Betrayal of the Fated Healer

Chapter

Kayla

“Come on, come on.” I wrap my hands tighter around the steering wheel. “Not today.” The car sputters again and then stops. I put my head back against the seat and take a deep breath.

“It’s okay, Kayla; we can just walk. It’s not far.”

I take one more deep breath and then face my younger brother through the rearview mirror.

“Yeah. You’re right. We can get our steps in at least, right?

” He nods, and I smile at him. “At least we made it to a parking lot this time.” I snag my backpack and throw it over my shoulders.

“Grab your bag.” Noah grabs his own backpack and puts it on.

“Let’s go.” He doesn’t complain as we walk the last mile or so to the café.

Then again, he never complains. Of course, he doesn’t really smile either.

“The sun feels good, doesn’t it?” He nods.

I breathe a sigh of relief when we reach the road that the café is on.

This road has a sidewalk, so it’s much easier and safer to traverse.

By the time we get to the café, what little makeup I was wearing is long gone, and I have a river of sweat running down my back under my shirt.

But at least we made it, and I’m not late...

yet. The bell above the door jingles when we step inside.

We’re hit with a blast of air from the air conditioning, and I take a few seconds to cool off.

“All right; grab a seat. I’ll grab you a cold water. ”

“Hey, Kayla,” Jessie calls out as she passes me.

“Good morning.”

Jessie drops off the orange juice she was carrying and walks back to me. “Your car not working again?”

“Yeah, but I’ll figure it out.”

She shakes her head. “Cars. You can’t live with them; you can’t live without them.”

“Isn’t that supposed to apply to men or something?” I ask.

She snorts. “I’m just on the first part—you can’t live with them.”

I grin at her and make my way to the back. After tying a floral apron around my waist, I grab a cup of ice water for Noah. He’s staring out the window when I make it to the small table he’s sitting at. “All right; grab your schoolwork.”

He’s quiet as he reaches into the bag beside him and pulls out his math workbook. I set the water in front of him and wait for him to turn to his math lesson for the day to see if he needs my help. “It’s just review today,” he finally says quietly.

“Sounds good. I’ll get to work then. Love you.” I run my hands over his head and mess up his hair, causing him to duck away from me. I leave him to his schooling and make my way to the back again where I clock in.

“Kayla,” Mama May calls out in her loud voice.

I make my way to the kitchen where my boss is standing with one of the cooks. “Your car die again?”

“Yes.” I keep my head held high. “It won’t interfere with my work here.”

She levels a look at me, and I hold her gaze. “See that it doesn’t.”

I know I’m dismissed, so I book it out of the kitchen and back out front. I pick up my black book and make sure I have several good pens. “Here.” I take in the ice water Jessie’s holding out to me.

“Thanks,” I say before I down the water. “I was more thirsty than I realized.”

“You good?” she asks with a concerned look.

“I’m fine.” Thankfully, she drops it; and we both get to work.

I smile and start my shift. Honestly, it’s not even a forced smile.

I love working here at Mama May’s. It’s the best café in town, not that there are many to compete with.

But there’s something special about this place, and it’s not just that everything is homemade.

It’s that, but it’s so much more. The café itself is large with floor to ceiling windows on all sides, exposed brick on the inside, and huge wooden beams that hang low from the ceiling.

“Hey, Phil,” I say as I walk past his table.

Phil, one of our regulars, holds his mug up for me.

I fill it hot, fresh brewed coffee. “How are you on this beautiful day?”

“About to be a whole lot better after I eat.”

“Your usual?”

He doesn’t even look at the menu. “Yep.”

“I’ll put it in.” I write down his order and take it to the kitchen before I grab an order for one of my other tables.

“Blueberry pancakes,” I call out with my arms full of breakfast plates.

“And Banana Custard French toast.” I pass out a few more plates.

“Anybody else need anything right now?” When no one responds, I leave them and head back to the kitchen to see if any of my other orders are ready.

I’m almost to the counter when a dark head of hair catches my attention.

I freeze mid-step and stare out the window.

My heart rate speeds up, and I will the man to look this way.

As if on cue, the man turns and walks towards the café.

The breath I’d been holding whooshes out of me.

It’s not him. I glance nonchalantly over my shoulder and make sure my brother is still where I left him.

I start towards the kitchen once again and focus on keeping my breathing even.

It wasn’t him, I remind myself. I get back to work, but my heart rate doesn’t slow for quite a while.

At lunch time, I put in an order for a cheeseburger and fries for my brother.

I get one free meal on break when I’m working, and I always order a cheeseburger for my burger-loving brother.

The kitchen is always kind to send out extra fries because they know I share with him.

More often than not, they send out an extra burger or salad or something else that was “made wrong.” I’m not stupid; I know they’re just helping me out.

I’m also not prideful enough to not accept the offering.

While I wait, I put in a call to the car repair shop right around the corner from my house.

“Hey, Billy, it’s Kayla.” It’s pretty sad that I’m on a first name basis with Billy from the garage, but that’s how it is when you drive a beater for a car.

“My car died; I’m going to need it towed. ”

“Where’d you leave it?” I give him the address. “We’ll get it today. Any idea what’s wrong with it?”

