Chapter 7
Kayla
I stare at the closed door a moment as those words continue to ring in my ears.
I have no idea who your uncle is or where he lives.
If I did, he’d no longer be breathing. Neither will the person be that did that to your arm when I find out who did it.
Then there was the way he said my name. Stay safe, Kayla.
“That guy was a nut job.”
Cole’s voice pulls me from my thoughts, and I spin around.
I see Mama May’s stern gaze over his shoulder, and I blow out a breath.
I don’t say anything in response to Cole’s statement; I don’t really know what to say.
I’m still unnerved by the entire thing. “I’ve got to get back to work,” I manage to say.
“Thanks, Cole.” I’m hoping he’ll get the hint and leave.
I really don’t want to talk about it, and I really do need to get back to work.
I face Noah. “Come on, let’s get you settled.
” He walks with me back to the table. “I’ll put your order in, okay?
” He nods, and I pause. “Thanks, Noah, for coming to check on me.” He gives me a solemn nod, but I don’t miss the look in his eyes.
“They’re not here for Uncle Ben,” I tell him softly.
“Do you believe them?”
I nod. “I do.”
“How do you know?” he asks in a quiet voice.
“I just...do.” I ruffle his hair. “I really need to get back to work.” I frown down at his hair.
“You need a haircut.” He ducks away from me.
“Tomorrow,” I tell him. “We’ll cut it tomorrow.
” I retie my apron. “I’ll bring your burger out as soon as you’re ready.
” I’m reluctant to leave him, but if I want to keep my job, I need to keep moving.
I head towards the kitchen, and Jessie sees me coming.
“You good?”
“Yeah.” I work on picking up the plates for one of my tables.
“So do you know those guys?”
I shake my head. “No.”
She leans close. “They were hot.”
I huff out a laugh. “Of course that’s what you would notice.”
She grins. “I’m not blind. They were packing some serious muscle. The dark-haired one? Mmmm.”
“The redhead was more muscular.” I regret the words as soon as they leave my mouth and pray that she didn’t hear me.
I have no idea what’s wrong with me; I’ve never been into red-haired guys before.
Of course, I haven’t really been into a lot of guys at all.
When you’re focused on survival, you don’t really have time to date around.
“Kayla,” she says in a shocked voice. “You noticed a man?”
I roll my eyes. “I notice men all the time.”
“I’ve never heard you say anything about any man. Ever. And we’ve worked together for nearly two months.”
I pick up my tray. “Gotta go deliver this.”
“I’m not forgetting this conversation,” she calls out after me.
“I am,” I whisper shout back. Her laugh follows me to the table where I deliver my tray of food.
I do my best to put everything behind me, but I’m having a hard time.
My shift seems to drag, even though we’re busy.
I get Noah’s burger to him but don’t take time to eat with him.
I wouldn’t be able to anyway; my stomach is too sick.
When we get near the end of my shift, Butch catches me. “You good?”
“Yeah, Butch. Thanks.” He waves over Jessie. “Sam’s sick and not coming in. Either of you want the extra hours?”
I do. I need the money desperately, but I think of poor Noah and don’t know that I can’t ask him to stay several more hours. “You want them?” I ask Jessie.
“I’ll take them if you don’t want them.”
“Take them; I don’t want to keep Noah here for longer,” I tell her.
“Oh, what about a ride?” she asks.
I wave off her concern. “I’ll get an Uber; I need to check on my car anyway.”
“Are you sure?” she asks in concern.
“It’s totally fine. Seriously.”
“Okay.”
Butch turns to me. “You can take off then.”
“Thanks, Butch.”
Jessie’s already at a table when I come back out, and I make my way over to where Noah’s sitting and slide in next to him.
“Hey, we’re going to catch an Uber. Jessie's going to work some extra hours.” He nods and looks back down at his book again.
Guilt churns in my gut, but I choose not to think about it.
“Here,” Butch says, sliding a white box to me.
“Butch,” I start. He walks away without another word.
“Thank you,” I call out after him. I glance at my phone.
“He’s here. Let’s go. I had him park out back.
” Noah follows me through the kitchen and out the back.
I call out my goodbyes to the staff as we leave.
A few minutes later, we’re on our way. Noah looks up at me.
“You told Jessie we were going to the auto shop to check on the car.”
“You heard that?” I smile. “I told her I need to check on my car, and I do. But we’re not going there. I’ll call and check on it sometime soon.” He gives me a look. “What? I wasn’t lying...exactly.” He continues to stare at me. “Fine. I lied, kind of. I didn’t want her to worry about us.”
He looks away, seemingly satisfied; and I stare out the window.
It doesn’t take long for us to get to the address I gave the driver.
“Ready?” I ask Noah. We climb out and double check that we have our belongings.
“Thank you,” I call out to our driver and close the door.
