Chapter 4
After the police came and Camilla and Abel gave their statements, Camilla found herself sitting at one of the restaurant tables, struggling to hold back her tears and beginning to sob. Camilla had never experienced anything so horrific and never thought being robbed would ever happen to her, although her father always said running a business could be dangerous. He had repeatedly taught her to give the robbers the money and do the best she could to protect the employees and customers. That”s what she had done, yet she still felt like things couldn”t have gone worse.
It was why she convinced the robber to let everyone leave and to put up the Closed sign. She figured that if the robber only had to deal with her, it might”ve made him less nervous. She never dreamed that Abel would come walking back in when he did. As the police investigated and took their statements, she had an eye on Abel, standing in the corner, still in his dark shirt and brown pants, talking calmly to the police about what happened. Who would have thought that he”d be her conquering hero?
When the cops were finally gone, and they were alone, she locked the doors with shaky hands and sat down at the nearest table, fighting back her tears. Abel walked over to her and knelt next to her. ”Are you okay?”
She nodded, taking a deep, labored, and shaky breath while exhaling, saying, ”I”m okay.” ”Really. I”m just….” She looked at him, his puppy dog eyes looking back at her with genuine concern. ”Thank you so much. I don”t know what I would have done if you hadn”t shown up.”
Abel smiled, took some napkins off the table, and handed them to her. She felt a hot salty tear escape her eyes as she wiped them away with the napkin. ”Sorry, I guess I”m just a little overwhelmed.”
”You just got held up by gunpoint,” he said. ”You shouldn”t be upset for crying about that.”
She nodded, and the sobs started to melt away. ”Thank you. Again.”
He sighed, then sat down in the chair across from her. ”Listen,” he said, ”I came back to apologize for walking out earlier. I was out of line. I should not have popped off as I did.”
Camilla looked at him and scoffed. Then, she wiped off the salty streaks on her face and said, ”You just have to learn to communicate in this type of work, and we will all get along.”
She watched as Abel”s jaw clenched. He was holding back a sarcastic remark. ”Okay,” he said. ”Anyway, we both know I need this job, and from the looks of it, you need somebody to scare off the unwanted guest from around here, especially if you”re going to be here by yourself at night.”
”I wasn”t….” She stopped herself, realizing she would have to explain the whole story of trying to keep her employees safe, and she was just too mentally tired to argue. ”You know, if this is supposed to be an apology, you need to work on your delivery.”
He smirked at her, ”Is that a yes, please come back” or a ”no way, don”t ever come back”?” As happy as she was to have someone around to keep them safe, she would not let Abel know it.
She rolled her eyes at him. ”Fine, you”re rehired. But you must communicate with me and cannot ignore me; we have to work together, Deal?”
He shrugged. ”Whatever you say, boss.”
Abel stuck around long enough for her to lock up. After he was gone, she debated the decision to take him back. He was a smart aleck with a defiant streak. He seemed to like to argue. He was just the guy who was nothing but trouble as an employee.
But, he was a guy who needed a second chance and far be it from her to stand in the way of that. Camilla”s father believed strongly in helping others and lending a helping hand to those less fortunate. She felt her father would expect her to help Abel. It was her duty as a human being to help others. That is what he would say.
Plus, as much as she hated to admit it, Abel was right about one thing. Having him around might keep her and her restaurant just a little safer. The robber could have taken the restaurant”s money and run off. He could have easily taken her life had it not been for Abel.
She contemplated the thoughts over and over in her mind as she walked to her car. Rafael said that Abel was just a kid when he went in – sixteen. Who knows what Abel would have been if his life had not been interrupted? No, she thought as she got in her car and started the drive home. Even though working with him would be a struggle, she”d done the right thing, rehiring him.
Abel returned to work the next day, and from that point on, Camilla would have liked to say that everything was different, but it wasn”t. Abel still argued with her over just about everything. The sauce, the cheese, the pizza cutters, everything. The only difference now was the way he decided to respond.
