Stephen Murphy

I missed my boyfriend… It was good to have the time 100% for him. He’s going to be around for awhile, Thank God. How’s the hubby?

He is a baseball player right? I hope I didn’t get the sport wrong. But it’s good that he will be around. Do you ever travel with him? And Maxen is great, So is married life.  Maxen will be Co-Owner of the bar as well.

Thanks for that. I already loved the place, but a drink on the house makes it even better. It was a little bit of everywhere really… Home base in New Jersey, a lot of traveling. But I’m here now, at least for awhile. Can’t see myself leaving again any time soon.

Traveling is always interesting. I loved it when I did it for a few years. It was nothing but me and my bike. It was freeing. But Havenoaks is a great place to settle down. At least for me.  So what is it you do?

I’m just… I don’t talk to people. Don’t know how, but I promised the twins I’d make an attempt when I came out here. I promised I’d try, so… I’m trying. If you’re going to have food, I’d love to stop by, drink a virgin something.

You seem to be doing find to me, but maybe it’s because it’s easy to talk through a computer than face to face. Sure stop by whenever you want. Right now we only have like chicken and fries. but we’re looking into offering more variety. And we do offer just regular beverages as well as alcoholic and virgin choices.

Same with me though. Maybe I’m not the posting kind. I leave that to my fiancee. She’s always got a million things to say. And I suppose it is good business, make the customers feel welcome. Helps you beat out any competition.

I’m definitely not the posting kind, or the responding kind. I’m not that into social media, and the only reason I ever made this account was because one of my employees told me it would be good for business. Fiancee? I must be completely out of it. I knew you and Lorelei were dating, but not engaged. But congrats on that. She is a very interesting person. I bet there is never a dull moment with her. And yea, though I won’t be able to stop anyone from opening up another bar and try to push me out. Hopefully Maxen can help me with that if it ever happens.

Hi… I’m RJ. This whole making friends thing doesn’t usually go well for me, but I’m trying to get outside of my box, talk to people, that kind of thing. So hi. I can’t drink yet, but your bar sounds cool. Do you serve food?

Nice to meet you RJ. Havenoaks is fairly easy to make friends because most people are very social and friendly. I was just like you when I first moved here, and even though I don’t have many friends now, I think I did okay. But anytime you want to come down to Duel, don’t hesitate to say hello. And yes, we are in the process of making it a bar and grill, so we will add more food to the menu.

Well, hello owner-of-Duel. I’ve already been a few times. It’s a lovely place, very nice set up. You have a lot to be proud of. I’m Lilah, new/old resident of Havenoaks, but it’s been ages since I’ve been home, so you’re forgiven for having no clue who I am.

Thank you for saying that. Next time you’re their, your drink is on the house. So where did you stay at before coming back to Havenoaks? 

So sappy my fingers got sticky on the keyboard after I responded to you. Completely unrelated but can I borrow your laptop? Mine’s broken because I spilled a soda on it.

Being a pain in ass like always, Lurchorino. I want to see if it’s possible to ride a llama. Can you imagine playing that stupid white sport where people ride horses and hit balls but on llamas.

That’s a weird request, but yea if you want to borrow my laptop you can, as long as you don’t spill anything on it.

I have a feeling you want to look at my browser history.

“When you watch shows about restaurants they have one dish people talk about. The one that brought them to the establishment in the first place and then they stay because of the service and other foods.” He said as he sat down on a stool which was close to the desk. “I think Duel can maybe be known for it’s hamburger or if the chef can cook a great steak it can be that. Or even a steak sandwich.” Maxen threw a few suggestions out for Stephen to think about. “Salmon works. Don’t know a lot of people who readily order trout if there’s other options but I don’t know much when it comes to eating out. I usually cook my own food.”

The bar & grill was an idea Stephen bounced back and forth with for quite a while and the kitchen expansion was a good call but there was still room for more and he took a moment to think this through. “With the amount of people who walk through that door, they are mostly men who don’t have anyone to go home to and I imagine their meals are made up of TV dinners or whatever they can grab that’s still open.” This was based on what he’d seen since he set foot in this bar. Even the one before Duel was mostly working class guys. Most single. “Hamburgers and fries are good. If you can find a signature dish that might get people outside of that in here.”

“Do you think those can be returned to the supplier for a discount? Or if they have other items in their inventory it can be switched?” Maxen didn’t know the ins and outs when it came to these things and he supposed, in due time, he’ll be a pro at it. “I’m not sure it’s a knack or the fact I remember random things.” He liked the praise but he had a hard time accepting it. It was something of his he struggled with. “How’s the schedule? Did you find coverage for that shift?”

When Stephen kissed him, Maxen paid him a little extra attention by giving a smile before he returned to the list. “Have you thought about expanding the beer selection and cutting down on these. They are hardly touched and I think the last time I did one of these lists it was the same bottles.” Maxen indicated to the items he highlighted with yellow. “A lot of the customers are older men and I know there’s younger people who might like a better variety.” His hand went to his husband’s hip and he ran his fingers up and down it subconsciously. 

Nice to meet you again, Boss.

And thanks for last weekend off. I needed it… and it was pretty perfect.

Nice to meet you too!

Hey there, Lurch. Got a little tear in my eye reading this sap fest of a post. Are you dying? 

Was this really that sappy? I guess a little Sap doesn’t hurt. How are you ding Lorelei?

Are we having to go around introducing ourselves again on this thing? I guess there has been an influx of new folks lately, I guess. I wonder what that’s about. The mayor’s very pleased though… Anything to bring new people to Havenoaks. How are you and Maxen?

Yea, I realized that I’ve only made a couple of post on here, while people make a lot. And plus with the influx of people, I feel it would be good business to reintroduced myself. Yea, I bet the mayor is pleased. Maxen and I are fantastic. Just enjoying married life really. How are you?

Maxen: Wouldn't you need me to be at the bar more? For our meetings.

Maxen: I can't help myself. When it comes to you I want to do whatever possible to see your bar grow. I'll ask for one day off. Friday. We can use that to go over what needs to be done.

Stephen: Yes I definitely want to see more so our meetings can be more efficient. I just don't want you to feel burned out traveling between jobs.

As I said, I’m a paramedic. It’s fine to have the giggles when you aren’t on a call, but if someone’s coding and you’re meant to be saving their life, I think it’s probably better not to laugh while you’re doing it.

Yea, missed that part, obviously. And that’s why I said as long as you reign it in when you should. Anyway, I don’t think it’s possible for someone to giggle in a high stresses situation like that. Unless it’s a coping mechanism, but it would still be inappropiate.