I shook my head. “No it’s not that. I need to date him just
long enough to get him to confess that he’s the one who killed Ryan,” I said
getting up. “ I guess I better be going now. Do you think you could give me a
ride home? I walked over here.”
“You walked over here! That’s two miles, wow. Of course,
I’ll take you home. Let me go get my keys.” He turned and ran back up the
stairs. I just stood there feeling like an idiot. A few minutes later, he came
back down.
“I’m ready. Let’s go,” he said.
Derrick’s phone rang right as we walked out the door and he
fumbled in his pockets to get it in time.
“Hello?” “Oh, Hello” He didn’t sound happy to hear from
whoever was on the other end. “She’s right here.” He paused. “No, she came over
on her own, and no I didn’t tell her anything. Do you think I’m that stupid?”
There was silence on his end of the line. “Okay fine, Goodbye.” He slammed the
phone shut and shoved it back in his pocket.
“What didn’t you tell me?” I asked, waiting for an answer. I
continued walking over to the car and got inside to wait for Derrick.
“Sorry,” he said getting into the car. He turned the key,
but didn’t pull out of the driveway. He faced me.
“Since you heard that conversation, I’m not going to lie to
you. That was Nick. A few months ago, he thought it would be funny to come up
with his own prank. You know, like the one we pulled on Principal Gregory. And
he decided that Ryan would be the perfect target. Only it didn’t have the
results that Nick thought it would and he’s trying to find a way to fix
things.”
“What kind of prank?” I asked. I had an idea, but I wanted
Derrick to tell me.
“It’s a really bad one.” He said pulling out of the
driveway. He didn’t look at me.
“Does it have anything to do with what I just told you?” I
asked. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, but ignored it.
He nodded. “ Yeah it does. I don’t think he’s going to be
getting out of this mess, either.”He didn’t say another word the rest of the
ride.
As we pulled up to my house I turned to Derrick. “Thanks for
telling me the truth earlier. There have been too many lies between all of us
lately. I’ll call you tomorrow.” I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
I waited until Derrick’s car was gone and then walked into
the house.
“I’m home,” I yelled. My mother came out of the kitchen,
wiping her arm on her forehead. She now had flour above her eye.
“What are you doing?” I asked. My mother never baked unless
it was the holidays.
“I’m making brownies for Spenser and Noah. I’d almost forgotten
about the bake sale at the
Mission Hills YMCA
tomorrow. And with your
accident and the funeral, things have gotten away from me.”
My little brothers went to day camp during the summers and
absolutely loved it. I sometimes wish I had gone as a kid, but my Mom had been
home then, not working.
She turned to me. “I almost forgot. Your work called. Ellen
wants to know if you can work tomorrow because Leigh called off.”
I’d worked at the café every summer for the last four years and
Leigh called off at least once a week.
“Thanks. I’ll call her in a bit and tell her yes. I could
use the money.”
My mom nodded. “That sounds good. And I think that should
keep your mind off things for a while.”
I wandered in the kitchen, the smell of brownies overloading
my senses. My stomach growled and I remembered that I hadn’t eaten dinner yet.
I walked over and opened the refrigerator.
“Is there anything to eat?” My voice came muffled through
the door.
My mother came over. "Here sit down and I'll make you
something. What do you want?"
"Mom, it's okay. I can get my own food. I do it at
Ryan's house all the time," I said, forgetting for a moment that he was
dead.
“I just feel the need to take care of you right now. After
everything that’s happened.” She walked over to the fridge and stopped. She
turned back around. “Honey, I’m so sorry this happened. To you. What do you
want to eat?” she asked hugging me.
I pulled away. “Mom, it’s all right. I want things to go
back to normal. Ever since Ryan died, everyone has been acting different around
me. They stop talking when I come in the room and they’re keeping secrets from me.
I’m even getting weird…” I stopped. I’d almost let my mother know about the
text messages. If I did that, she’d worry and I didn’t want to do that to her
any more than I already had this summer. My mother walked around the kitchen
getting out bread, turkey, lettuce, tomatoes, and bacon. I sighed, another
turkey BLT. She threw everything onto the sandwich with such vengeance you
would think that it was the sandwiches fault.
“Mom, calm down,” I teased. She set the sandwich in front
of me and I began eating.
