Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
“ M r Jordan!”
Both Sophie and Gemma rushed out from behind the counter. The old man had somehow caught himself on the edge of a table and was braced there, one hand still on the cane, trembling, while his knees were only inches from the ground. Gemma could only imagine how much he would hurt himself if he fell fully.
By the time they reached him, two of the school mums had come to his aid, but Gemma and Sophie swept in too.
“Are you okay?” Sophie asked, helping him back to standing.
“It’s all right. We’ve got you. Come on, let’s get you a chair. You should sit down.”
Gemma glanced around. The table Mr Jordan had been sitting at was now occupied. The gentleman who had just come in had either been completely oblivious to the situation or simply didn’t care as he strode past the kerfuffle and took his spot. Thankfully, Graham was already on his feet and placing his chair just behind Mr Jordan, although the old man shook his head.
“Oh, no, don’t be silly. I don’t want all this fuss. I’m fine. I’m fine.”
“You need to sit down,” Gemma said. “That must have been quite a shock for you. It was for us.”
She wasn’t lying. Her pulse had rocketed when she thought he was going to fall, and it still hadn’t gone back to normal.
“Oh, I’m made of tough stuff. Don’t you worry.” Mr Jordan smiled, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes the way Gemma knew it should.
“Really, I think you ought to sit down. Just for a minute. I’ll get you a glass of water.”
At this, he shook his head again, and his voice dropped to a lower volume. “I don’t like to make a fuss. Honestly, I’m quite all right. Really, thank you, girls, but I need to get off now, and I’m quite okay. See?”
He walked towards the door, reached it, turned around, and offered a little wave as if to show he hadn’t hurt anything seriously. But Gemma knew that with incidents like this, it could take a few minutes before the extent of the pain set in, and there was no way he hadn’t bruised his hip or arm the way he caught himself.
“Please, just take a seat outside,” Gemma said. “Humour me, please. Just sit in the sun for five minutes. That’s all. I’ll even bring you out a slice of cake.”
At this, Mr Jordan quirked his eyebrow.
“A free scone and a slice of cake? I should probably fall over more often.”
Gemma smiled.
“Sophie,” she said. “Could you take Mr Jordan a chocolate brownie outside? I should see to the other customers.”
Sophie smiled. “Sure thing, I’ll get you a water too,” she said. “Don’t you worry about anything, Mr Jordan. You just go and sit outside.”
A moment later, Sophie was behind the counter fetching Mr Jordan a brownie and water. Mr Jordan had taken a seat on a bench outside, while inside the cafe, the tables were all settling back down as their chattering recommenced. Judging by the way glances were continually darting out the window, Gemma was sure that at least one conversation was about Mr Jordan’s fall. She would have much rather he’d stayed inside so that she could keep an eye on him, but she could hardly force a grown man to stay somewhere he didn’t want to be. Still, she would check on him in a couple of minutes. Finally, drawing her attention away from Mr Jordan, Gemma went and picked up a menu from the counter.
Locals and regulars knew it wasn’t table service, but despite the sign, many onetime customers weren’t aware, so they would always take the menu to them. They would tell them to come to the counter to order if it was busy. Otherwise, she wouldn’t mind spending a bit of time going back to take it herself. It was that type of relationship that made people come back. As Gemma headed towards the man, she was absolutely certain he had never set foot in the Waterfront Café before, because if he had, she would have remembered. His hair was dark, lightly styled in a way that looked relaxed and yet well-groomed. And his dark, deep-set eyes had a definite broodiness about them.
“Good morning,” she said, placing the menu down on his table. “Sorry about that bit of commotion there. Unfortunately, we’re all getting older, and it creeps up on us, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
The man pouted. There was no hint of a smile on his face. In fact, surly was the word that jumped into Gemma’s mind, but she tried not to let the thought settle. Each person had their own thing going on and likely had plenty of reasons not to smile. She would always give a customer the benefit of the doubt and assume they were lovely until they proved her otherwise.
Gemma was about to say he could go to the counter to order when the man parted his lips.
“Do you already know what you’d like to drink?” she asked, assuming that was what he was going to say.
Instead, his mouth closed again, and he inhaled deeply before he spoke.
“I wasn’t going to order a drink just yet,” he said. “I actually think we need to have a proper conversation about how you handled that entire situation.”