So much has happened since the last time I was able to sit down and talk Sweetie Pies.  With the flu, travel, work and preparing for the holidays I have been holding all this in.  Now choosing to write over some of the long Black Friday lines, I can finally catch you up on the wild Montgomery antics.

Let’s begin with Miss Robbie.   That woman never seems to stop…no matter what it does to her health.  Her voice was getting worse and she needed break.  Taking a chance, she decided to give Charles his one big chance to be the manager while she took a couple of days to herself.  Knowing Tim would peek in on him helped to ease the anxiety.  Miss Robbie left the building but she forgot to leave her phone!  Despite being told to rely on Charles, their simplest solution for everything was to call Robbie.  Yelling through the phone it was obvious her voice wasn’t getting much of a rest. 

Now in fairness to the employees, Charles seemed to be a bit absent on the floor.  He spent most of his time blowing up photos of himself with his aunt and even ones of him with his dog…plastering her office with them.   Although the place didn’t come down it did catch fire.  By the time Robbie finally made it back, it was clear that Charles needed yet another career path.  It didn’t take him long to bounce into his next venture, acting.  Pulling on a connection from Tim (who had done a little acting following his time in prison), Charles met with a coach who broke the news…he would be going to classes to learn.  Something that disappointed the young man who was always looking for the easy way out.  Regardless of the classes, Charles was willing to see where it took him.

With her voice not improving, Miss Robbie decided it was time to go to the doctor.  Admitting she was worried about cancer, the doctor put her worries at ease.  However she did deliver some difficult news.  Miss Robbie needed to be quieter.  This was going to be hard. I am not sure she can do quiet.  I haven’t heard her “not yelling”, but it was obvious that her health required it and she really needed to try.  That meant she needed help.  She finally bit the bullet and hired a manager and it appears she made a good choice.  She fit right in and cracked her whip quietly yet effectively. 

Feeling empowered, Miss Robbie decided it was time for a little tough love.  She pulled Charles and Andre into the office and let them it was time for them to experience the real world.  They were no longer getting money from her for a job they didn’t do.  They needed to get REAL jobs.  Andre jumped up and headed out to find what he could but Miss Robbie had something in mind for Charles.  She coordinated with her main fishing guy who supplies her to take Charles out on the water for a hard day’s work.   Arriving over two hours late, Charles quickly realized he worked a lot harder and didn’t make a dime.  Suddenly the restaurant wasn’t so bad….but that didn’t mean he needed to end his hopes of becoming the next Denzel Washington!

A few blocks away, Tim was having his own crisis at Mangrove.  His employees were slacking and with constant pressure to close the restaurant, he had a lot on his mind.  In fact it consumed his as usual.  Tim has built a reputation on the show of not showing up for his family….his mother’s birthday, family reunions, his own son’s birthday, appointments and this time a celebration honoring his mother proving once again that Tim doesn’t see the big picture.  All the money in the world can measure up to the value your family and loved ones hold.  Seriously!   I learned that lessons very early in my childhood and it has garnered me the most important rewards.  As for Tim everyone was getting sick of the disappointment.  It was now the new expected.  His mother invited him although she admitted to him in the same breath that she knew he wouldn’t show up.   He claimed (as always) that’d he would show up…but the pattern was consistent.  Jenae was tired of it.  Did she really want to spend her life with a man who wouldn’t show up for her or her son?  It didn’t matter how much money Mangrove makes if it was at the cost of her family. 

Knowing that she was at her end, Tim extended an olive branch and invited his fiancée to dinner, hoping they would have a chance to talk.  As she sat hopeful in a nice restaurant waiting, Tim allowed himself to get sucked back in to the Mangrove.  She waited but he never showed up.  It was a complete slap in the face.  It was rough night for Jenae, but for Tim as well.  This was the night he finally got frustrated enough at his staff to close the Mangrove…indefinitely!  Pulling back the keys, each of the employees were left to wander the street wondering if they’d ever see the inside of Sweetie Pie’s again.  Heading home to face the well-deserved argument from his fiancée, Tim was greeted with a shell of his home.   Deciding to move in to their new home a little early, Jenae had the movers take everything to the new house.  They needed some space and time to think about their relationship.  She hoped this would trigger Tim into seeing what he was losing.  As he starred at the empty walls realizing he didn’t even have a bed to sleep in or a TV to get lost in, it got real.  It was clear that Jenae loved Tim and was praying it would all work out, but would this taste of stress-free freedom be exactly what Tim wanted all along?  We will have to tune in to see!

As for the Mangrove, although they had closed the doors there wasn’t a huge impact over at the Upper Crust.  That was actually an important thing to see.  Instead of fighting his mother to keep the place open, it now warranted it.  After cooling down, Tim reopened the Mangrove and brought most of the employees.   

Although him relationships were still up in the air, Tim was lining up the pieces at work…trying to set things right.  Hopefully that’s just the beginning!