My mom busied herself cleaning up the kitchen while I sat at
the table and ate my sandwich. I glanced up at one moment and she was scrubbing
at the kitchen counter hard enough to make the grout come out of the tile.
“Mom it’s okay. The counter is clean. You can leave now.”
“Oh.” She glanced down and laughed. “I guess you’re right.
I’ll leave you to make your phone call now.” She left the room.
I set half the sandwich down and got out my cell phone. I
noticed the text message icon and clicked on it my hands shaking.
If you tell anyone about these messages, you’ll end up
like your beloved Ryan…dead.
I set down the phone and took a deep breath to calm down.
How
did they know I’d almost slipped up?
I wondered. I wiped my sweat hands on
my pajama pants before picking the phone back up. Mom had left Ellen’s number
by the phone and I dialed. I just hoped that it wasn’t too late. I waited as it
rang four times before somebody picked up.
“Is Ellen there?” I waited, as there was a shuffle on the
other end as to where Ellen was. A few minutes later, I heard her pick up the
phone.
“Hello, this is Ellen.”
“Ellen, this is Lauren Bailey. My mom said that you called
about working tomorrow. I’m definitely feeling up to it. You’d be doing me a
favor to work me like crazy until school starts.” I smiled.
“Lauren, I’ve been meaning to call you. I am sorry to hear
about Ryan’s death. I’m glad that you’re okay, though. I can definitely use
you. Leigh called off sick, she supposedly has the flu, but I think it’s just
because it’s going to be 80 degrees tomorrow and she wants to go to the beach.”
I chuckled. I still didn’t understand why Ellen wouldn’t just fire her. We talked
for a few more minutes and then I hung up the phone. I finished eating the rest
of my sandwich, cleaned up my plate, and headed upstairs.
I peeked in my brother’s room and found Spenser snoring. I
glanced over at Noah’s bed and whispered, “Shouldn’t you be sleeping, little
guy?” He was under the covers with a flashlight reading a comic book. He
glanced over.
“Lauren, are you really okay? When Mom told us about the
accident I was really scared. I thought that you weren’t going to come home
again. ”he said in a small voice.
“Don’t worry, I’m okay buddy. I promise.”
As much as Ryan complained about my little brothers, I knew
that he loved them in his own way. I walked over and sat down beside him on the
bed.
How do you explain death to a five year old? I took a deep
breath, “You know how we go and visit grandma every Sunday at the cemetery?” He
nodded although I knew he was a little confused. Every Sunday I had to keep an
eye on the boys so that they didn’t trample over anybody’s grave or get in
trouble. “Well, now Ryan’s visiting grandma all the time. We can go visit him
every Sunday if you want to.” He sighed.
“I’m going to miss him, Lauren. He was like a big brother to
us.”
“I know. I’ll miss him, too,” I said, pulling up his covers
and giving him a kiss on the forehead.
“Now get some sleep. You have to be awake to play at the
community center tomorrow and there is a bake sale.” His face lit up.
“Yeah and Mom also said that if Spenser and I are good after
it’s over we can buy something of our own.”I got up and turned off the light.
“Night, Noah.” I closed the door behind me. I walked over to
my bedroom and began getting ready for bedsit was late and Ellen needed me to
be at work at 7:30am to help open.
I could hear the crash of breaking glass even before I made
it halfway to the door. I slipped inside, smiling at the old couple out for a morning
stroll. “Ellen?” I yelled, walking towards the back.
“This thing is a goddamn piece of junk.” I chuckled at the
sounds of screaming coming from the kitchen. I was unsure what I was walking
into, but prayed that I wasn’t going to be mopping up Ellen’s latest mess off
the floor.
“I’m here. What’s wrong now?” I asked. I hung up my jacket
and put my purse on a separate shelf. I grabbed my apron and put it on over my
beige carpenter shorts and white t-shirt. I now looked like I wore a dress. I struggled
to tie it on backwards. My hair, once held back by a headband was now tied in a
messy bun with a stray piece of string I saw laying on the desk.
