Chapter 21 Freddie
Freddie
“You’re very smiley today,” Anna remarks as she returns from the tables with handfuls of dirty dishes.
“Aren’t I always?” I say as I wipe coffee dust from the counter.
“This is even more than usual.”
There’s a shrewdness in her voice that makes me nervous. I shrug. “Must be the caffeine!”
It isn't the caffeine. I’m still riding high from my make-out session with Shaun.
I’ve had crushes before, but not like this.
He’s undoubtedly the hottest guy in West Marbank and, a few hours ago, I had him moaning on his sofa, melting in my hands.
At last. I can’t get him out of my head.
The way his big, hot body responded to my slightest touch was so unbelievably sexy, way hotter than any of the one night stands I’m used to, and we’ve barely scratched the surface of what we can do. Shit, I hope he wants more.
Seriously, I must deserve some kind of medal for the restraint it took not to take things further—I almost came in my pants just looking at him.
Lucky Shaun, he got to go home and release, while I’m stuck here with blue balls for the next few hours.
Still, I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face if I tried.
“Did you and Shaun have fun?” Anna asks.
“Huh?” I say, alarm bells ringing.
“He texted. Said he was taking you to try some coffee places?”
“Oh! Right. Yeah, it was awesome. Great… coffee.” I say, not at all convincingly.
“Mm,” says Anna, clearly thinking the same. But unless she’s psychic, there’s no way she can know what else we got up to. Though, from the way she’s staring at me like my head is a crystal ball, I wouldn’t rule it out.
The bell above the door rings, followed by the pitter-patter of running feet.
“Mama!”
A small boy, no older than five, hurtles across the café floor like a whippet. Behind him, a stout woman who looks just like Anna, only older and greyer and weighed down by an enormous green handbag, babbles away in a language I don’t understand.
“Hi, honey!” Anna squats down to hug her son, simultaneously shooting the woman I can only assume is her mother with a sharp look. “We said five, Matka!”
“I have to drive Philip to the hospital!” Anna’s mum gestures outside where a frail-looking man waits in the passenger seat of a pink Fiat 500. “His hip has gone again. It’ll be hours. Not fair for little Ethan to be stuck in a waiting room!”
“I’m working, Matka!” Anna says. I can tell she’s trying to keep her voice happy for her son’s benefit, not that she needs to. Ethan has spotted me, staring me down with the kind of soul-rending judgment only toddlers can muster.
“It’s okay. I brought toys.” Anna’s mum pulls a teddy bear, a keyboard, and a remote-control car from her handbag.
“Matka!” Anna palms her forehead. “You said you could look after him all day!”
Anna’s mother throws her arms up in the air like an angry jellyfish. “What should I do? Leave poor Philip out on the street with a bad hip?”
“No one is suggesting that—”
“You just don’t like him.”
“Matka, Philip doesn’t need you to look after him. Ethan does!”
Anna’s mother gasps. “How can you say that? He is a healthy young boy. Philip is a frail old man. Ethan can play here for a couple of hours. No problem!”
“How many times do I have to say it? This is a café, not a playground!”
“Better here than in the hospital! What if he catches a horrible disease, makes you sick, and you can’t work? What then, hm?”
Without breaking our staring contest, Ethan tugs on his mum’s apron.
“Mama, where’s Shauny?” he asks.
Anna gets to her feet, taking Ethan’s hand. “Shaun is off today, darling. This is Freddie. Say hi.”
“Hi, Ethan!” I give him a wave and, after a few very intense seconds, he waves back.
“Hi, Feddie.”
“Who is this boy?” Anna’s mother asks, brandishing Ethan’s teddy bear at me.
“Matka!” Anna scolds her before turning to me. “This is Freddie. He’s new. Freddie, this is my mother, Milena. Ignore everything she says.”
“Nice to meet you!” I put on my most charming smile, the one that usually makes grannies melt. With Milena, however, it’s like farting on a glacier.
Milena scowls.
“Why can’t he do the work? This is a fit young man and you are getting too old for this. Making coffees,” she tuts. “This is young people’s work! He will do it, and you will watch Ethan. He is your son!”
Her mind apparently made up, Milena places Ethan’s toys on a nearby chair. Anna shakes her head.
“Freddie is new. I can’t leave him to serve everyone on his own.”
Milena rounds on me. “Well, are you good with children, Freddie?”
“Sure!” I say. “Used to be one myself.” To his credit, Ethan giggles, but he’s the only one who does.
With the force of a sonic boom, Milena claps her hands together.
