This is a slightly shorter chapter, with a lot less action, but I hope you still like it. I'm pretty fond of it myself.
As always, feedback is appreciated. Thank you for reading.
x x x
Chapter four
When Katie didn't show up exactly on time the next day, like she normally did, Carl suspected that she wasn't going to show up at all. Maybe she hadn't recovered as swiftly as Ronald had thought she would. Maybe she was going to quit.
But then the door swung open and Katie strolled in, her hair returned to its ponytail, her sundress replaced with a black skirt. She walked right up to him, where he was standing next to a table, taking down chairs. He didn't say anything at first, but when she seemed to be waiting for him, he finally spoke.
"How are you, Katie?" he asked, careful not to sound condescending or worried, but simply casual.
"Fine," she said, but she stayed rooted in place, that impatient look still on her face.
"Uh…" Carl began, unnerved by her apparent anticipation of something unbeknownst to him.
"Well?" Katie prompted, her eyebrows up and the corners of her mouth turned down.
"Well what?"
"Aren't you going to lecture me for being late?"
"Oh, I—" He hadn't planned on it; he figured the last thing Katie needed was to be yelled at, especially after the night she'd had. But then he recognized what she was doing: trying to make things normal again. "Yes, I suppose I should."
She seemed to stand a little straighter, bracing herself for the onslaught.
"You've only been at this a week, you know. Not even, come to think of it—you started on a Wednesday, didn't you, and it's only a Sunday. Less than a week, and you're already late? The restaurant business thrives on timing, every aspect of it, from the time you make the food to the time that it's put on a plate for the customer. Haven't you noticed that by now? For instance, you can't keep a cake in the oven too long, can you? Well? Can you?"
"No, sir," Katie said solemnly, shaking her head.
"And you can't keep a customer waiting, correct?"
"That's right, sir." This time an emphatic nod.
"Well, then don't keep me waiting. Is that clear?"
Another nod. "It's clear, sir."
"Good. Now start setting out menus, will you?" Katie nodded a third time and then scurried off to fetch the menus. Carl turned back to the chairs and busied himself to hide his smile.
x x x
It was during the lunch rush that Carl's new least favorite person walked in.
Katie was busy with customers, and thankfully Joe wasn't stupid enough to bother her while she was working, so instead he came over to the counter, where Carl stood.
"Hey." Joe greeted him, like they'd been buddies forever. Carl resented him for it.
"How may I help you?" he asked stiffly, keeping one eye on Katie, who hadn't yet noticed Joe's presence.
"I was actually wondering if I could talk to Katie," he said, shifting his weight, and it was then that Carl noticed he held something behind his back. Leaning slightly to the side to get a better look, he realized it was flowers. He tried to hide his disgust and coughed.
"Ahem. Well. We're incredibly busy at the moment, but her break's in a half hour, so feel free to come back then." He spoke curtly, hoping that Joe would take the hint.
"I'll just wait here, if that's okay." Joe kept on smiling, apparently unaware of Carl's restrained malice. Carl gritted his teeth.
"Do you plan on ordering anything?"
"Ah, of course. Just a coffee."
Carl punched the keys of the cash register with vigor, each one loudly clacking with every irritated twitch of his finger. At least he didn't have to worry about the cash register turning on him anytime soon; he'd finally gotten it repaired by Ann's father.
"I'll have it ready for you in a moment." The sound of Carl's own saccharine tone that he used on customer's grated on his nerves.
As he poured the coffee, he watched Joe take a seat at a table. Then Katie finally spotted him. Her whole body froze, like it had at the fireworks festival, and Carl tensed, preparing himself to intervene, but then she suddenly relaxed, like the strings holding her taut had been cut. She walked over to the table with a smile, her face flushed, and said something to Joe. Carl was too far away to hear, but he kept watching. Joe said something back, and she leaned on the table, giggling at whatever he'd told her.
Carl felt the anger he'd felt the night before rise up in him again, more intensely than before. He set the coffee pot down and snatched up Joe's coffee, ready to march over to the table where the two were talking. But then he stopped.
What was he doing? A grown man, about ready to throw a tantrum, and over what? He took deep breaths, reminding himself of what was important. Joe was a customer, and needed to be treated as such. On top of that, he was a friend of Katie, and apparently had the capacity to make her smile, and giggle, and blush—and anyway, he didn't need Carl's approval. Katie's should suffice.
He walked calmly over to the table and set the cup in front of Joe, causing both of them to jump at his arrival. Katie shot him a guilty look, obviously expecting him to scold her for talking on the job. She held the bouquet Joe had brought in her hands. Carl shoved down his last violent impulse that the sight provoked in him and plastered on a smile.
"You know Katie, it's about time for your break, isn't it? I'll take over for now, don't worry about it."
She looked wary, not trusting that he wasn't being sarcastic. "Really?"
