Redemption

13 - My Beloved Candace & Henry

Chapter 13 - My Beloved Candace & Henry

Isaac's outburst left me frozen in my seat. I analyze the sugar packet he left on the table, picking it up to play with myself. A shadow casts over the table, someone's body blocking the light. 

"Are you still good to close, Amber?" Candace's voice asks lightly. I lift my eyes up, seeing she has changed into her winter jacket and has her overly large purse slung over her shoulder, ready to depart. In moments like this, I wish Candace could have been my mom. The concern in her eyes is a look I have grown to forget, one I used to see in my own mother's eyes.

I nod my head, sliding out of the booth. Candace takes a step back to allow me room to stand up, but her eyes never leave my face. I know she just watched my very brief exchange with Isaac. I bet she thinks I am about to crumble any second. Candace knows how close I hold Isaac to my heart. When I applied for this job, she asked me why I wanted it.

"For my baby brother," I had replied proudly.

Isaac sometimes came to work with me. He would play in the empty booths and hide behind the counter to scare me and my coworkers as we walked by. Candace had to tell him to stop after people dropped their platters of food on too many occasions. He became a light in the tunnel for everyone at work with his cheesy jokes and braced smile.

"If you insist," Candace sighs, squeezing my arm as she starts to head towards the door. She stops after she takes a couple of steps, and I can tell if she's debating on whether she wants to turn back around or not.

She does. "Is everything okay, sweetie?"

I raise my chin slightly, knowing that if I give into her comfort tears will be accompanying my cheeks in no time.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. Isaac and I were trying to figure out what to do with Mom, and..." I trail off, shrugging my shoulders pathetically. Candace knows when to push and not to push, and usually she leaves Mom out of any of our conversations. It isn't a work topic, not by a long shot.

Candace nods and purses her lips. "Well, give me a call if you need anything. Would you?"

"Of course," I rush out. I see her shoulders visibly relax, and I know it was the right thing to say. I watch her go out of the door and get into her car, feeling a swell of love for her as she drives away.

I ignore Harry's table as I retreat back to the kitchen. Avoiding Harry seems to be becoming a prominent theme in my life. Or at least in the last twenty-four hours it has.

I try to make small talk with Benny as we clean up the kitchen together. I never talk to Benny. It just lets me know that blocking out the thoughts about Harry won't make them go away. And me talking to Benny is helping me avoid the denial I seem to be holding onto so tightly.

When I go to check on how they are doing, I'm grateful to see they have finished eating and have a credit card laid out at the end of the table, waiting to be swiped by me. I pretend like I don't feel Harry's gaze on me as I do, and it takes too much effort to not meet his eyes. For some reason, I want to know what he is thinking. And what is he thinking right now? Harper is yet another beautiful girl. Opposite of me in looks wise, just like every other girl I have seen Harry with. There has been so many girls come and go from his life in the short time I have known him. I know from every classic Hollywood movie that, that is a red flag. He doesn't even make the effort to hide it from me. Red flag number two.

But that night on the rooftop. The memory I have exiled from my brain. It still burns to think about how surreal it all felt. About how all the red flags didn't matter.