Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
MELINDA
I’m pretty sure I could cut the tension in the room with a knife right now.
The car ride and the dinner it were all done in strained silence.
Every time Alex tried to make small talk to my mother, she gave him one-word answers.
I couldn’t quite figure out why she was only giving one-word answers.
It could be because she was tired from being at the hospital and didn’t get a good sleep.
I was surprised Roman hadn’t burst his way around. I hadn’t seen him since our last bust up whether he was keeping a wide berth or running off. I hoped I would never see him again. I really hope it was the latter of those two options.
“Thanks for dinner, Mel. I’m going to bed. If Ro—”
“No,” I cut her off.
I did not want that name or the drama uttered near Alex. I didn’t want to have to explain all the backstory and why I was so angry. It would lead to me having to talk about the crippling debt, and the last thing I needed was his pity. That was why I didn’t want to tell people.
“You need to go to bed and rest.” I shot her a warning look.
She nodded, heading upstairs.
I looked at Alex.
He sloped back into his chair with a sigh, looking a little defeated. “Your mum hates me, Ella.”
I didn’t really know what to say to that. I had a feeling she did, but I really didn’t want to confirm his thoughts. I reached over patting his arm. “She could just be really tired from the hospital.”
“Don’t fib.” Alex chuckled, shaking his head.
He stood up and began to clear the plates from the table and headed towards the sink. “You don’t have to wash up.”
“You cooked. I can handle some washing up,” he said as he began to run the water in the sink.
I walked over to the counter and lifted myself up to sit next to the draining board on the sink. I watched as he began to clean, and I couldn’t help but smile. He looked like he had never picked up a sponge before.
“Alex, have you ever washed pots before?”
“That obvious, huh?”
I shook my head in disbelief. “How have you never washed pots before? How is that even possible?”
His cheeks were tinted red.
Was he embarrassed?
“Erm—”
“How rich are you?” I interrupted. “You have a driver and a personal assistant, but something tells me you may also have staff in your house that cook and maids that clean?”
He looked at me sheepishly and stepped in between my legs. “My family is important and as such, we have expectations that we have to follow,” he admitted. “The simple things are one of the things that we aren’t allowed to do sometimes.”
I looked at him confused, “I don’t understand. How could your family be raising you to go into a world where you need basic skills to survive?”
Alex stayed quiet. I could see the wheels inside of his head turning, but I couldn’t quite figure out what he was thinking.
“We won’t be needing basic skills.”
What was his job?
What did his family do?
Has he already told me?
“Alex, what does your family do?”
He stepped away from in between my legs going back to attempting to wash the pots.
Had I hit a sore spot and not even know?
Did he still talk to his parents?
Were they toxic?
I had so many questions. I didn’t know whether to press him on the issue. What if this pushed him further away? Why didn’t I have a better memory?
“Ella, just give me a little bit of time, okay?” Alex asked softly. “I promise I’ll tell you, but I need to enjoy this time we have.”
I nodded.
My mind was spiralling.
Maybe I should google him.
What did he say his last name was? I felt like it was Dory. I picked up my phone, scrolling through my social media apps. Who was I kidding? I was on one app and that app was TikTok. It must have been made of some kind of chemical because it was very addictive.
“You should send me your username, so I can follow you,” Alex said.
I looked at him, puzzled. “I thought you didn’t have TikTok.”
“Well after you and…” He trailed off, tilting his head up to the ceiling.
“Megan?” I offered.
“Yes. After you and Megan ridiculed me about not having it, I got intrigued and downloaded it. There’s a lot of silly animals on that app,” he said. “I’ve also got hooked on watching this woman. She has chicken, and there’s this evil chicken, Debora, who keeps stealing Rainbow Cupcake’s babies.”
My mouth dropped open. I had no words. He got sucked in. I couldn’t help but giggle a little.
“What?” He asked with a frown.
I chuckled. “The fact that you said that whole sentence to me is…” I shook my head, not finding the words. “Mind blowing. You’ve gotten interested in watching short videos of someone who’s looking after chickens.”