“Well then, it’s settled. He will look after Ethan. You will make coffees and give yourself more blisters and grind your hips into dust and, one day, when you are old and in pain, I hope you have someone to take you to the hospital because I won’t be around to do it.”
Milena’s already backing away.
“Matka!” Anna shouts, but Milena turns heel and practically bolts for the door.
As Anna’s mother exits the building, a cluster of people file in after her, gathering around the “please wait to be seated” sign.
Ethan sniffs. “Mama, I want to play race cars with Feddie.”
The door jingles again and a few more people join the back of the queue.
Anna’s eyes dart from me, to the growing crowd of impatient customers, to her son who looks dangerously close to throwing an absolute shitfit if he doesn’t get what he wants.
Without speaking, I can tell Anna and I are thinking the same thing: there’s only one way to satiate both the horde and the child. She looks at me, desperation in her eyes.
“Freddie, would you mind—?”
“Sure,” I say, sweeping around from behind the counter. Guess it’s time to find out if I actually am any good with kids. “Hey Ethan, want to come over here and show me your race car?”
Anna mouths a quick “thank you” before dashing off to greet the customers, leaving me with Ethan and his pile of toys.
“Where’s Mama going?” he asks.
“Not far,” I crouch down to his level and tilt my head towards the door. “See all those people over there? Well, they’re actually a horde of evil zombies and your mum’s gone to make sure they don’t eat our brains.”
Ethan’s eyes are as wide as dinner plates.
“How?” he gasps.
“By feeding them cake instead! See, zombies love cake, but they like to keep that on the downlow so they seem more scary to us humans. Just don’t tell anyone, or they’ll find out we know their secret!”
Ethan giggles. “What if they want brain-flavour cake?”
“Then I’m sure your mama’s clever enough to make them one.” I hold out my hand. “Wanna sit over there and you can show me your toys?”
“Yeah!” He takes my hand. “I like you, Feddie.”
I dunno why people make such a fuss about parenting. This shit is a piece of piss.
Scooping up Ethan’s toys with my free hand, I guide him over to a table in the corner, a safe distance from the “zombies.” He offers to show me his remote-control car, which I’m all for, until he sends it whizzing across the café like a missile.
Before I can stop it, the car collides with the coat rack which Anna has to catch mid-fall on her way to make the first round of coffees.
Ethan roars with laughter as I quickly reverse the car back to our table and switch it off, avoiding Anna’s eye.
I point at the toy keyboard instead. “You like music, Ethan?”
“Yeah. It’s good.”
I turn on the keyboard, lowering the volume until it’s only audible to us. “Wanna learn a song?”
Ethan’s eyes light up. “Okay!”
I show him a simple, four-note pattern—the first, fifth, fourth, and sixth of C major, all white notes so it’s easier for him.
Ethan picks it up pretty quickly, so we add in the thirds for some harmony.
He finds this a little trickier, but once I show him how to position his fingers to make it easier, it starts to come together.
I’m worried he’ll get bored, but he doesn’t, just keeps practicing until he gets it right almost every time.
While Ethan plays, I watch Anna flit between tables and make drinks at lightning speed. It’s seriously impressive how she juggles the orders, moving swiftly but cleanly, never wasting a second. I can see why Shaun thinks so highly of her; there’s no way I’d be able to keep up.
A couple more tables walk in and just like that, our quiet afternoon has turned busy, just like Anna said it would.
I push my chair back and get to my feet. “I’m gonna go help your mum for a minute. Now, I want those notes perfect when I get back, alright?”
Ethan nods, poking the keys with the precision of a brain surgeon.
I find Anna at the coffee machine making three drinks at once.
“Cavalry’s here,” I say.
“Where’s Ethan?” Anna asks, not taking her eyes off the coffees.
“I left him practicing the keyboard. He’ll be fine for five minutes.”
“Practicing?” Anna laughs. “That boy hasn’t sat still for ten seconds since he learned how to walk.”
I peer over the top of the machine and spot Ethan, exactly where I left him. It’s clear Anna doesn’t believe me, so I point over to our table. Anna does a double-take before looking up at me like I’m some kind of miracle worker.
“What can I say? The kid’s got talent.” I tighten my apron. “Any tables need seeing?”
Anna blinks a couple of times, like her brain is rebooting. “Yes, um, a Victoria sponge and a scone to table three. Then come back for table five’s drinks. Then table one should be ready to order. Okay?”
I click my tongue twice and give her a thumbs-up. “On it.”
Keeping one eye on the wee man playing in the corner, I help Anna until she’s caught up with the sudden surge of customers.
“Always come in all at once, don’t they?” I observe as I plate up the last remaining brownie in the fridge.