AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I was pretty sure that was going to happen anyway, but maybe I could somehow minimize the damage. I’d nursed heartbreak before. I should probably stock up on ice cream and make a list of comfort movies that were available on Netflix. To get out ahead of things.
My alarm didn’t give a shit about potential heartbreak and started screaming, so I got up and turned it off. Time for another day at the Violet Hill Café.
*^*^*
“Did you sleep last night?” Daisy asked when I showed up with barely a minute to spare to clock in.
“Thanks for the compliment,” I said, putting on my apron and checking my hair in the mirror.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I know you work so many jobs. I wonder how you do it.” I gave her a smile.
“So do I.” She laughed and headed back to the bakery. She’d already been here for several hours. Getting the bread baking, making cinnamon rolls the size of a human skull, and putting glaze on the breakfast muffins (they were basically cupcakes). My mouth started watering. I had definitely gained a few pounds since I’d started working here and I didn’t regret a single one of them. I’d never eaten so well. I was kind of a horrible cook, so about ninety percent of the food that I ate came from here.
I got started with setting up my tables and chatting with the other waitress, Ruthie. She was fresh out of high school and was heading off to college in a few months. I thought of her as a little sister and I knew she was going to set the world on fire. So incredibly smart.
“How are you doing?” She’d recently gone through a breakup with her long-distance girlfriend and was pretty blue about it. I’d shared lots of cheesecake and advice during our breaks.
“Fine. I think I’ve moved from acceptance back to rage. I figure as long as I’m not stagnant in one emotion, I’m making progress.” I laughed as she flipped her braid over her shoulder. She had the longest hair of anyone I’d ever known. All the way down her back, it brushed the back of her legs even when it was up. I always joked that she should give up the college dream and just be a princess.
“Well, rage is good. Burns calories,” I said and she nodded.
“Sounds legit.”
We opened the door and our first customers flooded in, eager for caffeine and Daisy’s cinnamon rolls. I greeted most of them by name. Even thought it was a small town, Violet Hill was even smaller and I liked seeing the same faces every day. Consistency was so comforting.
I thought about what I’d told Lacey last night, about this being my family and it was so true. When I looked around, I saw people who would gladly give me the shirt off their backs if I needed it. Who would come and bail me out of jail if I had to call. Wasn’t that what a family was for?
I moved through my day so lost in thought that I didn’t notice when someone came up behind me.
“Whoa!” she said when I nearly dropped the plate I was carrying. I turned to find Lacey standing there and my heart did a little flip and wiggled with happiness. I smiled, despite the fact that she’d scared the crap out of me.
“Sorry,” she said.
“It’s okay.” I took the plate back to the dishwasher and wiped my hands off before I came back out to see her.
“Dirty chai? And a BLTA?” She ducked her head as if she was ashamed that she was predictable.
“Yup. I’ve got a ton of work that I was supposed to do last night that I’m going to catch up on, if that’s okay.” How sweet. She was asking permission to work here. Some people acted like this was their living room, kicking off their shoes and playing funny videos at full volume. Without headphones. I’d gotten used to giving them glares to make them stop.
She took a seat in one of the corners in a fluffy chair that had a little table next to it for the food. She’d brought her laptop in a messenger bag and I couldn’t stop thinking about how graceful and beautiful all of her movements were. I wondered if she’d ever danced. She’d be good at it.
I looked at the clock and realized with all my thinking, I’d missed one of my breaks. Perfect timing. I sidled over to where Lacey sat and pulled over another chair.
“Mind if I join you for a few?” I asked. She opened her computer on her lap and beamed.
“I would like nothing more. Well, I’d like to have you for more than just a break, but I’ll take what I can get.” Now it was my turn to be shy. She made me feel like I was a young teenager with a mountain-sized crush that was going to swallow me whole.
“Okay, then,” I said. She typed something into her laptop and then looked up at me.
“I’ve been working on some of the pictures I took of you, if you’d like to see them.” I wasn’t sure if I did, but I said yes.
Lacey turned the laptop around and I was astonished.
“Wow. I look . . . pretty?” It almost sounded like a question. My hair was a mess, and my cheeks were red and my eyes were a little wet from crying. But I had an intensity in my eyes that she’d captured. It was raw and it was real. She’d taken a picture ofme. Not airbrushed. Not fancy. Just me.
“You look gorgeous. But then, you always do. I just had to get that emotion on your face because it was so gorgeous.”
“You sure you didn’t Photoshop me?” I asked, looking up at her again.