“The oven light is broken, we’re out of pancake batter, and
I have already dropped a dozen eggs on the floor.” She pointed to the gooey
mess on the floor. I had to laugh. Ellen wasn’t the best manager, but she
tried. Ellen was in her fifties and still rather feisty. She had inherited the
café from her late husband when he died almost five years ago. She had grey
blue eyes and hair that matched. She once told me that she started going grey
when she was in her twenties. Although, I didn’t think that grey hair made her
look old, but more distinguished.
“Don’t laugh at me, clean it up,” she ordered. I finished
mopping up the sticky egg mess and put the mop away. I glanced at the clock.
“I better go clean some tables. We open in ten minutes,” I
said, grabbing a rag and heading out to the dining room.
“Are you saying my place isn’t clean?” I heard Ellen yell
from across the room. I turned around and stuck my tongue out.
I was just finishing up the last table, when I heard the
jangle of the bell. I glanced up to see Nick waiting at the hostess stand. I
frowned as I walked over. “What do you want?” I asked.
He frowned. “Did I do something wrong?”I was getting ready
to answer him when Ellen came out.
“Hey, Nicky boy, are you going to bring me some business?” she
asked.
“Yes, Mrs. Appaloosa.” He grinned. He was the only person
that I knew who called her by her last name. Everyone else called her Ellen.
“No. He was just leaving,” I tried to answer for him. Ellen
frowned at me and pointed over at the counter. I sighed.
“Come sit down. I’ll get you some coffee.” I led him over to
the counter and he sat down. I went over the other side to get a cup.
“How’d you know I was here?” I asked
“I went to your house and your Mom said you were working.” he
replied.
“You went to my house at eight in the morning?” I asked.
He nodded. “I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out. I
haven’t seen you lately.” I glanced up as the door jangled again. It was the
other waitress, Samantha. I called her Sammie.
“Hey Sammie, we aren’t that busy right now if you want to
sit down for some coffee. I’ll cover you for a few minutes.,” I said
“Thanks. I didn’t have a chance for a cup before I left the
house.” She came behind the counter and grabbed a cup and filled it up. She was
taking a sip as Ellen came out.
“Your shift started five minutes ago. Finish that cup and
get to your station,” she barked.
“I’ve got go.” She hurried off leaving the almost full cup
on the counter. I began to say something, but then the door jangled and people
began spilling in.
“I’ve got to go, but I get off at 3’oclock if you want to
come back,” I said, starting to rush off. He grabbed my arm.
“I’ll be back.” He set a bill on the counter and walked out
the door. I didn’t have enough time to check how much before the crowd got
bigger.
For the next few hours, the café was bustling with customers
and I didn’t have time to think about anything else but work. Another coworker
walked in and I waved. I glanced down at my watch and saw that it was already
lunchtime.
Where had the time gone?
I wondered to myself.
“Hey Sammie, I’m going to take my lunch now.” She nodded and
waved me away.
I walked to the back and grabbed the lunch that my mother
had packed me. I glanced inside and saw a turkey sandwich, potato chips and a
diet pop. I groaned.
“What’s wrong, darling?” I heard Ellen’s voice behind me.
I shrugged. “It’s nothing. My mom just made me a turkey
sandwich and I swear if I eat one more of them I’m going to sprout wings.” I
grinned.
“You exaggerate.”
I shook my head. “No, that’s all she’s been making me since
I got out of the hospital. It’s getting old.”
Ellen disappeared and came back with a big slice of
chocolate cake.
“Here, this should make up for your turkey sandwich. When
you are done eating tell Samantha it’s her turn and get your butt back to work.
I don’t pay you to sit around.” She swatted at my behind with a wet dishtowel
and I had to laugh.
“Thanks Ellen.” She smiled back and left the room. I ate the
piece of cake quickly, wiped my mouth, and went back to the dining hall.
“It’s your turn, Sammie.” I smiled and nodded to Michaela
who was cleaning up a messy table. “I’ll do that. You go sit that nice couple
over there.” I gestured to the front. She walked away. I finished cleaning the
table and walked over to the couple who just sat down.
“What can I get for you today?” I asked politely, writing
down the couples order. The rest of the afternoon went rather smoothly, but boy
was I glad when 3’oclock came around. Nick had shown up earlier than I asked
and was sitting at the counter talking with Michaela. I was beginning to feel
sick to my stomach watching them. I wanted to run over and tell her to stay
away from him, but I couldn’t do that without raising some suspicions.