One day, she caught him cutting the pizza wrong. She”d taught him to use the pizza cutter to cut the bottom of the round pizzas to the top, right to left, then diagonally. She walked in and caught him starting the slicing from top to bottom.
”Stop,” she said with a huff. She walked into the kitchen and snatched the cutter from Abel, slicing the pizza from bottom to top and walking around the box to do the rest of the cutting. When Camilla finished, she closed the box and put it in the window. ”how many times do I have to tell you.”
She handed him the cutter, and he gave her a crooked smile. ”Sure,” he said.
Camilla”s stomach did a tiny, involuntary flip when he smiled at her. She crossed her arms to chase it away. ”Okay, show me, then.”
He was still smiling as he got a new box, set it up on the counter, then got the next pizza out of the oven and put it in the box. He cut into the crust from the bottom, looked up at Camilla, and sliced the pizza.
”Thank you,” she said. ”That”s not so hard, is it?”
”Not at all, boss,” he said. Then, instead of walking around the counter as she had, he turned the box until the cut was lengthwise across the cheese and sauce, cutting from the bottom again. Then turned it until the new cuts formed an ”x” and cut it from the bottom one more time. ”Pretty simple. Thanks.”
She felt flustered as he closed the box and walked it over to the window. He smiled at her, and she could not help but notice his handsome face as he went back to making pizzas.
She found herself distracted by his presence. That day was the day that she usually spent most of the time in her office, balancing the books for the month. She tried to focus on the numbers, but her mind kept returning to the robbery. What happened? Why did he pick my restaurant?
She wondered if her mind was playing tricks on her. The thoughts buzzed in her mind. Did Abel have anything to do with the robbery? Why did he happen to show up when he did? Could this have been a planned conspiracy set up by Abel? After all, he was a felon. When she noticed him in the restaurant, away from his post in the kitchen, she”d come out to the front to give one of the cashiers change when she saw him and instantly saw red. Would it kill him to stay at his station? Should I trust him? Who is this guy? He looks familiar. Thoughts ran through Camilla”s mind like a computer.
She headed over to talk to Abel and just asked him when she noticed he was talking to one of the regulars – an older woman she only knew as Mrs. Margaret. Mrs. Margaret used a walker, but she usually didn”t need much assistance getting around the restaurant. Still, she usually asked Camilla for her help whenever possible.
Mrs. Margaret was preoccupied with Abel, talking to him as she slowly moved to the front door. Abel was holding a pizza in a box for her and following, keeping a casual pace with her as she moved. Finally, when she got to the door, he opened it and stood aside as she walked through. Then he carried the pizza to her car and helped her inside.
Camilla watched the entire exchange in silent amazement and a mix of emotions. He most certainly didn”t have to do that. Most of the time, someone came and found her to help if Mrs. Margaret needed it. It never occurred to anyone to step up and help. Immediately, Camilla started to wonder if someone had just asked Abel to do it instead of coming to get her. That had to be it.
She turned to Steve, one of her cashiers, and asked, ”Did you ask him to do that?”
Steve looked up at her with a blank look on his face. ”I”m sorry?”
”Did you ask Abel to leave his post and help Mrs. Margaret?”
”No, he didn”t.” Abel was at the front desk, his eyes looking from Steve to Camilla humorlessly. ”I happened to see her and thought she might need help. That is okay, right?”
Camilla stiffened as he looked back at her with that same crooked smirk. She noticed he had taken off his t-shirt and was now standing there in a sleeveless white t-shirt, his bare and muscular arms on display. She noted the tattoo on his bicep – a cartoon of Woodstock, the little yellow bird from the old peanuts cartoon.
”No,” she said, ”It”s fine, just…let someone know next time.”
”Of course.”
”And put on a shirt, for crying out loud.”
He shrugged. ”Sorry. It gets hot back there.”
