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41
~ HAZEL ~
This week had gone by pretty slowly. I never realized how hard and time-consuming working at a restaurant and bakery was, accompanied by managing the hotel with Sherri’s assistance. Sherri was surprisingly very good at business management. I guessed she had studied it in college or was just naturally talented.
“Phew… another long day.” Mrs. Anderson said, receiving the tray from the waiter and dropped it on the counter.
“It’s almost time to close the restaurant and there are still so many customers.” I sighed, reaching for a banana I had dropped on the counter before attending to a customer.
“Yes. I’m so exhausted.”
“We’ll need to train the other cooks more in order to start the 24-hour availability.” Sherri added, also dropping a tray on the counter.
The restaurant and bakery had grown so much in such a short time. However, the perfect food and pastries only resulted from all three of us working together to make them. The other cooks were really great and had high standards, but they didn’t possess the magic in their hands to make the meal as perfect as we were able to. That only made life harder for us.
“We’ll close the restaurant in about an hour.” I dug my teeth into the remnant of the banana.
“Thank goodness! Last night I had to work till almost midnight because we closed late.” Sherri said in relief.
“Mrs. Hendrix?” Sarah, one of the waitresses, called as she walked into the kitchen.
“Hey, Sarah.”
“A couple has requested to see you.”
“A couple?” I lifted an eyebrow at her.
“Yes. They claim to be special customers.”
“What are their names?”
“They wouldn’t tell.”
“Okay… let them know I’ll be there soon.”
“Okay.” She bowed her head before taking her leave.
“A couple? I didn’t arrange any appointments with anyone for you today.” Sherri shrugged. For some reasons, Sherri felt the need to be my personal assistant and arrange my schedules. I never asked her to do it, but it came out really handy in helping me out with balancing my life.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll be back soon.” I washed my hands, took my apron off, then left for the restaurant.
“Hey!” Charlotte beamed.
“Wow, Charlotte! I didn’t expect that.” I pulled her into a hug, her very bumpy tummy serving as a barrier.
Kye cleared his throat. “I'm also here.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t notice your presence.” I said playfully, pulling away from Charlotte who chuckled.
“Ouch.” He chuckled too.
“I’ll assume you’re here as a customer?” I pulled a chair out for Charlotte.
“Yes.” Charlotte replied and sat on the chair while Kye sat beside her.
“Great! You can check the menu out.”
“I can’t wait to try them all out. Your new recipes have been on the news and everyone is talking about how great they are.” Charlotte commented, scanning the menu.
A blush of pride flushed my cheeks at that new piece of information.
They took their orders from the most expensive dishes. I spent the next hour eating and talking with them; we had a lot to talk about, though I was constantly leaving their side to attend to multiple things at different sections. When I became too busy and didn’t have enough time to attend to them, they had to take their leave.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized with a sigh.
“No, it’s nothing. You’re working and we’re just your customers,” Charlotte assured me with a grin.
“Plus, Charlotte and our baby need to go to bed already. We all enjoyed our time with you. You’ll definitely expect to see us eating here often. Plus, it’s not far away from our house.” Kye added.
“Thank you both so much for coming. I appreciate it.” I pulled them into a joint hug before waving them goodbye.
After they had driven off, I returned to the restaurant. We had to spend extra time due to the additional customers. In a busy and open location like things, customers swam in like fishes every second.
“I have to go home now.” Mrs. Anderson announced, grabbing her bag from the hanger.
“Yeah. Me too.” I replied.
Mrs. Anderson left, then Sherri and I — as well as other workers— finalized what we had to do for the day.
When the hotel workers arrived for their night shifts, we finally closed the restaurant, then Mike came to pick us up to drive us home.
“I’m so exhausted.” Sherri sighed, gulping the water from her bottle.
“Me too.”
“We’ll have to find a solution to avoid this stress soon.”
“We will.” I assured her.
“I guess I don’t have to ask how work was today.” Mike chuckled.
My phone started ringing from my bag. I reached for it, and my eyes widened from the multiple calls and texts I had. “Where on earth had my phone been?”
I answered the call from Tristan, placing the phone in my ear.
“Jeez, Hazel, finally! I’ve called you multiple times. I just got home, but you’re not home yet. You didn’t respond to any of my texts or calls.” He complained.
“I’m so sorry. I was busy at work and didn’t have the time to check my phone. I just finished today’s work. Sorry, sweetheart.”
“It’s fine, I understand. I just miss you so much. Where are you now? Should I come pick you up?”
“No. Mike is driving us home already.”
“Okay, you should—” he was interrupted by a ring. “Uh… it’s your Aunt calling again.”
“Mandy? She still calls you?”
“Yes. And recently it’s been excessive. She always asks for money all the time. I don’t want to offend you or your aunt, so I send it to her all the time, but it’s becoming really annoying, I'm sorry to add. She asks for huge amounts of money. It’s really… I don’t know. I’m sorry but—”
“You don’t have to be sorry.’” A frown formed on my face. “Don’t respond to her calls anymore. She is simply foolish. How dare she?! That woman has gone nuts. What right does she think she has to bother my husband this much?”
“Whoa, calm down.” I didn’t realize I was shouting till he said that and Sherri and Mike were casting strange glances at me.
“Just don’t respond to her anymore. Bye, Tristan. I’ll call you when I return home.” I ended the call and turned to Mike. “Stop the car.”
“Stop the car?” He repeated.
“What’s wrong?” Sherri asked.
“Yes. Stop it. I have to attend to something. Just go home without me. I’ll be home soon.”
Though he was hesitant, he stopped the car. I got out of it with my bag and headed to the bus station, my blood boiling with deep fury.
I took the next bus to Aunt Mandy’s house, banging on the door really hard.
It took a while before the door was going open, and Aunt Mandy came into view with a cigarette stuck between her lips.
She plucked the cigarette from her mouth, spreading its smoke from her mouth to my face. Her action fueled my aggravation as my fists clenched.
“I never thought you’d return. Come in.” She turned around.
“No!” I snapped. “I won't step into this filthy place. I’m here to warn you again and I won’t spare you if you don’t listen.” I made sure my voice possessed authority.
She pivoted back to me, screwing her eyebrows. “What the heck?”
“Don’t ask my husband for money ever again!” I barked. “Are you that shameless? What is your problem? What don’t you understand by leave me the fuck alone.”
She stared at me from head to toe, scrunching her face up. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Just stop it! You're frustrating the hell out of me.” I hollered. “I won’t warn you anymore. You know too well how dangerous I can be.”
She chuckled, “dangerous? You seem to have forgotten who I am and what I can do. You don’t want me to ask for money? You seem to be forgetting that some past mistakes can’t just be erased and will need to be paid for in order for it to be concealed? You want me to start blurting things out?”
I was trying to stop myself from crying out of frustration. I wished I could just get rid of this woman.
“Come in now,” she ordered.
“Just let me be, else…”
“Just shut the fuck up, bitch, and come inside!” She yelled, placing the cigarette back into her mouth.
“Why would I?” something warned me that there was more to her request. She had never insisted on me coming in before, else there was something else.
Before I could hurry out of her sight, I heard a groan from inside, then I was pulled in forcefully and Aunt Mandy closed the door. I wanted to scream but my mouth was covered.
I only regained my senses and took in the face of the person in front of me grabbing my arm and covering my mouth. My eyes went wide and I felt my blood leave my body.