitely need some department leads for each of our problem departments. We need to find the head costumer, fast. I don’t know how we’ll find a DJ in the middle of the music festival season, but we’re going to have to look around and try to find one. We’re going to have to find a head bartender because we need someone to take a leadership position. We also need to find a makeup artist and fast. The costumers can’t be responsible for doing makeup. It’s not in their job description, and frankly, there’s a world of difference between handling costumes and handling hair and makeup.”

“Trust me, we can afford to spend the money,” said Hudson.

Melissa remembered their chat from her first day on the job and blushed. Of course, they could afford to hire more staff. The club, even in its current stage, managed to print money.

“All right, well, then what are we waiting for?” asked Melissa. “I’ll handle the job postings tonight, before I head out. I think we should look to add one new department lead at a time, to see how they work with the club, to ensure they’re a good fit. Let’s find a costumer first.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Neil. “And what do you want us to do?”

“The only thing you’ve been hired to do,” said Melissa with a grin. “Finish those parfaits and get your sweet behinds on that stage. You’ve got a show to put on this Friday, and I don’t want my headlining act disappointing anyone. You two are the new faces of Bear Buns…but I think the ladies might be more interested in your bare buns than your faces.”