‘I’m not stupid, Mum – I knew full well they weren’t making as much money as they’d once been. For a start, there’s a lot more competition in the bay than there was when they first opened. I can make it work again though. If I didn’t believe that then I wouldn’t have pushed to try.’
‘So this isn’t purely an emotional attachment?’
‘It’s that too. I thought we’d sorted this out – why are we going over it again?’
‘Because we don’t want to see you pouring your heart and soul into this only for it to fail and for you to be heartbroken.’
‘It’s lovely to have such a wealth of support from my family,’ Sadie said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. ‘Lovely to know you have such faith and belief in my abilities.’
‘There’s no need to be like that.’
‘Dad’s not saying this, surely?’
‘There are no flies on you, are there?’ Henny said with a faint smile. ‘You know he’s as resistant to the idea of the waffle house closing as you are but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t share my concerns about you.’
‘I know you’re just looking out for me but I can’t give this up – not yet. I’ve already talked to Gammy about opening for longer hours so that would bring more money in.’
Henny raised her eyebrows as she poured herself some tea from her favourite Wedgwood pot. ‘And she’s agreed to this?’
‘Not yet,’ Sadie admitted. ‘But given time I think she will.’
‘Sadie, I know this has been discussed before, and I know you don’t want to hear it, but don’t you think it would be kindest to let your grandmother retire?’
‘She’d never let someone else run the waffle house without her.’
‘I know. I still think it would be best all round to let it close. Yes, it’s been here for almost fifty years, and yes, the town would miss it, but all things come to an end, even the Sea Salt Bay Waffle House.’
‘Ewan’s put you up to this, hasn’t he?’
‘No, he hasn’t. But now that you mention it he’s just as worried about you – both of you. He told me that your grandmother had a moment… in the car the other day. Your father and I have noticed them, and you must have done too. She’s an old lady and we have to accept that.’
‘But if we put her somewhere to rot then she’ll get old quicker than ever. We’ll lose her inside a year, I just know it. We have to keep her active, give her something to live for. The waffle house is that thing – I know it.’
‘I think you’re letting your emotions cloud your judgement.’
‘So what if I am? You say it like it’s a bad thing!’
Henny sighed and fell silent as she took a sip of her tea. Sadie threw down the slice of toast she’d been eating and stood up.
‘If you’ll excuse me,’ she began, always mindful of her etiquette where her mother was concerned, regardless of her mood, ‘I’m going to get ready for work.’
* * *
It didn’t take long for Sadie’s mood to brighten. The morning was fresh and clear and promised cloudless skies as a night fog began to lift from the sea. Sadie walked the cliff road, keeping close to the rocks in case of oncoming cars, but she needn’t have bothered because the road was quiet, as it often was. Her shoes crunched on fallen scree while gulls and curlews cried overhead.
When she arrived at the waffle house, Gammy and Graham were already waiting outside.
‘I forgot my keys,’ April began.
‘But we knew you’d be down shortly,’ Sadie’s dad added. ‘So we decided it was a nice day and, rather than go haring back up the hill, we’d sit here and look at the sea for a while until you turned up with yours.’
‘Good plan,’ Sadie said, smiling fondly at them both. Her dad wouldn’t say it, but he was on her side. She knew he was always on her side, but often he’d struggle to stand up to her mum to say so, because Henny’s personality was so forceful and often so formidable. It didn’t make him weak; it made him an ordinary mortal man – when it came to it, most people struggled to stand up to Henriette Schwartz. The only person who could give her a run for her money was Kat, but she was so much fairer-minded and didn’t often feel the need to. Even Ewan, as confident as he was, struggled to argue with his mother once she’d rolled up her sleeves and dug in, and, besides, he often agreed with her and so didn’t need to argue. And as for Henny’s own parents, they might attempt to cross swords with her but they never got far, as evidenced by the fact that Henny had married Graham, a man they’d viewed with about as much contempt as the groundskeeper they’d once had to sack for selling pheasants from their estate on the sly. ‘It’s a good job I brought mine.’
‘I knew you would,’ April said. ‘You’re learning so fast you won’t need me soon.’
Sadie paused for a moment, key in hand, and turned to look at her grandma. Had she heard that right? Only an hour before Sadie had been telling her mum that grandma would never give up the waffle house. Why would she say this now? Was it just a flippant comment, or could it be that on some unconscious level, even April was starting to see that she couldn’t keep it up for much longer?
Giving herself a mental shake, Sadie poked the key in the lock and gave the door a shove to open up. April went round the dining room to open the blinds and let the morning stream in while Sadie began to switch everything on.
‘Want any help before I go?’ Graham asked.
‘You’ve got enough of your own to do,’ Sadie said. ‘Thanks though.’
‘I’ll be off then,’ he said. ‘Sea’s looking good today – should get plenty of trips in.’
‘It is,’ Sadie said. ‘Away with you then.’
Sadie could hear him chuckling even after the door had closed behind him. She turned to April.
‘Mum said you went to the cemetery this morning.’
‘Yes,’ April said. ‘It was such a lovely morning to go.’
