CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
That was surprising. Even though he was fully qualified, he hadn't expected him to actually say yes.
"Thank you.. sir?" he asked. He didn't have a clue about how to navigate this situation.
"Don't make this worse than it needs to be," he replied. "You can call me Dad."
"Yes, Dad." With that, he turned and started walking back to the kitchen. He didn't gesture for Xeno to follow suit, but he knew to anyway. As he passed Robin, he gave him a thumbs-up. He smiled back.
Work in the kitchen was gruelling, yet familiar, and it was nothing Xeno couldn't handle.
He dodged stares from his dad and Shane, and made pastries to the best of his ability.
He was a little rusty, but it was like riding a bike; you never really forget how to work the oven, or fold pastry, or coax a stubborn loaf out of a mould.
He was so engrossed in his work, in fact, that he almost didn't realise that you could cut the tension in the room with a knife.
Try as he might, however, he kept noticing the glances that Shane and his father were sharing.
The hushed whispers back-and-forth, the puzzled way that they'd glance at him when they thought he couldn't see.
Shane looked exactly like his father, he noted.
Same with Robin, he hadn't realised when they were younger; but they all had dark brown hair, brown eyes and somewhat stocky builds, though they weren't yet old enough to have filled them out.
The day went past surprisingly quickly, and he was only brought back to reality when Robin came into the kitchen and told them all it was time to stop-the bakery was closed.
Over the next few days, They settled into a routine.
They'd work together wordlessly in the kitchen during the day- though not without exchanging basic pleasantries.
During his lunch breaks, he'd hang out with Robin, while Shane stuck to whispering with his father.
He didn't blame him. He was old enough to remember the arguments they had, especially the big one when he was eighteen.
During one of those lunch breaks, Robin asked, "Xeno, it's totally okay if you don't want to tell me, but why did you get sacked from the museum? Dad told me you were doing really well."
He almost choked on his pastry- a misshapen strudel that hadn't quite made the cut to be sold. "He said I was doing well?" He replied through a mouthful.
"Yeah, he tells us a lot about you. I mean, he doesn't find out much, but he drops it into conversation whenever he sees, like, a Facebook post from the museum, or one of yours, when you used to post."
"Really?" It was hard for Xeno to believe. He didn't think his father had wanted anything to do with him.
"Of course, why do you think the baker position was still open? Shane's more than capable on his own. He kept it open for you." Suddenly, Robin realised what he was saying, and his hand flew to his mouth. "Don't tell Dad I said any of that."
"I won't." Xeno chuckled. "Don't worry, I have a friend who can't keep secrets.
" He felt guilt pang in his stomach. Jess's texts remained unopened in his phone.
Since he'd gotten sacked, he hadn't been able to face any of them.
He kept telling himself that when he got back on his feet, he'd reconnect with all of them. "Anyway, about why I got sacked?"
"Dad said you got framed?" He realised that must sound really cool to a thirteen-year-old. He played into it; he told Robin everything about working at the museum, even some secrets he probably shouldn't have. It wasn't like he was ever going to meet Jess, or Dr. Aruda, or Haiden, anyway.
It took him almost fifteen minutes to recount everything in sufficient detail.
He told him everything; the original prank war, Aruda's messy divorce, Dr. Carmazan's cryptic warning, Steve falling, Haiden and his discoveries -though he omitted their kiss- and Crossley`s confrontation.
When he got to the final day, the wound was still fresh, but he powered through it.
He told him about Ms. Pepper's office, and the lavender smell.
When he was done, he realised he felt a lot better for it.
"So anyway, that's pretty much it. What about you? How's year.. nine? Treating you?" A second pang of guilt came as he realised he couldn't remember exactly how old his own brother was.
"No way, you just totally skipped over everything. I didn't even have a chance to react!" Robin exclaimed, incredulous. "Tell me more; I think I could solve this mystery."
"Not until you tell me about your life. What's going on with you?" Xeno pressed. That mystery was a curse to anyone who looked into it, Carmazan was right.
"You know.. stuff?"
He sighed. He knew he hadn't always been the most sociable of teenagers, but trying to get any information out of Robin was like trying to get a pearl out of an especially stubborn oyster. He asked more specific questions.
"What did you pick for your GCSE options?" Year nine was around that time, right?
"History, triple science and business," he replied, his head resting on his fist.
"Those were my exact ones! Is Mrs. O'Brien still teaching history?"
"Don't remind me; I've got a test with her next week." He groaned. Suddenly, the gears clicked in Xeno's head. "Why aren't you guys at school?"
"It's October half term."
"Really?" He was amazed that time had gone by that quickly.
