Page 44 of One Snowy Day
Well, he could get in line. Although, if she did lose the café, atleast tonight would give the whole village something to remember her by, she thought mournfully, letting the toll of all the disappointments and traumas of the day edge her a little further towards acceptance that she might not be able to avoid defeat. How could she win against people like the guy who’d sat in here just hours before and told her he couldn’t… no,wouldn’thelp her? If the rest of his family was as dismissive and devoid of compassion, then she didn’t stand a chance. Her doors would be closed in fifty-nine days and she’d have to start all over again somewhere else. She knew that her grandad would love to have her move in with him until she got back on her feet – and that was definitely the preferred option over her mother’s house. But there was no easy solution to losing her business. She didn’t even know where to begin.
‘You all right there, pet?’ She’d been so deep in thought that she hadn’t even noticed that her grandad had come up beside her.
She mustered a smile. ‘I’m fine, Grandad.’
‘What a night you’ve pulled off here. You know, when you first opened this café, I was worried about whether it would take off – didn’t want you sinking all your hard-earned cash into a money pit – but just look what you’ve done. I couldn’t be prouder of you.’
Her heart cracked and she let her head fall onto his shoulder, mostly so that he wouldn’t see that she was blinking back two big fat tears. She wasn’t a crier. When she was growing up with a mother as dramatic as Dorinda, someone else had to be the calm one, so if she started sobbing, her grandad would know something awful was afoot. He wouldn’t be wrong. Besides herself, Hugo was the person who’d be affected most by the closure and Alyssa didn’t know how she was going to break it to him.
Tomorrow. That was a problem for tomorrow. Right now, themost important thing was that they made tonight wonderful for Jessie.
‘Thanks, Grandad. I’m pretty proud of you too.’
Their conversation was ended there by Ginny, who was speeding towards the counter, and when she reached it, flopped down on it in a theatrical fashion.
‘I’ll give you everything I own in the world if you save me from our mother,’ she wailed.
‘You already promised me your internal organs for taking you to the interview this morning and you don’t own anything else,’ Alyssa pointed out, glad of the distraction.
Ginny straightened up. ‘I feel that was unnecessarily harsh and I’ll be speaking to the Shit Waitress union regarding your attitude in the workplace.’
Despite her admittedly woeful waitressing skills, Alyssa would miss Ginny being here too, making sure there was never a dull moment. Case in point, right now.
‘Anyway, what’s Mum doing that’s bugging your happiness, Ginny?’
‘Nothing! That’s the point. The place is mobbed and I asked her to help me go round topping up drinks and she refused. Says she wasn’t “being seen doing manual labour”. And she’s acting all weird. I’ve no idea what’s going on with her. You know that way she was when she had a thing for the Amazon delivery guy, and she ordered a new set of scrunchies every day and then made sure she was wafting around looking sultry when he delivered them…?’
Alyssa nodded, getting the picture. There was never any doubt that her sister had an artistic flair and a gift for a tall tale.
‘Well, she’s definitely got the hots for someone in here, because she’s got that same look on her face.’
A theory suddenly popped into Alyssa’s head. ‘I reckon it’sbecause Moira Chiles is here. Mum is hoping Ollie Chiles will walk in and she can cougar him to death.’
‘I’ve never wanted to leave a conversation more,’ her grandad winced.
‘Sorry, Grandad,’ Alyssa giggled, her first authentic laugh since that letter had arrived this morning.
Ginny stepped in to save him. ‘Come help me, please, Grandad. It might even persuade me to forgive you for making our mother such a nightmare.’
Amused and happy to help, Grandad grabbed two bottles of fizz from the ice buckets on the counter and off they went, passing Kayleigh Dern coming the other way.
‘Kayleigh!’ Alyssa exclaimed, giving her another hug. ‘How are you? How’s university going?’
Several of the village teenagers had worked in the café over the years, but Kayleigh had been one of her favourites. She’d been around her gran and mum’s salon since she was a toddler, so she worked hard and had a natural gift for chatting to customers.
‘It’s going great. Bit wobbly at first – took me a while to get used to being on my own and being able to walk down the street without bumping into forty people I know.’
Alyssa chuckled. ‘That could have pros and cons.’
‘It definitely does. And not having my gran’s place or here to pop into every day feels weird too.’
The unintentional link to the problem that was plaguing Alyssa was too clear to ignore. Soon there wouldn’t be a café for anyone to pop into. ‘Actually, Kayleigh, can I show you something?’
Kayleigh raised an eyebrow. ‘Will I have to lie to the police or deny it under oath?’ She also had her grandmother’s dry sense of humour.
‘Unlikely, but you never know.’
Kayleigh shrugged. ‘Then sure.’
