Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
Besides Kai tapping along to the loud music, the car ride to Morton’s Cafe was mostly quiet. Kai parked out the front, and I leaped out before the music stopped.
When I get inside, Laura greets me at the counter with the office laptop. “Are you ready?” she asks.
Dumping my heavy bag and removing my soaked blazer, I wince. “Barely.”
“Geez, it’s really coming down out there, huh?” Laura remarks.
I move into the office with my school stuff. “Yep. I’ll change into my work gear.”
I find a dish towel in a stack on a shelf, and use it to wipe my face and hair.
After I change, I consider taking towels to the boys and Tabitha.
I twist the towel in my hands. I’d rather just give one to Milo and let the other two suffer in wet clothes.
Although, they did run. Maybe they didn’t get as soaked as us.
After getting changed, I move back to the counter and open up the chat screen.
“I can’t wait to see Aunt Maddy,” I say with a huff.
Laura pats my back as she passes with a tray of cappuccinos. “You’ll do fine. Maddy already worked everything out before she left.” She gestures at the screen. “And she’ll be right here with you.”
“How about you do the presentation and I wait tables?” I suggest hastily.
Laura sniggers. “Fat chance.”
I smirk as she walks away. My eyes drift to the long table Laura set up while I was at school.
It’s set for ten people. Apparently the society group wants to conduct their entire meeting here after the menu tasting.
I guess it’s good. Even if they don’t approve of us as caterers, they’ll buy some coffees and sweets during their meeting.
Kai and Tabitha have grabbed a booth on the left. Milo reluctantly sits with them, craning his neck to gain my attention. Before I can say anything, Laura is at the booth to take their orders.
I can’t worry about them right now. With a deep breath in, I click on Maddy’s contact name in the chat screen.
My elbow rests on the counter, and my cheek sits in my palm.
The calling icon spins around and around.
Odd. This is taking much longer than I’d expect her to answer.
Honestly, I thought she’d already be on the screen when I walked into the cafe.
My hands plant on the counter, and I stand tall, stretching my back. I bounce on the balls of my feet, unable to contain my excitement at seeing Aunt Maddy’s face. I’ve never missed her more than this exact moment. Too bad it’s a public setting so I can’t gush to her about my secret time with Milo.
After a few moments, the connection fails. What the heck? I check the Wi-Fi and dial again. The connection fails again. “Dang it!”
“Everything okay, Jamie?” Jake calls, popping his head out the food pass.
“Just this stupid computer,” I complain. “It keeps disconnecting before Maddy can answer.”
“It was giving me trouble while I was doing the meat and dairy orders,” Jake says. “It’s this crummy weather playing havoc with the Wi-Fi.”
I groan. “Ugh. I don’t need this right now.”
Before I go ballistic, I turn away from the laptop and look around at the tables. My gaze moves to the door, and through the glass, I spot the unmistakable silhouette of Christie Klein.
“Hi Jamie,” Christie says, entering the cafe with an older woman. They dump their umbrellas in a bucket by the door. “The rain is a total bummer. This is my mom, Mary Klein.”
I meet them halfway and shake her mother’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Klein.”
“You too, dear,” she replies. “Christie has raved non-stop about the milkshakes here. Honestly, I don’t think you need to give a presentation. I think you’ve already been sold on word of mouth.”
“Oh my gosh, really?” I gush. “My aunt would die if she heard that.”
Mrs. Klein looks over at the counter. “I heard she’ll join us via video link?”
“Yep. She wouldn’t miss it.”
“But she’ll skip time on her vacation for a business meeting,” Christie teases. “Talk about a workaholic.”
“I’m very jealous,” Mrs. Klein says. “I’ve never been to Hawaii.”
“Maybe you can come by when she’s back and she can show you pictures,” I suggest.
Mrs. Klein nods happily. “I’d love that.”
More well-dressed women and their daughters enter Morton’s Cafe. It’s easy to tell they’re part of the event committee by how they stand and talk amongst each other.
“Jamie, this is Mrs. Fisher,” Mrs. Klein introduces. “She’s chair of our committee.”
I gulp as I take the striking woman’s hand. One of her daughters is Christie’s friend Meghan. A girl I remember taking part in many nasty pranks while she attended Ashworth Academy.
“Pleasure,” Mrs. Fisher says. “This is quite a cute little establishment.”
“Thank you, ma’am. Umm, are your daughters here?”
Mrs. Fisher hums a laugh. “Oh gosh, no. This is just a simple garden party. We don’t need many numbers to get this done.”
“Okay then.” My knees knock together as these wealthy women give me the once over. “Umm. I’ll get the video chat ready on the laptop.”