We start the walk home. “How was your schoolwork today? Any questions or problems?”
“No.”
And that’s that, but I don’t mind. My mind is busy anyway.
Thankfully, nobody bothers us on our way across the parking lot and up the two flights of stairs to our apartment.
I close and lock the door behind us and drop wearily into one of the two chairs at our small table.
“You hungry?” He drops off his bag and comes to join me at the table.
I open the white box and groan. “BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans.” Without me asking him to, Noah grabs two forks.
“Thanks, Bud.” We eat in silence, enjoying the yummy food.
Somebody starts up their music somewhere in our building, and the walls seem to vibrate with the bass.
But we ignore it; we’re used to it by now.
When we eat every last bite, I push the box away. “Want to watch a movie tonight?”
Noah’s eyes brighten. “Really?”
That guilt that’s been dogging me lately rears its ugly head. “Really.”
The weekend passes too quickly. I’m off on Saturday, and the café is closed on Sundays.
I spend the weekend doing laundry, cleaning, getting a few groceries, and then searching for another place to live.
There’s no way I can afford an extra three hundred a month for this apartment; it’s insane.
I put in a few calls to a couple of different apartments, but I only hear back from one so far.
They have no available apartments currently, but they said they’d put me on the waiting list.
Monday morning comes fast. “Ready, Noah?”
He finishes his last bite of toast, drops the plate in the sink and grabs his bag. We’re out the door a minute later. “I’m going to call the shop after work today to check on the car.”
“Okay.”
Jessie’s waiting for us when we get there, and I absently hope she didn’t see where we came from. “Were you waiting long?” I ask as soon as I’m inside.
“No, no. I just got here. How was your weekend?” she asks as she drives.
I sit back against the seat. “Good. How was yours?”
“Weeeelllll, I met this guy.”
I turn towards her. “Yeah? Tell me about him.”
“Oh, Kayla, he is just the sweetest guy you’ll ever meet. He was polite; he opened the door for me and didn’t order for me.”
I frown. “Do guys do that on dates?”
She sighs in exasperation. “They do. It is so annoying. Anyway, Mark didn’t.”
“Mark,” I repeat, committing it to memory. “So, are you guys going to go on another date?”
“I hope so. I invited him to check out the café this week.” She holds up her hand with fingers crossed. “Here’s to hoping.”
“He’ll come,” I tell her confidently.
“You think? How can you be so sure?”
“Because you’re amazing. Any guy would be lucky to date you.”
“Aw, Kayla, thank you.”
I smile at her. “I’m just telling you the truth.”
She parks, and I climb out and wait for Noah.
I’m just about to start towards the door when I get a feeling.
A chill spreads down my back, and I turn around, searching.
I don’t even know what for. A moment later, something or somebody moves near the furthest end of the parking lot.
It’s just a little bit of movement over by the trees.
I stare in that direction, trying to get a feel for what’s over there.
And then, a person steps fully into view.
I suck in a breath; it’s the redhead guy from the other day.
Even from this far away I can tell he’s looking my direction.
He doesn’t move after that, and I don’t either.
After a moment, I turn around and follow Jessie and Noah to the café.
When I get to the door, I turn back. He’s still standing, right where I saw him last. I step inside and let the door close behind me.
The sounds of the late morning crowd reach my ears, and I soak it in.
The smell of coffee and grease hit my nose, and I feel my shoulders relax.
I love working here. “Where are you sitting today, Kiddo?” Noah walks over to a table that’s sitting in the sun.
“Perfect spot. All right. You get to work; I’ll check on you in a little bit.
” I head to the back to get an apron and get started for the day.
“Kayla,” Butch calls out as I pass. I stop and turn towards him. “They won’t be back; I banned them.” I don’t have to ask who he’s talking about.
“You banned them?” I ask in surprise.
“This is my café, and I don’t want troublemakers here,” Mama May says joining our conversation.
As owner of the café, it’s totally in her right.
But I still feel something; I’m not even really sure what it is.
I think about it as I get started. It’s guilt; shocker.
But I feel like it’s my fault somehow that they can’t eat here.
Maybe if I had just let things go and not even approached them, things would have worked out better.
I still have no idea who they are, but my uncle hasn’t shown up.
So I’m betting they were telling the truth when they said they didn’t have anything to do with him.
“Thank you,” I manage to get out since they’re both still looking at me expectantly.
But I really don’t want to get in a conversation about them again, so I grab my black book.
“I’m going out.” I clock in and walk over to my first table and push everything from my mind except serving well.
“Good morning, what can I get for you to drink this morning?”
The day drags a little, but that’s kind of common for a Monday. Thankfully, my shift finally ends. I stop next to Noah’s table. “I’m going to step outside and call the shop and ask about the car. I’ll be right back.”