She’d texted back ‘sure’ before she’d even realized Angel hadn’t actually asked if Ellie wanted to go to the zoo. It made her shake her head, but she couldn’t help the smile either. Especially because within the next five minutes her phone was buzzing with messages from a group text she’d just been added to.

Jessica: I haven’t been to the zoo in forever!

Maria: The weather’s supposed to be sunny and in the high sixties, low seventies, but I’ll keep my eye on it as it gets closer.

Sharon: ZOO!

Lexie: Yay! Zoo! I want to go to the bird house!

Leigh: Do you think we’ll be able to see the new baby panda?

Hilary: Omg, I hope so! The pictures are so cute!

Sharon: ZOO! ZOO! ZOO!

Maria: I think there’s usually a line, so we should get there early and head straight for the panda enclosure.

Angel: I think we should all meet at the same metro stop so we can ride in together.

Kate: Oh, good idea!

Sharon: WE’RE GOING TO THE ZOO!

Olivia: OH. MY. GOD. I’M GOING TO KILL WHICHEVER ONE OF YOU ASSHOLES ADDED ME TO THIS THING! STOP TEXTING SO MUCH, MY PHONE IS GOING CRAZY!

Angel: Sorry Olivia

Leigh: Sorry Olivia

Kate: Sorry Olivia

Jessica: Sorry Olivia

Hilary: Sorry Olivia

Maria: Sorry Olivia

Lexie: Sorry Olivia

Olivia: I hate you all.

Sharon: Zoo!

Ellie laughed so hard she had put her head down on her desk and press her hand to her aching stomach muscles.

The most convoluted part about opening Marquis wasn’t actually the kink part, it was the façade; the front part, where the restaurant and bar would be. It didn’t matter that it was going to be small, it still needed to have amazing food and impeccable service; so they’d started looking for staff early and it wasn’t going quite as easily as Michael and Patrick might have hoped.

Today they’d come in to Marquis to work in the downstairs restaurant; all the construction was currently happening upstairs. They’d gone over the layout with Luke Davis, the owner of the company doing the renovations. Apparently he had some of the same control issues as Patrick; he’d been there to check in on his crew at least every other day, and something which was to be expected from the way the foreman acted. Even though the place definitely wasn’t going to be open for months, it was really coming along, and there was something satisfying about working on location.