A little over two months had passed since that first office party.
It simultaneously felt very recent, and also like it had happened to him in another life.
He realised that once half term was up, it would likely just be him and his father in the bakery.
Hopefully, one of them would be on the till while the other would be in the kitchen.
At the same time, that also meant that the end of the museum's quarter was coming up. He could only pray that Ms. Pepper would look past what she thought he'd done and spare the Astronomy department. Although, with Dr. Aruda as one of the few people remaining, things were looking bleak.
"Xeno?"
He turned around, and locked eyes with Shane. Compared with Robin, Shane was far more reserved. This was one of the first times he'd directly addressed Xeno. "Yeah? Oh, is my lunch break over?"
"Dad has something he'd like to tell you." Shane looked away uncomfortably.
"Uh-oh." Xeno joked, turning back to Robin. "Let's hope this isn't my second sacking this week." But as he walked through the double doors into the kitchen, he realised that there was a very real possibility that it was. Perhaps he was throwing off the kitchen's atmosphere?
"Xeno.." his father began, before trailing off and looking away, lost in thought.
"This is ridiculous!" exclaimed Shane. Xeno jumped; it was the first time that he'd ever heard his brother raise his voice. "You can't just go around pretending that everything's fine, Dad," Shane continued. "You need to tell him."
"Tell me what?" He asked. He hated feeling confused; it reminded him of the incident last week.
"Xeno.. I'm sorry."
"What?" He replied, taken aback. It almost didn't sound right coming out of his father's mouth.
"I'm sorry. For everything. I.." He trailed off again, looking at Shane for help.
"What Dad's trying to say, Xeno, is that he feels terrible for kicking you out.
And for not supporting you, and for not reaching out, and.
. everything." He sighed. "That's what I've been trying to get him to say since you came back here.
We know Dad doesn't do well with apologies. " He added, with a slight smirk.
"That's right." His dad continued. "Since your mother left, I just wanted to hold on to you, make sure you were safe and everything.
That's why I wanted you to go into the bakery, or at least go to a university close, so that I could keep an eye on you.
I.." His lower lip began to shake. Xeno could tell that this was hard for him, but he was too dumbfounded to react.
"When you told me you were gonna go into astronomy, I realised that.
.. that I wouldn't be able to protect you anymore.
That I wouldn't be able to see you anymore.
And it scared me. I'm sorry, I just..." He turned away, but he could swear he saw him blinking a tear out of his eye.
He had only ever seen his dad cry on one other occasion, the day she'd left.
"I didn't want to get left again." His dad concluded.
"Dad, I'm so sorry." The words tumbled out of his mouth, ready to come out after being left unsaid for so long. I should have called or tried to talk to you, I just... I didn't think I could face you if I wasn't successful yet."
"And that.." Xeno's dad continued, looking at Shane again, who was gesturing for him to go on. It was clear they'd run through this at least a couple of times. "That doesn't excuse my actions, but I hope it helps to explain them. I'm sorry."
Neither Xeno nor his father had ever been the "hugging" type. But as years of pent-up resentment unravelled between them like a knot finally coming undone, they fell into each-other's embrace.
Things got easier from that point on. It wasn't perfect, and Xeno was still looking forward to when he could work in the astronomy field again, but despite the heat from the ovens, work in the bakery became comfortable.
Shane started to open up, and it turned out they'd had a lot to talk about- unlike Robin, Shane actually wanted to talk about his life.
"Can I be completely honest?" Shane asked him one shift, when his dad was out serving tables.
"Go on then?" Xeno asked, curious.
"I've been trying to get Dad to do that for a while. Like, before you came back, I mean. He won't tell you, but he's actually really impressed with you. You were the first one in our family to go to university, you know?"
"Did he tell you that?" he replied. Despite the apology, his father wasn't usually the type to put his feelings into so many words.
"No, I worked it out." Shane said. "When you live and work with someone, it's easy to figure out. I think so, at least."
"When did you get so.. emotionally intelligent?" Xeno asked, amazed. He hadn't realised how much difference six years could make - when he'd left, Shane had barely turned eleven.
"I'm not, really." He looked away, bashful at the compliment. "I just saw something that needed to be done, and I helped it to happen."
"You're like dad, in that regard. You know that, right? You look like him, too." Xeno replied. It was true; he could fault his father for a lot of things, but being lazy had never been one of them.
"Yeah," Shane replied. "I get that a lot."
Suddenly, he came through the doors. "Xeno, there's some people sitting down out there who were asking for you."
"Really?" He asked, confused. As he stepped out of the double doors, he froze. From across the room, he made eye contact with Jess, and behind her was..
"Haiden." he whispered.