‘Hmm. Maybe next time I’ll come with you.’
‘I’d sure like that, darlin’.’
‘Me too.’
‘You always were his favourite,’ she said, walking to the little office. ‘You were his first granddaughter after all, and grandpas sure do love their little girls.’
Sadie frowned. ‘Second granddaughter…’
‘What’s that, darlin’?’ April called from the office.
‘I’m the second. What about Lucy?’
April came back with a bag of change for the till. She stared at Sadie. And then she shook her head. ‘Silly me. For a moment I clean forgot about your sister.’
Sadie stared at her, but April didn’t seem fazed at all. Lucy didn’t come home very often but she could hardly be forgotten. How could you forget a whole person, your actual first granddaughter? How could you forget she existed and not even be worried by that?
‘Did you email Timpson’s yet?’ April asked briskly. ‘We’re gonna be clean out of batter by the end of today if it’s as busy as I think it might be.’
‘Yes,’ Sadie said. ‘They said they’d be here by nine.’
‘Good girl. How about you count this change while I go and get mixing?’ She handed the bag to Sadie as she waltzed past to the kitchen like she hadn’t a care in the world, like a woman half her age who hadn’t spent the morning at the grave of her recently passed husband. Sadie was beginning to freak out. Her conversation with her mother that morning hadn’t helped either. If everyone was noticing April doing weird things, did that mean her condition was worse than Sadie had thought?
She turned her attention to the change in the bag. There was nothing else she could do except soldier on – at least for today. As for tomorrow, she couldn’t even think that far ahead and there was absolutely no way to know what it might hold even if she could. Every day with Gammy right now was a crazy ride, as unpredictable as the rickety, twisting old Mad Mouse that rattled people around its tracks on the fairground nearby.
At least she had her date with Luke to look forward to. Her stomach fizzed as her mind
went back to their night in the Listing Ship. And then afterwards beneath the pier… But then thinking about being beneath the pier also brought back the reason they’d hidden under there in the first place. She’d often fantasised that Declan and Melissa might split up and leave him free, so it was strange that this morning she found herself hoping that whatever they’d been arguing about last night had been resolved and that they were OK.
There was a knock at the window, and she looked up to see her current favourite distraction grinning through the glass at her. She ran to open the door.
‘What are you doing down here so early?’
‘I couldn’t sleep so I thought I’d take a walk. Are you busy?’
‘A bit.’
‘Oh.’
‘I am trying to run a business here,’ she said, laughing. ‘It’s alright for you – you can start work whenever you like but I have to be open when the sign on the door says I’m supposed to be. Did you need anything in particular?’
‘No, I just wanted to see you.’
‘You’re seeing me later.’
‘I know; I’m greedy. I wanted to see you some more. I can’t stop thinking about you.’
‘Are you always like this?’
‘Like what?’
‘Going at a hundred miles an hour.’
His face fell. ‘I’m sorry, I just…’
‘I’m joking,’ Sadie said with a smile, though she was aware that she might have said the wrong thing. The heartbreak he’d mentioned in the pub the night before came back to her and she had to wonder whether perhaps it had made him emotionally fragile. Maybe she should have gone ahead and heard the story after all, because maybe it was a story she really ought to know so she could act accordingly. Although, she wasn’t sure if she herself was in any state to offer support to someone else as unstable as her.
Her reply seemed to help him find solid ground, and he returned her smile with one of his own. ‘I have to move quick; I have a feeling there’ll be plenty of competition.’
‘Trust me, there isn’t,’ Sadie said. She reached to give him a quick kiss, but he placed a gentle hand on her neck to hold her for longer.
‘Oh, Luke…’ she murmured as he let go and she opened her eyes. ‘You really can’t do things like that to me when I have a full day’s work ahead and hours before I can see you for more.’
Kissing him was like a magic spell, and whenever his lips touched hers she had to fight off the trance that she felt herself drift into. It was delicious, but it sometimes felt a little dangerous too, like she might lose control, though she wondered whether that might not be the sexiest bit about it. Would it be so bad to lose control with him? To let him do what he wanted? And what he wanted couldn’t be so far from what she wanted.
Reluctantly, she pushed him back through the door. ‘I have work to do.’
‘Temptress,’ he said.
She laughed. ‘You’re the one doing the tempting. Go and build a shelf or something – whatever it is you do all day. Come back later like you’re supposed to.’
‘I can’t,’ he said. ‘Every time I try to do something I start thinking about you and then I get all useless.’
‘Well you’ll just have to try. If I’ve got to manage today then so can you.’
With a last shove and a laugh, she closed the door on him and locked it. He pressed his face against the glass with a forlorn look and she laughed even harder, so tempted to open it again and drag him in.
‘Go!’ she said and turned away. But when she got back to the counter she looked up and he was still there. ‘For God’s sake!’ She let out a giggle that brought April to the doors of the kitchen.
‘What’s the matter?’ she asked.
Sadie was about to answer, though she didn’t know what she was going to say, then she glanced back at the window. At least Luke had had the good sense to see that April’s appearance might be a good time to make his getaway, because he was already walking down the pier towards the promenade.
