Love in Limbo

Chapter Eight

The evenings at the coffee shop are quieter then the morning, with most people's caffeine habits satisfied by midday. It is eight, and I have not long arrived on shift. I had spent only an hour with Grams tonight, and I felt guilty I could not offer her more time, but I needed to pick up some extra shifts to pay some bills. Mostly though, I was desperate to escape my own thoughts, and the echo in the empty house. I had avoided passing Cassidy's room and taken the elevator at the opposite end of the hall tonight. I couldn't face the possibility that her presence may have vanished, like she did that evening, but permanently. It was almost childish to avoid the answer.

The bell on the door rings, and I glance up from the hot chocolate I am preparing. It is Blair, and she is looking around with eager eyes, almost bouncing on her feet as she searches the room, until her eyes fix on mine.

"Sarah" she calls over, beaming from ear to ear.

She hesitates for a second as a friend enters the door behind her, they have a brief conversation and I watch her untangle her blonde hair from her tan jacket as she removes it. She places it on the back of a chair, and her friend sits down at the table before she makes her way across the room. I hand the hot chocolates to a waiting Mom and her kids, run my hands down my green apron and make my way over to Blair. She is waiting for me on the other side of the till.

"Blair" I greet "how did you find me" I add, with mock seriousness.

She lifts her fair brows in response "I have my ways" and then she waves behind me.

I turn to see Rebecca waving back, as she cleans out the machines. Blair points behind me "Rebecca is Cameron's sister...my boyfriend" she adds with a smile.

"Small world" I return.

"Sure is" she replies, sitting herself on a stool in front of me.

I take a cloth and wipe down the surface in front of her. "What can I get you and your friend" I ask, gesturing to her friend at the table across the room.

"A couple Caramel Frapps please" she replies, taking out her bank card from her pocket.

"Coming right up" I return, turning my back to prepare the drinks.

"Have you been to see her" Blair asks from behind me.

I stop what I'm doing, thrown off at the question, before turning slightly to reply "Yes" I say quietly, as steam hits my eyelashes from the machine at hand.

"How did you find it" she asks seriously.

I take a deep breath, and turn back to her whilst finishing the drinks. "I found it...confronting" I reply honestly.

She nods in response "For me too" she says quietly. "I don't think I will ever get used to it"

"Here" I say, placing the lids on and handing her the drinks.

She hands me her bank card, and I push it back towards her "on the house" I tell her with a smile.

"No Sarah, let me pay" she begs. "I know what this place pays employees, and it would take you a couple hours to work this off" she says, holding the drinks in her hands.

"Blair, I don't want to go home. I would happily work another two hours for the drinks, anything, to avoid that empty house a moment longer" I confess.

I pull the cap with the company's logo down over my brow a little tighter.

Blair thinks about that for a second, and then takes out her phone. I watch her type away like a speed demon with a serious expression on her face. She places her phone back in her pocket with a smile, and lifts her drink once more. "Prepare yourself Sarah...tomorrow you get to experience a dinner like no other" She says wickedly.