“Nope; it just died on me on my way to work.”

“Kay. We’ll get it.”

“Thank you.” I try not to think about how much it’s going to cost, but it’s hard not to think about it. It seems like every time I feel like Noah and I might be able to get on our feet, something else goes wrong.

“Hey, Kayla.”

I look up from my phone. “Hey, Beth.”

“How busy is it today?” she asks, nodding at the kitchen.

“About an eight.”

“Really? On a Monday?”

I shrug. “Yeah, apparently, nobody wants to cook today.”

“That’s because it’s a hundred degrees, and the humidity is insane.

” I don’t argue with her; she’s not wrong.

But it doesn’t bother me the way it bothers her.

I grew up in humidity; Virginia is always hot and muggy in the summer.

Oklahoma, I’m learning, isn’t a whole lot different.

She heads into the kitchen to get started for her shift, and I force my negative thoughts away and grab Noah’s burger.

“Hey,” I slide the plate across the table to him.

“Hungry?” He nods as I slide into the booth across the table from him.

Before he takes the first bite, he picks up the knife on the table and cuts the burger evenly before handing half to me.

I don’t bother arguing with him. This is our norm; he never eats the whole burger when we’re sharing.

He’s sweet like that, the sweetest little brother. “How’s your school going?”

“Fine.”

“Do you need help with anything?” I ask after dunking a fry in ketchup and munching on it.

“No.”

“Okay. Well, let me know if you do.” He nods, and that’s about it.

We eat mostly in silence, both of us inhaling our food.

As soon as I finish my burger, I slide the plate back towards him.

“Thanks. You need anything before I get back to work?” He shakes his head, and I slide out of the booth.

I take one more long sip of water. “Love you, Noah.” I ruffle his hair, and he ducks away.

“Flag me down if you need something,” I tell him and push down the guilt that eats at me.

Sitting at a booth in a café doing schoolwork all by himself is not the life any seven-year-old boy should have.

“Did you see him?” Noah’s quiet voice stops me in my tracks.

“What?”

His solemn eyes meet mine. “Did you see Uncle Ben?”

“What? No.”

“I saw you staring out the window. Did you see him?” he asks again.

This time, I put my hand on his arm. “No, Noah.” I make sure to make eye contact with him. “It wasn’t him; it was just some guy.” He doesn’t respond in any way, and his lack of response tugs at my chest. “Noah,” I start.

“Kayla, your break’s up,” Mama May says as she bustles past me.

Defeat washes over me, but I push it aside. “I’ve got to get back to work. I'll keep an eye on you.”

“I’m fine,” he mutters behind me. I take a steadying breath and head back into the kitchen.

“You good?” Jessie asks as she walks past me with a large tray.

“Yep.” I grab the extra plate she couldn’t fit on her tray. “I’ll follow you out.”

“Thanks, Girl.”

I don’t get a chance to think any longer about the unfairness of Noah’s life because we get slammed just after that.

I end up working almost an hour past my shift until things calm down somewhat.

“Take off, Kayla,” Butch, Mama May’s right-hand man and chef, calls out.

“We’re good now. Here,” he hands me a white box.

“Thanks for staying late.” Butch looks more like a dangerous biker than a chef with his bulky body and tattoos, but he’s a teddy bear underneath all that.

“You’re welcome.” I catch a whiff of what’s in the box and groan. “Your famous fried chicken? What did I do to deserve that?”

He winks at me and then turns to one of the guys beside him. “Are you going to get that bun dressed, or are you taking a nap?”

I leave my apron in the back and make my way out to the front of the café.

It’s not super busy right now, but that will change in the next hour when the dinner crowd hits.

“Ready?” I ask Noah when I get to his table.

He packs his book in his bag and slides out.

I’m almost to the front door when I remember my car problem.

I step to the side and pull up the Uber app and request a ride and resist the urge to sigh at the twenty-minute wait.

I glance down at Noah. “It’s going to be about twenty minutes. ”

“Okay.”

“Let’s wait outside,” I suggest and open the front door.

It’s definitely hot and humid, but I really don’t want to wait inside and broadcast to the entire staff that my car is dead...

again. But when the skies open up a few minutes later, we end up back inside anyway.

I look back at the app and resist the urge to groan when I see our driver canceled.

“Kayla, Noah,” Jessie says, making her way over to us. “Come on; I’ll take you home.”

“It’s okay; I have an Uber coming.”

“Cancel it; I’m taking you.”

I don’t bother arguing; it beats waiting on another driver. She holds the door, and Noah and I walk out into the parking lot and follow Jessie to her car. “Thank you,” I tell her as soon as we’re all inside.

“Of course. It’s really not a big deal; it’s practically on my way home.”

“It’s not even close,” I tell her, but she just waves off my concern. “You’d do the same for me.” I would; but I doubt I’ll ever get a chance to with how unreliable my car is.

She pulls out of the parking lot onto the main road.

As she does, I look out my window and notice two guys walking towards the café.

I’m not sure what it is about them, but I watch them all the way to the door.

Only when I can no longer see them do I turn back to the front.

I wonder absently who they are, but they’re gone from my mind seconds later when Jessie asks me about my car.