‘Oh, just something funny someone said to me yesterday,’ Sadie said, turning back to her grandma. ‘I just thought about it and it’s still funny.’
‘That’s alright,’ April said. ‘It’s just that I thought I could hear someone else in here and I thought it can’t be opening time already because I’ve only just started mixing.’
‘Don’t worry, Gammy, you can get back to it and you have a little time yet.’
April bustled away, and Sadie’s gaze returned to the window. By now, Luke was out of sight. Gone, but definitely not forgotten, and she couldn’t wait to see him again later.
* * *
During the morning, Sadie didn’t feel too tired, despite her late night, but by the lunchtime rush she was flagging, and by two o’clock she was desperate for her bed. But she kept going and she kept smiling for the customers and, as her grandmother had predicted, the good weather brought them in larger numbers than other days. Most popped in for an ice cream to take away as the queues at the parlour were enormous, but many stayed for the full works. There wasn’t a moment where the dining room was empty, and that only added stress to Sadie’s day because, as the orders came in thick and fast, she had to keep checking on April in the back to see that she was managing and, more to the point, wasn’t flying off to fairyland. It was a cruel way to look at it, but in the cold light of day and with a full restaurant, it was the only way Sadie could look at it. But, to her great relief, it seemed that April was having a better day than of late and handling the kitchen with cheery efficiency. That, and the fact that she was looking forward to meeting Luke later, was all that was keeping Sadie on her feet by mid-afternoon.
By three the customers were thinning a little, but the waffle house was by no means quiet, and by a quarter to four Sadie was thinking of getting a quick nap at home before she headed out again for her date. At four on the dot, after seeing out the last of their customers, she heaved a thankful sigh of relief and went to lock the door. Dropping the keys on the counter, she went to cash up the till. It had been a good day – even if it had been tiring – and she was looking forward to seeing how much they’d taken. If nothing else, at least it would prove to her mum that the waffle house was capable of making money.
‘Gammy…’ she called as she finished stuffing all the cash into money bags. ‘Gammy… what time does the bank open tomorrow morning? I’ve got to be somewhere later and I don’t think I’ll have time to take this tonight – do you think I’ll be able to stash it in the safe until I can get to the bank?’
There was no reply. Sadie picked up the money and wandered through to the kitchen. There, she found her grandma filling the mop bucket.
‘Gammy… about the takings for today. Do you think they’ll be OK in the safe for tonight?’
‘Can’t you take them to the bank?’
‘I would, but I was hoping to get a nap this afternoon because I’m going out later.’
‘Going out?’ April hauled the bucket from the sink. Sadie ran to take it from her.
‘Yes.’
‘On your own?’
‘No, I’m meeting… a friend.’
‘Oh. Well, be sure to say hello to them from me, darlin’. I’m sure I could take the money along tonight.’
‘There’s a lot here. I think it would be better if I did it.’
‘Ain’t nobody going to mug me around here,’ April said, laughing.
‘No, I know but… well,’ she said brightly, ‘I wanted to walk up the cliff with you. I like it when we walk home together and we didn’t walk in together this morning and I missed you.’
April smiled and reached to stroke a lock of auburn hair from Sadie’s face. ‘You are a funny one. Sure we can walk up together. I guess it wouldn’t be the first time the takings have been left in the safe for a few hours.’
‘And that’s why it’s called a safe,’ Sadie said. ‘Because it’s safe.’
April laughed. ‘Whatever you say.’
‘OK, great.’
> After putting the bucket down in the dining room and warning her grandma not to touch it because she’d mop up while April went to sort through the fridge, she went through to the little office to put the money in the safe. Once she’d locked the door, her phone pinged in her pocket. She got it out and saw with a smile that Luke had sent her a text. It had an image attached and for one horrible moment she thought it might be the sort of unwanted photo she’d had from many men. Her smile grew though as she saw it was a picture of the front of his house, newly painted in a pretty sage green.
You said you wanted to see it.
She tapped a reply:
And now I have. Very nice. I’m hoping to see the inside very soon.
* * *
Can’t wait to see you later.
* * *
Me too. X
Putting her phone away, Sadie went through to the dining room. It was empty, the bucket and mop still standing against the wall, chairs still on the floor instead of stacked on top of the tables, rubbish bags still in the corner and one table even still had used crockery on it.
‘Gammy…?’ Sadie called.
There was no reply again. So again Sadie went through to the kitchen expecting to see her there, but she wasn’t. With a frown, Sadie went back to the office. Gammy’s handbag and coat were there so she couldn’t have gone far. She went back to the dining room.
‘Gammy!’ she called again, louder this time. ‘Gammy!’
She was greeted by silence, only broken by the hum of the fridges where they kept the chilled drinks.
‘What the actual hell…’
And then Sadie’s eyes fell on the counter where she’d left the front door keys. Only the keys weren’t there. She ran to the door and pulled on it but it was locked.
The Waffle House on the Pier: A gorgeous feel-good romantic comedy Page 17