I hurry toward the counter and wake the idle laptop. Christie follows, a wary look on her face.
“You look frazzled,” Christie says, standing by me at the counter. “I recognize it because it’s how these women make me feel too.”
“Do you know the women here?” I ask, looking around at them chatting amongst themselves. “Tell me it gets easier to be around them.”
“Yeah, I know them from other events. I guess, once I got a handle on Mrs. Fisher, the rest were a piece of cake.” Christie fidgets as she gestures at a blonde girl and her mother.
“Except, I don’t know these two. They were at the last meeting, but I didn’t have a chance to speak with them.
As you’ve already experienced, I’m not the best at meeting new people. ”
I watch the mother and daughter. “Are they new to town?”
“Not exactly. They live in Logan’s Point. Mrs. Garcia recently married a man from Victoria Falls. He encouraged them to join the events committee.”
“Garcia?” I question, looking at the Caucasian pair.
Christie snaps her fingers, squinting as she recalls information. “Yeah. Mr. Garcia’s daughter goes to our school. That horribly angry girl. Cammy, I think her name is?”
My jaw drops. “Camila? They’re related to Camila Garcia?”
I exhale rapidly, turning to the front door and spying out the windows, dreading the moment ragey Camila enters my cafe.
Christie leans in and whispers behind a cupped hand. “I don’t think they’re on good terms. Camila and her mother used to attend these meetings. Since her parents divorced and Mr. Garcia remarried, they haven’t been in attendance.”
My jitters ease. “Whoa. Like he replaced them?”
Christie leans back with her hands raised. “I don’t know. It’s just what I’ve observed.”
Tabitha leaves the booth and joins the rest of the ladies. The woman she stands next to is very clearly her mother. She’s two decades older, but her beauty shines through as much as Tabitha’s does.
I clear my throat and click on Maddy’s name in the chat screen. “Guess we’d better get this meeting started.”
After another failed attempt, I cross my fingers harder and call again. Relief floods my body as Aunt Maddy fills the screen. Her ponytail is a mess, concern is etched across her face, and her hotel room is her background.
“Finally,” she cheers. “Gosh, baby, it’s so good to see your face.”
“You too,” I reply. “The connection kept failing.”
“On my end too,” she replies and the picture glitches. “I’ve been trying to call since school finished. I wanted to ensure something like this didn’t happen.” Her head darts around. “Dang it. They’re already here?”
I wince. “Aunt Maddy, you keep glitching. Oh man, it’s the weather. We’re not getting a good signal.”
“I’ve never had such bad signals until I moved to the mountains,” Christie pipes up. She moves in front of the screen. “Hi again, Maddy.”
“Oh, Christie,” Maddy says excitedly through the glitching. “Good to see you. Thank you again for setting all of this up.”
Christie bats a hand. “Easy to do when it was so delicious.”
“Everything okay?” Mrs. Fisher asks.
I turn around, allowing Maddy to glimpse the striking woman. I want to make an introduction, but my mouth opens with no sound escaping. Mrs. Fisher’s hawk-like stare shreds any confidence I was grasping onto.
She views the laptop. “You must be Madeleine West.”
“Just Maddy is fine,” Aunt Maddy replies. “So lovely to meet you. Apologies for not being there in person.”
Mrs. Fisher grimaces. “The sound and picture is terrible.”
I try to respond, but I’m mute again. Christie leaps in with, “It’s the weather. It’s making the Wi-Fi signal weak.”
Laura makes her way around the group of ladies and motions to the table. “You’re all welcome to take a seat here. We’ll bring out the food shortly.”
The mothers and daughters take their seats, leaving the head of the table to Mrs. Fisher. The other end is supposedly for me, but right now, I’d rather run naked out in the rain.
Laura gives me a nod. I shake out my hands and turn back to the laptop. A glitching Maddy stares back at me.
“Baby, you’ve got this,” she says in a broken tone as her image blurs on the screen. “We talked about this so much. You know our menu like you know your soccer plays.”
Trying not to appear petrified, I nod at Aunt Maddy, scooping up the laptop. I place it down at the end of the table and step back, ready for Maddy to lead the meeting.
“Mom, this is Jamie,” Tabitha says, elbowing her mother. “You know, Kai’s friend.”
Mrs. Jones nods at me. “Oh hello. Nice to meet you.”
I fake a smile. “You too.”
“You know, I heard the nicest reviews about the Henderson function you catered,” Mrs. Jones says. “I’m very excited to try this food.”
“Oh, really?” I turn to the laptop. “Maddy, did you hear that?”
An empty chat screen mocks me.
“No,” I whine, tapping the keys hard. I call her again and announce to the group that I’ll bring the food while I wait for Maddy to reconnect.