Layla – Present
I walk down the beach front shops and pass by an old café that used to be open when I was last here.
It looks like it’s been empty for a while.
The door is wedged open, so I try to sneak a peek inside.
I’ve always loved the shops along this part of town.
The front windows to each store front are curved looking directly out to the beach.
“You’re a liar!” I hear someone yelling, then something clattering.
“He told me to collect the payment today!” I recognize that voice.
“I’ll … I’ll call Jacob.”
“Fine. Go ahead, he’s only going to tell you what I’ve told you. You pay first and then the work is done.”
“That’s not what Jacob, and I agreed.”
“You can’t pay whenever you want, maybe you’re too old to realize that that’s not how the world works anymore.”
“Listen here boy, I’m not too old to realize when someone’s lying to me. Get out of my shop!”
I step aside as Rhett walks out, he doesn’t see me. He runs his hands through his hair and curses, before storming off in the opposite direction.
I peer into the shop to see who he was arguing with. My eyes widen when I recognize the woman. It’s Mabel. She has her palm pressed to her chest over her heart. I can see her hand shaking from here.
“Mabel?” I walk slowly toward her, hoping she remembers me from the plane.
“Layla?” Her eyes brighten as she says my name.
“Are you okay?” I pull out a chair for her to sit.
“Yes, dear just a little shaken up. My nerves aren’t what they used to be.” I reach into my handbag and pull out a bottled water.
“Here, take a drink.” The bottle shakes in her hand as she presses it to her mouth. She takes a few sips and then she smiles at me.
“You’re very kind.”
“You shared your candy, I owe you, remember?” I take a quick glance around the building, it’s in good condition minus whatever’s happening with the ceiling. There’s a large hole with some black mold seeping from it.
“Can I do anything else to help you?”
“Could you get my phone out of my bag?” She points to a beige snakeskin bag.
I shuffle through it until I find her phone.
“Can you call a young man named Jacob Evans?” I search for his number and hit call.
“Tell him I need him to come over.” She has her hand pressed firmly against her chest, and it’s starting to worry me.
Jacob answers on the third ring. “Did he like it?”
I look at Mabel, her phones volume is high enough that she can hear every word. I smile at that.
“Tell him he loves it.”
“Mabel says he loves it.”
There’s a stretched silence on the other end of the phone before Jacob speaks again. “Layla?”
“Hi.” I look at Mabel who looks slightly surprised.
“Mabel asked me to call you.” It’s not lost on me that this is the first time I’ve ever heard Jacob’s voice through a phone.
“What’s wrong?”
I hold the phone out for Mabel to tell him.
“That boy came here again today. He said you told him I needed to pay before the work is done. I told him to leave.”
“You were right to tell him to leave Mabel, I’m just around the corner, I’ll be there soon.”
I hang up, and Mabel grins at me. “You know Jacob?”
“Yeah.”
“Pity you’re already taken, I’d like to see him settled down. He’s a nice young man.” She narrows her eyes, “very rare these days.”
I wait with Mabel until Jacob arrives and put my number into her phone. Mabel’s shaking has settled down, and she’s almost finished with the bottled water.
“I don’t like that boy.” She tells him as soon as he enters the room.
Jacob looks to me, “He doesn’t work for me any more, he shouldn’t have been here.” he continues, “did he give you the key?” She presses her lips together and shakes her head.
“I’ll change the locks.” He says.
“Thank you.” She looks anxious, “do you need the money upfront because I can’t afford–”
“No.” He answers, “our agreement still stands.”
She lets out an audible breath. The sound of a horn makes her jump, she laughs, “That’s my ride to the retirement home. Could you help me outside Layla?” She stands up, holding onto my arm as we make our way outside.
“It was nice to see you dear.”
“I’ll come see you again, now I know where you live.”
“Yes, you will.” She pats my hand and smiles.
I close the car door and walk back inside. Jacob is already changing the lock.
“You didn’t tell me Rhett works for you.”
“Worked.” He corrects. “It didn’t come up.”
I sit down on the table next to where he’s working.
“He was really going to take her money?” I bite the inside of my cheek. I knew Rhett had questionable morals but stealing and threatening an eighty-year-old woman is low even for him.
“Unfortunately, that’s not the only time he’s attempted something like that, and it’s one of the many reasons why he no longer works for us.”
“Why did you even hire him?”
He glances over to me, “It was two months ago, my foreman didn’t know our history.”
“Coaching was his last job, right?”
He nods, “I couldn’t fire him without cause, so I had to wait until he messed up. Lucky for me I didn’t have to wait that long.”
“I’m surprised he even lasted two months.”
His eyes flicker to mine and a small smirk appears on his lips.
“So, do none of your customers pay up front?”
“They pay a deposit and then on completion. But we don’t have many small clients like Mabel left, we work mostly with commercial corporations now.”
“Business is good?”
He nods. “We’re actually in the middle of working on securing a contract that would be huge for us.”
“When will you know if you get it?”
“We’ve been talking with them for a while, it takes time, they’re picky, and rightfully so.”
“I hope you get it.”
He smiles, “so do I.”
He turns back to fixing the lock as I walk around the old café. It’s in need of some repair, but I love it.
I’m smiling as I look around at the old signs that have collected dust, thinking about how nice this place must have been. I turn around and catch Jacob’s eye.
“You like it?” he asks.
“It needs a lot of work.”
He stands, moving closer, “just a bit.”
“I like it.” I admit.
We sit down together on a work bench.
“Why does Mabel pay you in installments?”
“She can’t afford not to, with the retirement home costs, it’s a lot for her.
She bought this place a year ago because it was cheap.
It was really only to give her somewhere to stay six months out of the year, so she can see Warren.
” He continues, “But now she wants to fix this place up to sell it. I told her I could get my contractors in and finish it sooner, but she’s not comfortable with not paying.
So, she makes me dinner once a week, I do what I can, and we call it even. ”
“That’s really kind of you.”
He doesn’t say anything, but he’s staring at me and it’s starting to make me conscious of how I look today.
“How long will it take you to repair?” I stare up at the hole in the ceiling.
“A while.”
“I always loved the shops along this part of town.” I move to stand at the window, looking out onto the beach. The sand comes right up to the door and there’s something about that I like.
“Did you ever go to college?” I ask him.
He checks the lock with the new key. “No.”
“Do you still draw?”
He looks at me, “Do you?”
“I didn’t think you ever considered that drawing.” I laugh, “They asked me to draw a cupcake on a sign once for the bakery.”
He stares at me.
“They never asked again.”
He grins. “I would have liked to have seen that.”
“You mean you’d like to have something else to make fun of me for.”
He frowns with his mouth, “Never.” He looks at me for a moment and then he asks, “How do you know Mabel?”
“She was on my flight from Louisiana.”
He nods.
“I like her.”
“Me too.” He rubs at the back of his neck, “I should probably get back to work.”
I feel this little tug in my chest when he says it. I don’t know why him leaving seems to affect me so much.
He puts the keys in the lock.
“Does Amie still live in the same place?” I ask.
“Yeah, she lives a few doors down on the same street with Parker, she works over at Harry’s part time though, you might be better checking there for her first.”
“Thanks.”
He taps the side of his truck with his fist and looks at me like he wants to say something.
“I’ll see you around Layla.” He gets in his truck.
I wave him off as he drives down the street and there it is again. The faintest little tug. I watch his truck turn at the lights then I make my way to Harry’s.