"Really," he affirmed, patting her shoulder. "You two take as long as you like."
x x x
"Whatever happened to the cute little brunette you had working here?"
This question came from Saibara. He sat at a table in the corner by himself, and he'd just finished off his usual slice of pie and glass of milk. Carl was clearing away his empty dishes.
"Who?" Carl asked, genuinely unknowing for a moment. He was distracted by Katie and Joe, who he'd been watching for the last thirty minutes. Their conversation showed no sign of slowing down. Well, he'd told them to take as long as they liked, hadn't he?
"The girl, you know, your old waitress? I thought she was sick, but it's been so long now. Weren't you two dating?"
"Oh, oh, you mean Ellen." Carl sighed and set down the plate and glass, and then set himself down in a chair. The lunch rush was over, and he needed a break, especially since he'd done all the work without the help of Katie. "I'm surprised the town isn't lit up about it. You know how people gossip here."
"I don't listen to gossip," Saibara said gruffly. "And I don't get out much. Just trek from my house to here every now and then for your pie."
"I appreciate that."
"Well, you're not getting out of it that easy. Go on, tell an old man a story."
Carl tipped back in his chair so that it rested on only two legs. "Ah, it's not so interesting. Ellen and I broke up, so she quit."
"You broke up with her?" Saibara clarified.
"No, she broke up with me. Said I cared more about work than about her." It was the first time he'd thought about Ellen since their break-up, and it gave him a strange twinge to do so.
"They always complain about that." Saibara's face suddenly clouded with surprising emotion, and for a second he felt like they were kindred spirits, but then it was gone. "Anyway, what about the new girl?"
"That's Katie."
"And?"
"And what?" Carl got nervous for a second, wondering if maybe he'd noticed how strange Katie was, and was about to try to bring it up. What was he supposed to say? Katie's illness seemed like a private matter.
"And, if you're going to make me ask: do you make it a habit of going after your employees?"
Carl lost his balance momentarily but righted himself at the last second, all four chair legs hitting the ground with a loud scraping noise. Katie and Joe didn't even glance in his direction.
"I don't think I know what you mean," he mumbled.
"Don't try to fool me. I was young once, and I've seen the way you look at her. You're staring at her right now."
"Am not," Carl answered childishly, hurriedly tearing his gaze away from Katie and back to Saibara.
"Well, all I can say is I sort of miss the old one. Nothing wrong with this one, but she's got a fire in her eyes. You ought to be careful."
"Will do," Carl said, smiling at him and getting to his feet. "I hope you enjoyed your meal."
"It was alright," Saibara told him, and Carl nodded his thanks, picking up the empty dishes once more.
x x x
Joe finally left thirty minutes after that, and as Katie walked him to the door, he heard him tell her he'd be back again soon. When the door shut, she slumped against it and sighed happily, but as soon as she caught Carl looking at her, she snapped to attention.
"Sorry about that," she said awkwardly, tracing the petals of the flowers still clutched in her hand. "I know I took a longer break than usual, and right during lunch rush…"
"Oh no, it's fine. Slow day," Carl said as he swept the café, now empty besides the two of them.
There was a long silence, in which Katie stood and Carl swept. Carl felt like he was held underwater, his lungs burning, burning, burning with the one question he had to ask.
"So, what did you guys talk about?" He realized how invasive it sounded as soon as he said it out loud, but he hadn't meant it that way—though, on the other hand, he wasn't sure how he'd meant it in the first place.
"Oh, just things," she answered vaguely, still fiddling with the flowers. "It felt good to talk to someone from back home."
"What were the flowers for?"
"An apology," Katie said, her voice turning just a bit brittle. "For…for what happened last night."
"That was nice of him."
"He is nice," she rejoined, her tone abruptly gaining strength and becoming almost defensive.
Carl rolled his eyes with his back to her so she couldn't see. "So, he'll be back?"
"Yes, I think so. And maybe I'll go visit him every once and a while."
The broomstick thwacked against one of the chair legs as he replied. "Just make sure it's during your breaks. Today was an exception."
"I know," she said, and then amended, "I mean, yes, sir."
He finally looked her in the eye, and found she was staring right back at him. He felt that the tension between them manifested as heat, a heat that creeped up under his collar and agitated every part of him. Carl remembered the fire Saibara had spoken of.
"There's dishes to be done," he told her. Immediately, she set Joe's bouquet down on a nearby table and walked purposefully towards the back, where the kitchen was, without another word.
Once she was gone, Carl went to the counter, where a vase of flowers sat. He took out the flowers and dropped them into the trash. Before he closed the lid, he stared at them sitting in the garbage can amongst all of the actual garbage, and recalled how Ellen had insisted on keeping flowers out on the counter. She'd always been the one to set out new ones when the old ones wilted, and now that she'd left, the flowers had turned brown.
He shut the lid of the can and then filled the vase with the flowers that Katie had received. After he'd finished, he went to the kitchen to give her a hand with the dishes.
x x x