Alex frowned. “Don’t give me that look like I’m crazy. Let me get my phone. You’ll see.” He wiped his hands on the tea towel before putting his hand in his pocket, pulling out his phone.
It took less than a minute before he was shoving his phone into my hand, I looked down watching dumbfounded as this woman shouted at her chicken, Debora.
“So, I guess Debora is off the list for any of your future children,” I teased.
“Definitely,” he said. “I’m thinking if I ever have a girl she’ll be named Rainbow Cupcake.”
I laughed. “Because that name won’t get your imaginary child bullied at school.” I searched for my profile and followed myself, so I could begin to spam him with different TikTok videos. The joy of just sending videos was something else for sure. I handed his phone back to him with a little smile.
He stepped in between my legs and brushed a strand of hair out of my face. I looked at him, and his eyes flickered towards my lips. A second later, he was leaning in. I felt his lips on mine. He deepened the kiss almost immediately, and I wrapped my arms around his neck pushing my body against his.
He broke the kiss, leaning his head against mine. “Fuck.”
“Ditto,” I whispered.
“I have to go.” He sighed.
I nodded, and he stepped back. I slid off the side, walking towards the front door.
He bent down kissing me once more. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“Remember this weekend is Halloween party weekend,” I reminded him. “I’ll see you later.”
“Bye, Ella.”
I watched as he walked out the house and got into the car. I shut the front door, locking it.
I really couldn’t figure out this man. He was mysterious and part of that was drawing me further into his aura.
I headed upstairs and pushed open mum’s bedroom door. She was propped up, flipping through a book.
“What was your problem?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest leaning against the door. “Alex knew you were rude, and I don’t think he believed my bullshit excuse that you’re tired from the hospital.”
Mum put the book down and stared at me. “I don’t trust him.”
“You don’t know him.”
“Neither do you,” she snapped. “If you did, you wouldn’t be entertaining him right now. It’s only going to come back and bite you in the butt. He is not the man for you, Melinda. He will use you and throw you away.”
I scoffed, “You mean like the sperm donor did to you? The only difference is you opened your legs as soon as he came back. You didn’t care that he destroyed us and left us”
“You don’t understand the gravity of the situation. You are a child,” she said angrily.
“Yeah, a child who is dealing with thousands of pounds of debt in her name that you wracked up,” I shouted angrily.
“Your dad—”
“He is not my dad,” I snapped. “He is a sperm donor. He stopped being anything the day he walked out.”
“Your dad has offered you the money to pay it all,” mum said. “We were in a bad place, and mistakes were made.”
“Yeah, letting him back was a mistake.”
“You don’t get to judge me when the man you’re speaking to hasn’t been honest with you and told you who he really is,” she said.
I walked away. I wasn’t having this conversation again.
We just ended up going in circles and getting nowhere. The issue was neither of us would accept the other was right and instead of apologising we would just pretend like it never happened.
Was it healthy? No.
Was it ever going to change? Probably not.
The bell jingled as I entered the diner, and I headed towards the staff room putting my things into the locker.
I had to admit it filled me with a little joy knowing that Cindy’s locker now sat empty. Ding dong, the witch was gone.
I walked out the staff room heading to Daisy’s office. Her door was open, and she grinned as she saw me approaching.
“Melinda, how is your mum?”
“She’s home now,” I said as I entered the office sitting down. “How did you know? I don’t remember texting anybody here that I wasn’t going to be in for my shift.”
Daisy smiled a little. “I was with your mother at the time of her passing out and being rushed into hospital.”
I frowned a little. “How do you even know my mother?”
“Your mother and I went to school together,” Daisy informed me.
My lips formed into an o. “Oh,” I said. “How did I not know this?”
Had my mum mentioned the fact she knew Daisy before? I really felt more and more like Dory these days.
“Thank you for not firing me for missing work.”
“I may have not been here physically the past few months, but I still know everything that goes on in my business,” Daisy said.
“For the last few months, we have been gathering evidence to be able to fire Cindy and not have hit us with an unfair dismissal. I am sorry for all the abuse she has done to you and the girls.”
“Builds character right?”
“No. Did I ever tell you the story of how the diner came around?”