She said something under her breath, and the front doorbell rang. She looked to see a woman walk in with a small boy on her hip, a large purse hanging from the opposite shoulder, and big brown eyes scanning the restaurant. It took Camilla a few seconds to register them before she realized who they were. She moved past Abel quickly.
”Lulu,” she said as she confronted the woman. ”What are you doing here?”
”Hi, mommy!” the little boy said, waving his tiny hand at her. Camilla took him from Lulu, kissing him on the forehead.
”Hello, Charlie,” she said brightly, then looked at Lulu with worried eyes. ”What”s going on? Is everything okay?”
”Everything”s fine,” said Lulu. ”The school called me because they couldn”t reach you.”
Camilla frowned, looking over Charlie for a moment. He did not look sick or hurt. ”Did something happen?”
Lulu put her hands on her hips and shook her head. ”Girl, it is after three o”clock. You forgot to pick him up.”
The realization hit her like ice water. She closed her eyes and palmed her forehead ashamedly. ”Oh, my God…I completely forgot. I was busy training my new employee.”
”New employee…?” Lulu glanced over her shoulder and spotted Abel still standing at the counter. She looked back at her, her eyes widening a little. ”Is that him?”
Camilla flashed a warning at her silently. ”Yes, and he”s off limits. Trust me, okay?”
”Mommy, can I have some pizza?” asked Charlie.
”Sure, honey, go over and ask Steve at the counter to get you a slice.”
She put Charlie down, and he walked straight to the counter. When Camilla turned back to Lulu, Lulu still had her eyes on Abel.
”Girl, he is fine. Where did you find him?” Then, desperate to get Lulu on her way, ”he is just a friend, or shall I say just an employee, nothing less, nothing more.”
”A friend, huh? Not that one creep that”s always hanging around?”
Camilla frowned, unsure of whom she meant. ”What? No, that”s Rafael”s brother.”
”Like I said.” Lulu”s lustful look changed suddenly to disappointment. Camilla gave her a look of disapproval, but Lulu ignored it, saying, ”Listen, I”m having a few friends over on Saturday. So maybe you can stop through. Let your hair down a little.”
Her eyes went to Camilla”s bun as she said it, and Camilla chuckled. ”Saturday”s our busiest night. You know I can”t do it.”
Lulu shrugged. ”Thought I”d ask.” Her eyes drifted back over Camilla”s shoulder. ”Well, look at that.”
Camilla turned to see Abel kneeling and talking to Charlie. Charlie was smiling and nodding, clearly enjoying the conversation with Abel. Camilla watched for a second, surprised at the effortless way Abel was connecting with her son.
”Looks like Rafael”s brother”s good with kids,” said Lulu.
”Yeah,” she mused. ”I”d better go break it up. Call me later?”
”Sure.”
Camilla walked over just in time to hear Charlie laughing and saying, ”Everybody knows that Bluey is a girl.”
”I didn”t know that, though,” Abel responded. ”Somebody had to tell me. I thought the whole time Bluey was a little boy.”
Charlie laughed. ”Well, they say it is in the show! Blue is a girl, even if she is blue. She”s still a girl.”
”Shouldn”t you be working?” she asked Abel. Abel looked up at her briefly, then back down to Charlie. He put his hand out to him.
”Nice to meet you, Charlie.”
Charlie giggled and shook his hand, his tiny hand disappearing in Abel”s large, rough palm. ”Nice to meet you, Abel-y.”
Abel stood up and ruffled the boy”s hair. ”Nice kid you got,” he said to Camilla.
”I”m aware.” Her eyes flitted down to his tight shirtless chest. ”Shirt, please?”
”Yes, ma”am.”
Camilla watched him walk away, feeling annoyed and conflicted by Abel and the different side of him that she had just witnessed.
”Mommy, I like Abel-y,” blurted Charlie. Camilla smiled at him gently.
”I can see that,” she said as Steve appeared with a slice of pizza on a plate. She took Charlie by the hand and walked him to one of the empty tables. ”Let”s have lunch, okay?”