I shook my head.
“I used to work in a diner, and I loved it. It was so fun getting to interact with different customers and being able to be creative within the menu,” she said.
“I had a boss and a manager who were horrible. Our boss would only promote the women who would be willing to sleep with him and the manager was on a power trip. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I always swore that no staff would ever feel like I was made to feel.”
I slumped back into the chair feeling slightly overwhelmed.
Daisy had never shared why she opened the diner. Although to be fair I guess I never asked.
“That’s a lot.”
Daisy smiled. “Anyway, let’s forget about the negative. I wanted to talk to you about your work schedule.”
I gasped. “Please don’t take the hours away from me, I need them,” I begged.
“Melinda, I’m not taking them away,” Daisy said. “I want to promote you to manager.”
I stared at her in surprise.
I was not expecting that. I was stunned into silence.
I opened my mouth and closed it again not really knowing what to say.
“Are you accepting the promotion?” Daisy asked.
“I’m just stunned.”
“Obviously with your promotion, there would be a few more hours. Would you be able to cope with the hours and your university schedule? I know your degree is important,” Daisy said. “I want to make sure you have your hours here, but also so you can keep on top of your university work.”
“I only have three lectures. It would be easier to do my shifts after them and the days I’m off,” I said.
“I know you’ve been working weekends, too. Are you okay with night shifts?” Daisy asked.
“You realise I’ve worked night shifts before, right?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Daisy nodded slowly. “Most definitely. I have hired two new waitresses. One of them has a background in waitressing, and the other is very green.” She handed me the CVs, and I flipped through them.
“Would you be willing to train them?”
The only problem with training people up is I had to remember how I did things properly and not the cheat ways that I had created after working here for years. “Yeah, I can train them. Thank you for the opportunity.”
“Melinda, I may have not been here, but I know you are my best staff member,” Daisy said.
“Obviously with the promotion you’ll have increased pay, but if you need anything, my office is always open.
I am hoping to be around at least four days of the week just until things at home are settled with the twins. ”
“How are they?”
“They’re both growing beautifully. They came home from the NICU two weeks ago,” Daisy said with a little smile. “They’re so big now. It’s quite trippy considering they were so small. They’re healthy, and that’s the most important thing.”
“Good. I’m glad,” I told her with a smile. “Right, I best start work.” I headed out of the office into the restaurant.
“Melinda!” I looked up to see Megan in one of the booths.
Did you ever just watch some things happen in slow motion? This was how this moment felt as Megan slipped from the bench, falling to the ground with a bang.
I ran towards her, “Are you okay?”
“Dude, I’m good.” She laughed.
“Are you drunk?” I asked. “Megan it’s 9:00 a.m.”
“It’s 5:00 p.m. somewhere. I’m celebrating!. We’ve broken up. I’m free from him.”
I frowned a little that was an odd way to claim a breakup. Free from them. “He can’t.” She hiccupped.
“He can’t, what?”
She yawned and slumped into my leg and almost instantly she was asleep.
“You know the fact she fell and then went to sleep is kind of impressive,” Leah said as she appeared above me.
“Isn’t it? Do you mind getting my phone from my locker, so I can ring her dad?” I asked.
Leah nodded, walking away. A few seconds later, she returned with my phone, and I hit her dad’s contact number.
He answered almost immediately, “Melinda, is she with you? She didn’t come home last night.”
“Yeah, she just came into Daisy’s drunk as a skunk, fell out of the booth and fell asleep,” I said.
“She’s worrying me, Melinda. She’s spiralling, and I don’t know how to help her,” he said.
I heard his car start and knew he was immediately coming to get her.
“I’ll see what I can do,” I told him. “Get her home, and I’ll come and see her tonight.”
“I’ll be there soon,” he said.
I ended the call and looked down at Megan. “What have you gotten yourself into?” I brushed her hair out of her face and saw her phone light up in her hand. I took it from her looking down at the message from R.
Keep it quiet, or else. Remember I still have that video.
“Oh, Megan, this is so bad” I whispered, putting her phone down. I would have to pin this girl down to try and get it out of her what had happened.